Skip to main content
Tennessee
Join Now

Tennessee keeps on recruiting with ‘charismatic’ Tony Vitello  

On3 imageby: Eric Cain09/19/25_Cainer
tennessee-head-coach-tony-vitello-evaluates-early-offensive-struggles-game-two-college-world-series-final
Jun 19, 2024; Omaha, NE, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Tony Vitello watches action against the Florida State Seminoles during the third inning at Charles Schwab Field Omaha. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports

Tennessee baseball is one of the best programs in the country under Tony Vitello, obviously. The Vols won the 2024 College World Series and have made five-straight super regional appearances. Tennessee has won four Southeastern Conference championships (2 regular season and 2 SECT) under his tutelage and the program isn’t slowing down any time soon.

Why? It’s not just because of the great development by his all-star staff, Rather, Vitello and his crew are some of the best at evaluating talent across the country and recruiting that talent to Rocky Top. They’ve also had some big wins in regards to the MLB Draft the past two summers as well.

“He’s a charismatic guy. He’s a friendly guy. He’s able to relate to the players even though he’s not all that close to them in age anymore,” D1 Baseball’s Joe Healy told Volquest this week. “He obviously does a really good job connecting with players and understanding what players want to hear. That’s talking about his development tack record and talking about putting players into pro baseball.

“Just connecting with players is such a huge part of recruiting and he does that better than anybody at this point.”

For the second-straight cycle, Tennessee sports the top-recruiting class in the country as Perfect Game has the Vols No. 1 in their final rankings for 2025. Additionally, Tennessee has two of the top-five players in the country after the publication re-ranked signees who made it to campus and turned down MLB Draft opportunities.

Those two players are left-handed pitcher Cameron Appenzeller (No. 2) and catcher Trent Grindlinger (No. 5). Outfielder Taylor Tracey, right-handed pitcher Ethan Baiotto (No. 54), infielder Ethan Moore (No. 55) and outfielder Nathan Eisfelder also ranked as top-100 players in this updated installment.

“It not only shows in the rankings of the recruiting classes, but it even the guys they don’t get to campus,” Healy continued. “Something that is really impressive to me about their recruiting classes – and what you hear about their classes is it will be tough to get them away from the commitment and it will be tough to sign him. They aren’t going to get every one of those guys, but it seems like they get at least a couple of those guys every year and that shows you how good of a recruiter he is.

“It’s one thing to sign a bunch of guys you are never going to get to campus, but he is able to get some of those guys. That’s super impressive.”

Tennessee’s 2026 recruiting class currently ranks fourth with 19 commitments and the 2027 class is off and running with eight pledges for a class that sits third in the early stages. The ’27 cycle is already headlined by plenty of star-power, including a pair of IMG Academy teammates in shortstop Max Hemenway (No. 7 overall) and outfielder Sebastian Wilson (No. 23 overall).  

“Tennessee is not really in the business of bringing freshmen in who they don’t think can help them right away,” Healy concluded. “It’s a little bit of a different expectation compared to some programs where you hear about a highly-regarded freshman but ‘oh, he is raw or it’s going to take some time.’  

“They have guys every year that are just ready to go. I think that is more true of Tennessee, and a couple of others in the SEC, than it is at large.”

This is nothing new for Vitello and his staff. The former Arkansas assistant was hired by the Vols following the 2017 season in part because of his recruiting prowess. Longtime pitching coach Frank Anderson and top-assistant Josh Elander have carried heavy loads in this regard, as well as assistant Ross Kivett over two stints with the staff.

Because of the efforts, the Vols have never finished outside the top-10 in the recruiting rankings under this leadership and have ranked lower than sixth in just one cycle, Vitello’s first in 2018 (9th).

Tennessee will continue using the fall slate to finish off the talented 2026 recruiting class and put on more steam for the 2027 cycle. The program officially begins the fall practice window on September 25.