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Vol Club Confidential: Blake Burke

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Growing up just east of the Bay Area in Northern California, Blake Burke had big dreams. He joined Vol Club Confidential sponsored by Knoxville Smiles this week to discuss his growth on and off the field at Tennessee. More specifically it’s been his growth at a position that he didn’t always exactly love.

“I hated first base in high school,” Burke said with a chuckle. “I completely despised it. When I got here I kind of knew I was going to be a first baseman in the future so I started working on it and got with Luc Lipcius and he helped me a lot. When he left, Ricky Martinez did as much as he could to help me even though he never played over there. He was always watching videos and I just listened to him and got better.”

A year ago, his fielding was marginal at best but this season it’s been a 180 degree turnaround as he has been a pitcher and fielders best friend with the glove work at first. He once again came up with some big snags this weekend as Tennessee won multiple low scoring tilts over Missouri.

“You can say I was a bed defender last year because I was,” Burke said. “I knew I had a lot of work to do especially when I want to play at the next level. You need to be an elite first baseman and be elite at everything you do. That’s what I wanted to do this past offseason is get better at everything I can. That involved the footwork, the body, getting in the cage. I wasn’t the best hitter last year either. I think just working hard at everything and becoming the best player I can be.”

Burke has been tremendous at the plate this season. Just as much as he has grown in the field, he has grown as a batter. He is hitting just under .400 on the year and is one of the top players in college baseball for extra base hits. 

“My main problem last year was the pitches I was swinging at,” Burke said. “I started swinging at everything and it put me in bad counts. That’s what you don’t want. My main goal this offseason was to swing at strikes. I wanted to keep it simple and I knew if I keep it simple I would be a better hitter because that’s how you become better. Everything else will take care of itself. Just swing at my pitch and if I do that and get out, I could say I had conviction on what I was doing.”

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