Tennessee Baseball: What Tony Vitello said about Chase Burns' decision to transfer
Tennessee Vols head baseball coach Tony Vitello confirmed on Tuesday morning that right handed pitcher Chase Burns is entering the NCAA transfer portal. Burns, who was a sophomore this past season, was moved to the bullpen midseason after struggling early in the year as a starter. Vitello was asked by WNML on Tuesday morning about […]
Tennessee Vols head baseball coach Tony Vitello confirmed on Tuesday morning that right handed pitcher Chase Burns is entering the NCAA transfer portal.
Burns, who was a sophomore this past season, was moved to the bullpen midseason after struggling early in the year as a starter.
Vitello was asked by WNML on Tuesday morning about his thoughts on Burns' decision to transfer.
"That one (Burns) you asked about is a good case of it's actually pretty straightforward," said Vitello. "We've kind of known that he would be gone for a while. It's a good case to be careful about what you read on Twitter. Because like I said, that's been pretty straightforward. And you know, this season went in a lot of different ways. And as coaches, we got to do what we think is best for the whole group and find a way to try and win games. And in the end, I think that worked out fairly well."
"But for his case, you know, he's gonna take his efforts somewhere else," continued Vitello. "And it's been a deal where he's done more than a lot for the program, not just last year. And of course this year too. And in the course of this year, he became the number one [most] popular pitcher maybe in the country, but definitely in his class. And he's probably ranked number one as a pitcher in his class at this point. But it's a different day and age. So he'll take those efforts on somewhere else and we wish him the best."
Vitello didn't say what was straightforward about Burns' decision to transfer, but it seems pretty obvious — Burns almost certainly wants to be guaranteed a starting role in 2024.
And I don't think Vitello was willing to do that. And that's not a bad thing in regards to Vitello — it just means he doesn't make empty promises. Vitello is going to do what he has to do to win games. That's what he's paid to do at Tennessee. In 2023, that meant moving Burns to the bullpen was the best option for the Vols.
Would that also be best for the program in 2024? Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, Vitello isn't committing to rotation for 2024 when the season is still eight months away.
Burns is definitely a player that Tennessee wanted back in 2024. But sometimes things just don't work out that way. It's unfortunate for the Vols, but as Vitello said, it's a different day and age in college athletics.
Outside of making a bogus promise, I'm not sure what Vitello could've done differently in this situation.
Tony Vitello gave Josh Heupel a must-hear compliment that no one saw coming
Before Tennessee Vols football coach Josh Heupel got into coaching, he was a star football player at Oklahoma. Heupel was the runner-up in Heisman Trophy voting in 2000 and led the Sooners to a BCS Championship. Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello was actually at the Big 12 Championship game in 2000 when the Sooners beat […]
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