Blake Burke's Standout Freshman Season Setting Stage For What Could Be Historic Tennessee Career

Vols Baseball Freshman Blake Burke's Standout Freshman Season Setting Stage For What Could Be Historic Tennessee Career

An overwhelming amount of Tennessee Baseball Volunteers have had an abundance of success at the plate in Tennessee's historic 2022 season.

Trey Lipscomb is three home runs away from tying the single-season program record; Luc Lipcius, Drew Gilbert and Jordan Beck have set career-highs in home runs in their last season in orange and white, and Christian Moore has ten homers in his freshman season.

I could go on and on.

But the one Big Orange bat that has turned the most heads is Blake Burke's. The freshman slugger has racked up 14 home runs, tying former Vols J.P. Arencibia and Alan Cockrell with the most bombs hit by a Vol in his first year.

And Burke's season home run total has not come through attrition. Burke was far from an every game starter for all of non-conference play and the majority of conference play. Burke's second SEC start came in the second game against Auburn in Tennessee's seventh of ten conference series. Burke didn't get a start in Tennessee's next series against Kentucky, as it wasn't until the Georgia series that Burke started at least two games in a weekend.

In that particular weekend against Georgia, Burke hit two home runs in the series opener to give him three long balls in his last two games played. The next Monday, the SEC rewarded Blake's six-hit, four-RBI, three-home run week with SEC Freshman of the Week honors.

From then on, Burke has earned eight starts, four in the postseason, in ten games, becoming a staple in the Tennessee lineup as the designated hitter. The only time Burke doesn't start is when the opposing team is throwing a lefty, as Christian Moore starts in those situations.

In the only two contests Burke hasn't started in the past ten, the freshman found a way to contribute, leaving the yard in each game in a pinch-hit situation.

Burke's efficiency as a hitter has been out of this world. In only 88 at-bats, the California native has 14 home runs, meaning every 6.29 times Burke approaches the plate, he leaves the yard.

An astonishing efficiency that is remarkably close to an MLB legend's record-setting season.

2001 Barry Bonds: one homer every 6.52 at bats
2022 Blake Burke: one homer every 6.29 at bats

— Will Warren (@statsbywill) June 5, 2022

And that's not all. Almost exactly half of Burke's hits this season (31) have been home runs (14). 

Nearly half of Blake Burke's hits this season have been home runs.

31 hits. 14 home runs. Absolutely insane.

— Jack Foster (@jackfostermedia) June 5, 2022

Just take a look at Blake Burke's Instagram page. He's no stranger to sporting the celebratory fur coat.

The program record at Tennessee is 38 home runs, held by Evan Russell and Todd Helton. Russell will surely break the record this season as Tennessee advances further into the offseason, but this is Russell's last season, so he won't break it by an astronomical amount.

Same goes for Luc Lipcius, who has 37 career home runs.

Burke is already more than a third of the way to breaking the record and based on the way he's hitting right now, who knows how many homers he ends up hitting by year's end.

If his confidence stays at a healthy level, I could see Burke reaching 20 home runs in his freshman year. He has hit four homers in his last six games, after all.

Barring injury, Burke should obliterate the program home run record, just like he will the freshman record. Burke will not turn 21 before his junior season, so he's locked into playing three years of college ball.

The likelihood of Burke smashing UT records is assisted by the Tennessee Baseball season probably going well into June this year and likely in the coming years with the program showing no signs of slowing down.

But Burke has been a big part of Tennessee's success. Some of his homers have come in key moments, most recently in the Vols' latest win over Campbell.

Burke left the yard in the top of the eighth inning when Tennessee led the Fighting Camels 7-6. The homer gave Tennessee a key insurance run in a close game, especially considering Campbell got the run back in the bottom of the inning.

The 6'3", 230-pound 18-year-old has carved out a place in the Vols' star-studded lineup, getting more playing time than several talented bats on a deep Tennessee roster. The numbers make it clear why, but Burke has made adjustments throughout his first year on Rocky Top to earn playing time on a top-ranked roster.

"You all could very easily be sitting here saying, 'What the hell are you doing with Blake Burke on the bench at any point during this year?'" Vitello said after Tennessee's win over Campbell. "But, you know, there was times where he wasn't swinging as well as he is now."

Vitello's comments on Saturday night came 24 hours after he explained how Burke has 'calmed down' and started to play like himself.

"It's just nice that he's kind of settled into just playing," Tony Vitello said after Burke's 2-3, one HR performance against Alabama State. "Because at first you just see a freshman so geared up. It needed to come from me, the other coaches were saying he needs to be in the lineup. Like (Charlie Taylor) said, we have a good group, we have depth, so once he got that amount of repetitions, you saw him just calm down and play—it's pretty special. You get to thinking, he's only a freshman, there's two more years to go, that's pretty nice. It's hard for me to do, I'll admit it, but you have to stay grounded... He just needs to play like himself—not as a freshman, not as a junior, not a sophomore. But it is a pretty special swing."

After starting only nine games in Tennessee's first 48 contests, Burke has started as the Vols DH in 11 of the last 14, becoming one of Tennessee's most dangerous options at the plate.

Burke will look to keep his incredible hitting efficiency going as Tennessee looks to return to the College World Series. First, the Vols must take care of business by winning at least one more game in the Knoxville Regional against Georgia Tech or Campbell. First pitch for what could be the final game of the Knoxville Regional is at approximately 7 p.m. ET in Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

Photo Credit: Andrew Ferguson of UT Athletics