Tennessee's Tony Vitello Speaks on Christian Moore's Early Success in MLB

Tennessee Volunteers' baseball coach Tony Vitello speaks on Christian Moore's early success in the MLB minor leagues.

Jul 14, 2024; Ft. Worth, TX, USA; Christian Moore is congratulated by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred after being selected by the Los Angeles Angels as the eight player taken during the first round of the MLB Draft at Cowtown Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Tennessee Volunteers' baseball coach Tony Vitello speaks on Christian Moore's early success in the MLB minor leagues.

After winning the national title this season, the Tennessee Volunteers had quite a few players drafted into the MLB. The first name off of the board was second baseman Christian Moore, who was selected with the eighth overall pick by the Los Angeles Angels. Moore has since made his professional debut and has been nothing short of amazing with his new ball club.

Moore started out in single-A ball and in his two games he had five hits in 11 at-bats, a home run and six RBI. It's about as good of a start to a professional career as you could ask for from Moore. After those two games, Moore was promoted to double-A ball within the organization. He has since been tearing it up there as well as he holds a .481 batting average, a 1.307 slugging percentage, has five home runs and seven RBI in seven games played.

Tennessee baseball head coach Tony Vitello recently spoke of Moore's success in the minors, and one thing he made clear was he misses seeing him in that Tennessee jersey.

"It's surreal seeing him in a different uniform. I don't like not seeing him in orange but I definitely like seeing him do well and climb the ladder and I know he is with good people," Vitello said. "They've done a ton of homework on him to begin with and since they have drafted him they've been in constant communication with us just trying help him be the best player he can be."

#Vols Baseball Head Coach Tony Vitello says he does not like not seeing Christian in orange, but is proud of how far he has come in such a short time.@wvlt @WVLTSports pic.twitter.com/SzJRmq0nyJ

— Rylee Robinson (@ryleerobinsontv) August 14, 2024

Moore posted an incredible 2024 season stat line. He was a crucial piece to Tennessee's national championship-winning team. Over his three years at Tennessee, Moore finished with a .338 batting average, 61 home runs, 160 RBI and 162 starts, which is ironically the same number of games in a full MLB regular season. He also became just the second player ever to hit for the cycle during the College World Series.

He reeled in multiple national awards following the 2024 college baseball season including multiple outlets naming him a first-team All-American. He is the seventh Volunteer to be drafted in the first round since 2015. Moore is expected to be the first of many Volunteers drafted in this class.

Other Tennessee News:

• Tony Vitello Turnaround Nothing Short of Brilliant for Tennessee Baseball
• Jaylen Williams Cuts Recruitment to Four Schools
• Tennessee Vols Football Could Make Playoff According to CFB Data Model

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