Mike Strange: Tennessee baseball is armed and ready
The guy playing third base was wearing a pullover ski mask. With every crack of the bat, sympathy pains shot through my hands.
Tennessee opened baseball practice Friday, a day that began spitting snow. It was 38 degrees at Lindsey Nelson Stadium, 62 in Gainesville, 53 in Baton Rouge and Columbia, S.C.
"I'm not complaining about the weather,'' Dave Serrano said. "That's East Tennessee, we know that.''
To the contrary, Serrano was buoyant.
It goes without saying he's glad to be back in charge of the Tennessee dugout for a sixth season. His .485 winning percentage for his first five years falls short of even Todd Raleigh, the guy he replaced. Nine different SEC teams combine for 24 appearances at the College World Series since UT's most recent trip in 2005 under Rod Delmonico.
But Serrano has other reasons to be upbeat. He really likes this 14-man freshman class, the first of his UT career that made it through the Major League Baseball draft without a casualty.
"That's why I'm smiling,'' he said, "This group is pretty special.''
For another, despite losing Aaron Soto for the season due to Tommy John surgery, Serrano believes the Vols will be strong on the mound.
"Pitching, pitching, pitching,'' he said. "We're deep on the mound. I’ll say this, we have enough talent on the mound to be good. I'm in charge of the pitching, so if we're not good it’ll be my fault.''
Pitching goes a long way to winning baseball games. How often we see teams, not just Tennessee, cobbling together some combination of arms on Sundays to complete a three-game SEC series.
The Vols will have five or six guys battling for the three starting jobs. Zach Warren and Will Neely are strong candidates. Hunter Martin will switch from bullpen to starter. Freshmen Zach Linginfelter of Sevier County and Garrett Stallings from Chesapeake, Va., are in the mix.
What about Kyle Serrano, the coach's son? A touted prospect ever since he came out of Farragut High School, Serrano has struggled to find a groove at UT. Last year, a junior, he pitched only 3.2 innings before he had to undergo Tommy John surgery.
He'll be the closer in 2017 and was cleared Friday to start pitching to hitters.
"That's a great arm to have at the end of a game,'' his father/coach said.
Another homegrown star has joined the program. I should say re-joined. UT announced Friday that Todd Helton is returning in a volunteer role as director of player development.
If there's ever been a better player than Helton in UT history, I'm not aware of it. He was the star in the mid-'90s when UT went to three consecutive NCAA regionals and finished third at the 1995 College World Series. After a stellar career with the Colorado Rockies, Helton retired in 2013. His presence around the program can't help but be a positive development.
If only he could hit cleanup. The Vols have to replace Nick Senzel, Vincent Jackson, Derek Lance and Chris Hall, four of their top bats from last year.
Where will the offense come from in 2017? Benito Santiago, Jordan Rodgers, Brodie Leftridge and Jeff Moberg are the best bets. Freshman Pete Derkay is the hot tip to watch. Serrano hopes Leftridge can be an "offensive catalyst," getting on base and putting pressure on defenses with his speed.
Speaking of defenses, UT has a chance to be good up the middle with Santiago behind the plate, Leftridge in center field, Moberg at second base and Southern Cal grad transfer Reggie Southall at shortstop.
The question looming over the season, of course, is whether this is the year Serrano can raise the program from the nether regions of the ultra-competitive SEC. Check back in a month for an early progress report.
SEC play doesn't begin until March 17. By then the weather will be warming up. Maybe the Vols will be, too.
Mike Strange may be reached at mike.strange@knoxnews.com. Follow him on Twitter at Strangemike44.