The University of Tennessee’s baseball program has grown by leaps and bounds over the past five seasons, turning out prospects to the professional ranks, and this weekend, the whole country gets to see it.
MLB’s Spring Breakout series returns Thursday for its third installment, and by the time the final pitch is thrown Sunday afternoon in Mesa, Arizona, fans will have had their most concentrated look yet at the players who will define the next decade of Major League Baseball.
Sixteen games. Four days. Thirty organizations. More than 500 prospects spread across the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues. Fifty-four members of MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 list. And at the center of it all, a quiet but unmistakable thread of Big Orange running through the entire weekend. This weekend, for four days, MLB Spring Breakout becomes the biggest showcase in minor league baseball. And for four days, it also becomes the most extended Vol highlight reel the country has ever seen.
Twelve former Tennessee Volunteers are expected to play for nine different organizations in the 2026 Spring Breakout. No other college program has more in the MLB’s Breakout series. It speaks directly to the program that former head coach Tony Vitello, now the manager of the San Francisco Giants, built in Knoxville from 2018-25. Under Vitello, the Volunteers produced an NCAA-leading 45 players drafted from 2020-25, with the 2025 class as the crown jewel. That year, a program-record four players were drafted in the first round, the first time any NCAA program had accomplished that feat since LSU in 2023. Eight Vols were taken in the first three rounds total, another program record.
The numbers alone are staggering, but the context makes them more so. Vitello arrived at Tennessee in 2018 inheriting a program that had produced exactly two first-round picks in the previous eight years.
This weekend, those players suit up for their organizations in what has become the most significant prospect showcase in minor league baseball. And for Tennessee fans scattered across a country that barely sleeps when Rocky Top is involved, there is no bad place to look.
Spring Breakout launched in 2024 as a simple concept: carve out a four-day window during Spring Training, assemble each organization’s top prospects into competitive rosters, and let the baseball world watch. The inaugural edition gave fans their first look at Paul Skenes toeing a rubber against Jackson Holliday. It was must-watch television before most casual fans had any idea it was happening.
It caught on fast. In 2024, fans saw Skenes strike out Holliday. In 2025, all three of the Boston Red Sox’ big three hit one out of the park. First it was Kristian Campbell, then Marcelo Mayer, and finally Roman Anthony. Two days later, they watched Trey Yesavage throw the first pitch of his professional career.
The alumni list reads like an all-star ballot. The first two years of Spring Breakout showcased several players who quickly became big league stars, including reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes, 2025 Rookies of the Year Drake Baldwin and Nick Kurtz, and postseason sensation Trey Yesavage. Among last year’s Spring Breakout participants, 92 appeared in the big leagues during the regular season, including rookie standouts such as Roman Anthony, Cade Horton, Nick Kurtz and Jacob Misiorowski.
One hundred and three Breakout players appeared on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 Prospects list during the year, and 46 Spring Breakout alumni claimed spots in the Futures Game in July.
Spring Breakout 2026 is the biggest yet. All 30 Major League clubs will field teams of their best prospects during the showcase event. These rosters are once again packed with top prospects, with 54 members of the current Top 100 Prospects list, and more than 500 of the 900 players who make up teams’ Top 30 Prospects lists. Fourteen No. 1 prospects are scheduled to participate, as are another 16 ranked No. 2 in their respective organizations. The Brewers and Phillies each play twice to account for the uneven numbers across the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues. The Brewers boast the top farm system in the game according to MLB Pipeline.
Where To Find Tennessee Alumni In MLB’s Spring Breakout
Thursday, March 19
1:05 p.m. ET – Philadelphia Phillies vs. Minnesota Twins – Lee Health Sports Complex – Fort Myers, Florida
Tennessee Connection – 3B Billy Amick (Minnesota Twins, Drafted No. 60 overall, 2024 MLB Draft)
Where to Watch – MLB Network, MNNT & Amazon
2:00 p.m. ET – Cleveland Guardians vs. Los Angeles Angels – Tempe Diablo Stadium – Tempe, Arizona
Tennessee Connection – IF Dean Curley (Cleveland Guardians, Drafted No. 64 overall, 2025 MLB Draft), RHP Nate Snead (Los Angeles Angels, Drafted No. 105 overall, 2025 MLB Draft)
Where to Watch – MLB.tv
4:30 p.m. ET – St. Louis Cardinals vs. Washington Nationals – Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium – Jupiter, Florida
Tennessee Connections – LHP Liam Doyle (St. Louis Cardinals, Drafted No. 5 overall, 2025 MLB Draft, Cardinals’ No. 2 Prospect), RHP Tanner Franklin (St. Louis Cardinals, Drafted: No. 72 overall, 2025 MLB Draft, Cardinals’ No. 7 Prospect)
Where to Watch – MLB App (part of traditional doubleheader with an MLB Spring Training game)
9:05 p.m. ET – Cincinnati Reds vs. San Francisco Giants – Scottsdale Stadium – Scottsdale, Arizona
Tennessee Connections – 2B Gavin Kilen (San Francisco Giants, Drafted No. 13 overall, 2025 MLB Draft, Giants’ No. 3 Prospect), OF/SS Steele Hall (Cincinnati Reds, Drafted No. 9 overall, 2025 MLB Draft).
Where to Watch – MLB Network, NBC Sports Bay Area & Amazon
Friday, March 20
4:00 p.m. ET – Kansas City Royals vs. Texas Rangers – Surprise Stadium – Surprise, Arizona
Tennessee Connection – RHP A.J. Russell (Texas Rangers, Drafted No. 52 overall, 2025 MLB Draft), OF Dylan Dreiling (Texas Rangers, Drafted No. 65 overall, 2024 MLB Draft)
Where to Watch – Rangers Sports Network & Amazon
5:10 p.m. ET – Seattle Mariners vs. Milwaukee Brewers – American Family Fields of Phoenix – Phoenix
Tennessee Connection – 3B/1B Andrew Fischer (Milwaukee Brewers, Drafted No. 20 overall, 2025 MLB Draft, Baseball America’s No. 1 Third Base Prospect)
Where to Watch – MLB Network
6:05 p.m. EDT – Boston Red Sox vs. Baltimore Orioles – Ed Smith Stadium – Sarasota, Florida
Tennessee Connection – RHP Marcus Phillips (Boston Red Sox, Drafted No. 33 overall in the Competitive Balance Round A, 2025 MLB Draft, Boston’s No. 9 Prospect)
Where to Watch – MASN
Photo: Andrew Fischer, shown here batting for Italy during the World Baseball Classic semifinal game against Venezuela, is one of 12 former Tennessee Volunteers who will be playing in the 2026 MLB Spring Breakout. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
