Marcus Phillips transferred to Tennessee during the offseason.
The 6-foot-4, 245-pound pitcher and outfielder transferred to the Vols from Iowa Western Community College.
“It is good stuff, big stuff, that he brings to the table on the mound, and then at the plate it’s been common speak in the coach’s locker room he looks better than he ever has in the batting cage right now at the plate,” Vitello said. “That opportunity is not going away, as it is for most hitters, sometimes you got to pile up reps. I think that’s something a little more down the road for him. Immediately he will make an impact on the mound, just don’t know when.
“As excited as you get, when he throws one particular pitch, we all made a comment the other day, in the hitter versus pitcher type situation, we got to remind ourselves he’s basically a freshman and he’s a freshman from a cold weather state, I mean a really cold weather state. Last year due to injury, he was at a junior college, but really didn’t play, so he is not in the infant stage of his career, but very early stages of his career. I think he deserves the patience of the coaching staff, and from fans, and himself, he needs to provide himself time to be the best version of he is, but it’s pretty exciting how good it could become.”
