He may be done for the year.
Sophomore right-hander AJ Russell will not be available for this weekend’s Super Regional round, Tennessee coach Tony Vitello announced on Tuesday. Russell has been trying to work back from an injury suffered in late March.
Tennessee has only gotten six total appearances out of Russell this season, the last one coming during the SEC Tournament. The Volunteers eased him back in, allowing him to come in against Vanderbilt in relief. He threw 22 pitches in that appearance, but we haven’t seen him since.
“Nothing specific as far as what the next step will be for him, but he’ll be unavailable,” Vitello said. “So it’s kind of Coach Russell or Coach AJ for now kind of as Billy did for a couple weeks there. And I don’t mean make light of health or anything like that. I mean he’s still involved in practice and things like that right now, but he’s kind of assumed a role in the dugout where he takes on some other duties and to me I enjoy being around him. So for now that’s his task and we’ll see where we get but more than likely would be shut down for the year.”
Russell holds a 5.02 ERA on his injury-plagued year. As a freshman last season, Russell posted a 0.89 ERA over 24 total appearances. He entered the season as one of Tennessee’s top options on the mound. Now it seems like his season is more than likely over.
Vitello detailed what his role will be with the team through the end of the season.
“Chart stuff and then just communicate, answering questions we have,” Vitello said. “One more guy you can run stuff through or go to this end of the dugout and get this guy ready or with our locker room being right there, sometimes our guys disappear and you’re looking for a guy to pinch hit or send down to the bullpen or something like that. So it can be as simple as having a guy help you in that situation.”
Tennessee takes on Evansville this weekend in the supers — the winner will advance to the College World Series. Game one will begin on Friday at 3 p.m. ET.