BaseVols add another portal pickup in Louisville’s Gavin Kilen

The No.1-rated player in the portal

After Tennessee added to its pitching battery Tuesday with the addition of Kennesaw State transfer Tanner Franklin, the Vols added highly-touted portal prospect and Louisville transfer infielder Gavin Kilen. The No. 1 portal prospect (rated by D1 Baseball) announced his decision via his Instagram.

Last year, during his sophomore season, Kilen received third-team All-ACC honors while batting .339 with nine home runs. He led the Cardinals in multiple offensive categories: 69 hits, 22 doubles and 124 total bases.

The 22 doubles led the ACC and notched the seventh-best total in program history. Kilen bats from the left-handed side but throws with his right hand, making nine errors on the year for a .951 fielding percentage. He’s also got the bat flip down, which makes him a great addition to the Volunteer program (half-joking here).

Kilen was a SS/ 2nd baseman prospect coming out of high school and rated as the 55th-ranked player overall, the ninth-ranked SS and the No,1 player in the cycle out of Wisconsin. He started in 52 of 53 overall games at shortstop for the Cardinals last year.

His impact at Louisville was pretty immediate upon arrival with the Cardinals, though last season is when he really shined. In his freshman year, he started 38 games — 30 at SS and eight at second base. He notched a significant uptick in production from his first year to his second year on campus after hitting .265 in his first year with Louisville with nine doubles, a triple and 18 RBIs.

Tennessee’s looking to nearly completely overhaul its lineup, as Christian Moore, Blake Burke, Billy Amick, Dylan Dreiling and Kavares Tears are locks for the MLB draft. Kilen, Antigua, Curly and a nationally-rated No. 1 recruiting class that includes infielders Trey Snyder (5th in UT’s class), Manuelle Marin (7th in UT’s class, Ty Southisene (3rd in UT’s class), Chris Newstrom and Arnold Abernathy (5th in UT’s class), among several others, gives UT plenty of options, considering the Vols will likely have to fend off the MLB Draft for several of the aforementioned prospects. But back to Curley — here he is hitting a dinger while playing with the USA National Collegiate Team.

Tennessee also lost backup infielders Bradke Lohry and Robin Villeneuve to the transfer portal, so it’s likely the Vols bring in several infielders just to see who goes to the draft, who shakes out and who doesn’t.

Antigua and Curley can play second base or shortstop, while Curley looks like the frame, the arm and the reflexes to the hot corner, too.

Expect plenty more transfer additions to come in the relatively near future, as the window for prospects to enter their names into the portal was July 1st. The Vols are also adding numerous high-level pitching prospects in the HS class, but, again, the Draft will be a hurdle there.

In terms of recruiting, Tennessee’s fishing in a bigger pond for recruits coming off the National Championship. Cannon Peebles was a highly-rated addition last season, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few more high-quality players join Kilen and the program this offseason.