Chase Dollander was called up by the Colorado Rockies on Friday, setting up the Tennessee baseball product to make his MLB debut.
Dollander is the seventh player from the Tony Vitello era to reach the major leagues. The No. 9 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft is the third to do so with the Rockies, following outfielder Jordan Beck and pitcher Seth Halvorsen. Beck and Halvorsen made their MLB debuts last season and are on the Rockies’ roster.
Dollander was ranked as the No. 25 MLB prospect in January and is Colorado’s top prospect. He is 27-11 with a 3.32 ERA in 69 minor league games with 66 starts. He has 466 strikeouts in 339 innings with 120 walks.
He made 23 starts in the minor leagues between High-A Spokane and AA Hartford last season. He was 6-2 with a 2.59 ERA and 169 strikeouts in 118 innings with 47 walks. He opened the season with AAA Albuquerque, where he made one start and struck out five in four innings of one-run baseball.
Chase Dollander called up to MLB by Colorado Rockies
Dollander had 238 strikeouts in 168 innings at Tennessee and had a 3.64 ERA at Tennessee in the 2022 and 2023 seasons. The Evans, Georgia, native went 10-0 with a 2.39 ERA in 2022 and was named the SEC pitcher of the year. He earned numerous All-American honors for his sophomore season. He was 7-6 with a 4.75 ERA as a junior in 2023, but settled in late in the season after a rocky start in the first couple months.
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The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Dollander struck out 10 or more batters nine times in 31 starts for Tennessee. He transferred to Tennessee after a strong freshman season at Georgia Southern, where he was 4-3 with a 4.01 ERA.
He is the highest-drafted pitcher under Vitello. Only Christian Moore, who was picked No. 8 by the Los Angeles Angels in the 2024 MLB Draft, was selected higher.
Chase Dollander is the seventh Tony Vitello player to reach MLB
Dollander is the fifth former Vitello player at UT currently in the major leagues out of the seven who have reached the big leagues.
Pitcher Garrett Crochet debuted with the Chicago White Sox in 2020 when he skipped the minor leagues and debuted in the same year he was drafted No. 11 overall. He earned an all-star bid in 2024 as a star for the White Sox, who traded him to the Boston Red Sox before the 2025 season.
Pitcher Ben Joyce debuted for the Los Angeles Angels on May 29, 2023, less than a year after the hard-throwing reliever was selected in the third round of the 2022 MLB Draft.
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Beck, who was the No. 38 pick in the 2022 draft, made his debut with the Colorado Rockies on April 30, 2024. Halvorsen was called up on Aug. 30, 2024, and made his debut a day later with the Colorado Rockies.
Andre Lipcius made his debut on Sept. 1, 2023 with the Detroit Tigers, who drafted Lipcius in the third round of the 2019 MLB Draft with the No. 83 pick. Trey Lipscomb debuted with the Washington Nationals on March 30, 2024. He was picked in the third round of the 2022 MLB Draft. Lipcius and Lipscomb are currently at AAA with the White Sox and Nationals, respectively.
Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on Twitter @ByMikeWilson. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it
