Veteran Outfielder Returning To Vols For 2026 Season
Image: Tennessee Athletics
By Aidan Sidoti
Tennessee baseball received a significant boost on Thursday with the announcement that a key veteran outfielder will return to Rocky Top for the 2026 season.
After going unselected in the 2025 MLB Draft earlier this month, Volunteer outfielder Reese Chapman is returning to Knoxville, per Knox News' Mike Wilson, giving the Vols immediate stability in the outfield and another power threat in the lineup.
Chapman, an incoming senior from Aurora, Colorado, appeared in 64 games during the 2025 season, hitting .273 with a career-high 13 home runs and 53 RBI across 216 at-bats.
A National Champion for the Volunteers in 2024, Chapman brings postseason experience back to a Tennessee roster that is looking at making its third run to Omaha since 2023.
Ranking inside the top 200 on multiple draft boards leading up to July, Chapman’s draft-day silence surprised many, including most Vols fans.
Rather than signing an undrafted free-agent deal, the 6-foot-1, 224-pounder chose to bet on himself– and on Tony Vitello, whose track record of turning prospects into draft picks speaks for itself.
The Volunteers, who finished 46-19 last season and lost in Fayetteville to the Razorbacks in the Super Regionals, now return a proven bat for Vitello’s squad who will once again be among the SEC’s most dangerous teams entering February.
