Tennessee
Inside Gavin Kilen’s home run surge to open Tennessee baseball season
HOUSTON — There were no fans sitting in the upper deck in right field at Daikin Park on Friday.
That was for the better.
Gavin Kilen clobbered a ball that cleared the first deck and caromed off the first row of the second deck. He gazed as it rose, flipped his bat end over and and smacked his chest toward the Tennessee baseball dugout as the mammoth homer whistled skyward with a message for any MLB scouts paying attention.
“That I can hit,” Kilen said.
Kilen has always hit. He is doing more with the Vols. The second baseman is smashing homers like he has never done before, adding to his already enticing professional profile with a helping of power.
His two-homer game in Tennessee’s 5-2 win against Oklahoma State on Friday in the Houston Astros’ ballpark was the latest example. The sweet-swinging lefty went way deep to right in the first inning. He dinged his second homer to left field into the Crawford Boxes in the fourth.
Kilen has five homers in nine games for the No. 1 Vols (9-0) and has homered in three straight games. He hit nine in 54 games at Louisville last season when he homered once every 23.8 at-bats. He is homering every 5.4 at-bats this season.
“For me, he has the ability to drive the ball,” Vols coach Tony Vitello said. “Call that power if you want.”
Kilen, who is rated as MLB.com’s No. 28 prospect for the 2025 MLB Draft, showed flashes of his homer-filled start to the season.
Pitcher Liam Doyle witnessed the potential in the fall when Kilen consistently hit the ball hard.
Vitello saw it on video and then in batting practice after he transferred to Tennessee from Louisville. He doesn’t see it as purely power, though. He thinks Kilen’s sudden homer surge is a credit to a well-crafted swing.
“I think Gavin’s is a real fundamental swing that has been trained in the cage,” Vitello said. “So he is in a good position to strike the ball as well as he can. He is strong enough.
“I think it is more the precision over power if you want.”
Whatever you label it, it is working and it is only boosting Kilen’s MLB Draft outlook in July.
The 5-foot-11, 187-pound Kilen had 10 extra-base hits as a freshman at Louisville without a homer. He had 35 with nine homers last season as a sophomore. He has eight so far at Tennessee with a pair of triples and a double to go with the five home runs.
Kilen has a similar refrain to many who have joined the Vols in recent seasons: He credits nutritionist Beth Schwartz and strength coach Quentin Eberhardt with helping him change his body. He has gained more than 10 pounds of muscle since arriving at Tennessee.
“I just think that has fundamentally changed everything for me,” Kilen said.
Kilen didn’t care to declare his home run streak perception-changing with scouts. Scouts will decide whatever they want to about him. He plans to keep showing up and doing his job to help the Vols win, which includes a hefty dose of hitting.
The ball that careened into the upper deck at Daikin Park on Friday can speak for itself.
Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on X @ByMikeWilson or Bluesky @bymikewilson.bsky.social. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it.