Tennessee gets infusion of top talent who chose Knoxville over the MLB Draft
Published:
Tennessee was rewarded on MLB Draft weekend in Philadelphia, but not because of the Volunteers who were moving on to the professional ranks.
Instead, Josh Elander’s program was gifted with 5 players who will be heading to Knoxville to play next season instead of heading to the pros. The list of 5 standouts is headlined by catcher Sean Dunlap, who was among the top-100 MLB prospects who will instead be infusing Elander’s team with talent for another College World Series run in 2027.
Dunlap announced on Sunday he was withdrawing from the MLB Draft after not being selected in the first 10 rounds of the draft that concluded later Sunday. The Indiana product revealed his decision on social media after being 1 of the top position players that Tennessee boasted in its 2026 recruiting class.
Perfect Game ranked Dunlap as the No. 2 catcher and No. 38 recruit in the country.
The other top-100 prospects who will be heading to Tennessee include the right-handed trio of Gannon Grant (No. 77 prospect), Shawn Sullivan (No. 78) and Gary Morse (No. 94).
There was more good news for Elander and the Volunteers on Sunday, with signee AJ Curry also turning down the MLB Draft in favor of heading to Knoxville next season. Curry told Volquest of his decision on Sunday. He was 1 of 11 Tennessee signees who were invited to the MLB Draft Combine that led up to this weekend’s draft.
Curry is a left-handed hitting prospect ranked 48th in the country, according to Perfect Game. The California product is a versatile player, too, being a combo outfielder/first baseman.
Tennessee fell short of getting to Omaha this past season, but the infusion of talent that it received this weekend should help boost its chances for a solid run at Omaha in 2027.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
