FORT WORTH, Texas – Four more Tennessee Vols were selected on day two of the 2024 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft on Monday, giving them an NCAA-best eight total draft picks through the first 10 rounds.
The Volunteers’ eight picks are the program’s most ever through 10 rounds and are tied for the second most in any single draft with the 2023 and 1992 teams. Since the MLB Draft was shortened to just 20 rounds in 2021, UT has had at least seven players selected each year and leads the nation with 33 total players drafted in that span.
Three of the four Tennessee players drafted on Monday afternoon were pitchers as Drew Beam (Third Round – Kansas City Royals), AJ Causey (Fifth Round – Kansas City Royals) and Aaron Combs (Eighth Round – Chicago White Sox) were all taken to mark the fourth consecutive non-COVID year draft that the Vols have had at least three pitchers selected.
Redshirt sophomore outfielder Kavares Tears was the other Vol picked on Monday, going in the fourth round to the San Diego Padres.
UT led all programs with four picks on day one of the 2024 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, representing the most players selected through the first two rounds of any draft in program history.
For the second time in the last three years, Tennessee had two players selected in the first round of the MLB Draft, as the Vols’ dynamic duo of Christian Moore (No. 8 overall – Los Angeles Angels) and Blake Burke (No. 34 overall – Milwaukee Brewers) joined the growing list of UT first rounders.
The Vols have had at least one player selected in the first round of the MLB Draft in four of the last five years, and with Moore’s selection, have now had players picked in the top-10 overall in back-to-back drafts for the first time in program history during the modern draft era after pitcher Chase Dollander went ninth overall to the Colorado Rockies last year.
Moore and Burke, who rank first and second in program history in career home runs, are the 20th and 21st first-round picks in program history and the fifth and sixth under head coach Tony Vitello and staff.
The Big Orange also boasted two second-round picks in third baseman Billy Amick (No. 60 overall – Minnesota Twins) and outfielder Dylan Dreiling (No. 65 overall – Texas Rangers), a duo that combined to drive in 140 runs this season while helping lead Tennessee to its first National Championship in program history.
