Tennessee Baseball recruiting: 3 high school prospects Tony Vitello can target ft. Ryan Williams

Modified Jun 18, 2024 04:43 GMT

Tony Vitello has done the unthinkable by guiding his Tennessee Volunteers baseball team to their third College World Series in four years this season. While managing the ongoing campaign, Vitello also has his eye out for high school prospects who are NCAA-caliber recruits.

With that in mind, here are the three recruits the Vols should have their eyes on for the 2024-25 recruiting cycle.

Three high-school prospects Tony Vitello can target

3. Neil Gornto, St. Joseph

Neil Gornto looks to deliver a curveball for a strike at a recent game. (Photo Credit: Neil Gornto Sr. via x.com)

Not many high school pitchers can master a breaking curveball. St. Joseph's Academy's (St. Augustine, FL) right-handed pitcher Neil Gornto is among the few who can drop a mid-70 mph curve right off the table. He also has a top-out fastball in the low 90 mph range that can freeze opposing batters when needed.

With these skills, Gornto has a 1.04 ERA, four wins and one loss in 27 innings pitched over 10 games. Gornto has another year to improve his stats, which include 39 strikeouts, a .778 fielding percentage and a 167. batting average.

2. Michael Olender, Hun School

Michael Olender looks to swing for the fences in a recent game for the Hun School (Richfield, NJ). Olender is currently one of the leading New Jersey-based outfielders that is on the MLB Draft Board coming out of High School (Photo Credit: Michael Olender via x.com)

Michael Olender, from The Hun School (Princeton, NJ), is a senior Outfielder who declared open season on opposing pitchers this past season. He is logging 76 at-bats with 26 runs scored, 28 hits and 16 RBIs. His on-base stats read like a player ready for the big leagues: he notched 20 singles, 6 doubles, 14 walks, 9 stolen bases, was hit by a pitch twice, and launched two home runs.

By the end of the 2023-24 season, he had a .368 batting average and a .526 slugging percentage.

1. Ryan Williams, St. Augustine

Ryan Williams, a 1st Baseman from St. Augustine Prep (Richland, NJ), works out during a recent camp. (Photo credit: x.com/Ryan Williams)

As per perfectgame.org, 6-foot-tall Ryan Williams is a top recruit to watch in New Jersey. He plays first base, with a 1.000 fielding percentage and a .227 on-base percentage. He has a .190 batting average across 21 career at-bats. His 60-yard dash time is 7.16 seconds.

According to his Twitter account, there has been no recruitment news as of yet. Coach Vitello needs to act quickly in order to secure the athlete's services.