Tennessee baseball pitcher Anson Seibert will not be with the Vols during the upcoming 2026 season as he steps away from the program for personal reasons, GoVols247 has learned from multiple sources with direct knowledge of the situation. The redshirt freshman could return to the Vols in the future.
The sources chose to speak with GoVols247 on condition of anonymity because Seibert has not announced his move publicly.
Seibert redshirted last season during his freshman campaign while Tennessee advanced to its fifth straight super regional. He missed fall practice earlier this semester due to an elbow procedure. The right-hander was expected to be ready in time for the start of the 2026 season.
The Overland Park, Kans. native was one of Tennessee’s top prospects in its Class of 2024. Perfect Game ranked Seibert as the No. 35 overall player in the country, the No. 8 right-handed pitcher and the No. 1 player from Kansas. He was a key piece to UT’s signing class that ranked No. 1 in the country.
The Detroit Tigers selected the 6-foot-8, 235-pounder in the 16th round of the 2024 MLB Draft with the No. 476 overall pick. Seibert elected not to sign with the Tigers. He also turned down several opportunities earlier in the draft.
“Seibert teamed with Royals 2021 second-rounder Ben Kudrna to lead Blue Valley Southwest (Overland Park) to the Kansas 5-A state championship as a freshman, then, as a sophomore, helped the Timberwolves repeat,” MLB.com wrote about Seibert at the time. “He emerged early as a potential first-rounder for the 2024 Draft, though his stock dipped a bit during an inconsistent summer on the showcase circuit heading into his senior year. There still are few pitchers in this class who can match his combination of size and stuff when he’s on, though his status was clouded when he left a mid-April start with what initially was diagnosed as a flexor strain.”
Seibert was ranked as the No. 108 overall prospect in MLB.com’s 2024 prospect rankings heading into the draft.
“While Seibert’s fastball can climb to 97 mph, it’s more notable for the carry he creates with an extremely high slot and tremendous extension, products of his 6-foot-8 frame,” MLB.com wrote. “He’ll sit at 92-94 mph in the early innings before his velocity tapers off, and the unreliability of his secondary pitches is also a concern. He lacks consistent feel for a low-80s slider that has good shape at times but also can get slurvy, and he doesn’t trust his mid-80s changeup.”
Tennessee begins year one of the Josh Elander era the weekend of Feb. 13 when it hosts Nicholls at Lindsey Nelson Stadium for a three-game series. The Vols will also host Kent State and Wright State for non-conference series before they begin SEC play March 13 at Georgia. They’ll travel to Arlington, Texas at the end of February to face UCLA, Arizona State and Virginia Tech in the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series.