When an athlete rehabilitates a significant injury, the physical side of the progression back is often the focal point of recovery. But lost in that equation are the mental potholes that plague the human being on the long road back.

Will Haas found himself confronting this precise problem. The lefty, having felt what he described as a “bolt of lightning” run through his arm, tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow in summer 2025, and he underwent internal brace surgery.

“It was like I was in hell staring at heaven,” Haas told The Daily Beacon.

The native of Minnesota, where he was rated as the top high school recruit in the 2025 class according to Perfect Game, was dealt a devastating blow before throwing a single collegiate pitch. For head coach Josh Elander, he lost a talented young piece of his pitching staff.

“Anytime that happens, you just feel for the player, because it’s a really, really tough deal emotionally for those guys to go through,” Elander said, “because it really becomes a 6-10 month deal where they can’t play the game that they love.”

During the fall, the rest of the team went through the fall schedule, business as usual and playing the game they loved. Meanwhile, Haas sat to the side, with his reconstructed elbow confined to a brace, and watched.

“I couldn’t stand just sitting and watching,” he said, “and I told myself I wasn’t gonna let that be what happened during the season.”

As Haas went about his rehab, he said he faced a common mental block the first few times throwing again as the fear of re-injuring his repaired elbow lingered in part of his brain. But as he got closer to his return, a different issue began to plague him.

When heaven became hell

Having sat out the early part of the season to finish his rehab, Haas finally debuted on March 4 against Oakland in Knoxville. His first impression?

“You really couldn’t script it up worse,” Haas said. “The second or third pitch I threw in college baseball got parked, and that should have been the first alarm bell.”

As Haas returned to the mound, his outings were defined by ups and downs as he sought consistency. But as he struggled to live up to his expectations, he faced an identity crisis.

“I was sitting in my room, and I was like staring up at the ceiling, and I was like, ‘Why am I trying to be someone that I’m not?’” Haas said. “I got here for a reason; I got to Knoxville by being me, and for the life of me, I couldn’t tell you why I ever tried to go away from that.”

Struggling to find himself and his consistency, the freshman was relegated to midweek appearances. But a few weeks into his return to meaningful competition, Haas found something during a practice day session of live at-bats, and his head coach noticed.

“It was like ‘Dude, that’s what it needs to be,’” Haas said. “You can’t go out there, set thinking you’re someone you’re not. You’re here for a reason, like, you’re here to be you, just be you. That was probably the turning point for me.”

Think less, throw more

While Haas fought to find himself, he said the coaching staff kept their belief in him despite his early struggles. The embattled freshman was given his first opportunity in SEC play on April 17, versus Ole Miss. There, Elander said Haas pitched with “some confidence and some swagger.”

“For us, we always knew, hey, he was gonna be great,” Elander said. “It was just a matter of when he was going to get settled in. But I think that was one that was a really good outing for him, was kind of a springboard into more innings down the stretch.”

As Haas inched closer to his old ways, he said his appearance against Presbyterian on May 5 was the first outing where he let himself feel like himself again. That day, he said he wasn’t feeling anything, which, for him, was a good sign.

“I think the best thing for pitchers to do, for me at least, is think as little as they can when they throw,” Haas said. “When you get to catching yourself up in exactly what you’re trying to do, or you’re messing with you mechanics or whatever, I think that’s where a lot of the overthinking comes into play.”

His late-season success carried into tournament play, where he was pressed into duty against South Carolina in the SEC tournament. That night, he was dominant, tossing 2.1 scoreless innings, striking out six and earning a save. For Haas, he said he was “just making pitches without thinking.”

A season reconstructed

After the season with Tennessee ended in the Chapel Hill Regional, Haas continued his work in the Appalachian League with the Johnson City Doughboys. His temporary pitching coach, Reid Casey, saw firsthand what made the lefty so dominant pre-injury.

“The first start that I saw over at Elizabethton, he threw three innings, and I don’t know that he had to throw anything other than a fastball,” Casey said. “It was that good that day.”

The final line for Haas that day was three scoreless innings, with just two hits surrendered and six strikeouts.

“I see a very professional approach, and that’s what you gotta have at this level, especially at the highest collegiate level where he’s playing, is it takes a very professional approach,” Casey said.

Haas finished his summer work with an appearance representing the Appalachian League against the U.S. Collegiate National Team in Cary, North Carolina, with his head coach at Tennessee on hand. There, Elander said he saw Haas throwing 92 to 96 mph as his pitcher “got some really good SEC hitters out.”

With Haas back in the fold and finishing the season strongly, Elander gave multiple reasons to be confident in the Minnesota native entering next season.

“I think, No. 1, just the makeup and his competitiveness, I mean, it’s so, so important,” Elander said. “And then the stuff, objectively, whether it be from a track man or just a pure scouting perspective, is dynamic stuff, that he’s got a lot of pitches that are major league quality. So, again, he’s an easy kid to bet on, and works his tail off.”

As he continues his offseason back home in Minnesota, a sense of normalcy returns, but the work continues. Finally healthy, Will Haas is back to being Will Haas, and he looks to play a big role in the Vols’ pitching staff next season.

“Lord knows I’m going to be on the lake fishing a bunch, going golfing, spending time with my friends,” Haas said. “Of course, being in the weight room, getting the throwing done, making sure we’re attacking each day to get better, but also getting that mental break away from baseball so that when we get back in July, August, we’re ready to go for another 10 months of trying to bring home a national championship.”