Since 2022, Tennessee baseball has seen at least one player selected in the first round of the MLB Draft.
This marks now five straight seasons after right-handed pitcher Tegan Kuhns was selected on Saturday afternoon by the St. Louis Cardinals with the 32nd overall pick in the 2026 draft. Kuhns will join Liam Doyle in the Cardinals’ farm system, as he currently ranks No. 22 in the MLB Pipeline rankings.
The Vols have produced 11 total first-round picks since 2020. This is the first selection in the first round for head coach Josh Elander.
Four other arms from the Vols have been picked in the first round in the decade. Kuhns joins the likes of Doyle, Marcus Phillips, Chase Dollander and Garrett Crochet.
Kuhns scouting report
Kuhns is coming off quite an impressive sophomore season in 2026, where he headlined as the Vols’ ace throughout the season. He earned second-team All-SEC honors for his breakout year.
His growth from freshman year pops off the page. His ERA dropped from 5.40 to 3.56 while he pitched 44 more innings than the previous season. He also posted a 1.18 WHIP amidst his 15 appearances and 14 starts. The most walks Kuhns allowed came in his second start of the season, when he yielded three.
On May 8 against Texas, Kuhns locked in for one of the most lockdown Tennessee pitching performances in recent memory, striking out 15 batters in just seven innings. He walked one batter, allowed no runs and yielded just four hits.
Kuhns showed his ability to bring high-intensity, swing-and-miss action and minimal damage against the best of the best to professional baseball. Kuhns’ fastball and curveball both were graded with a 60 out of an 80 scale, according to MLB Pipeline, and while he won’t beat the batter with speed, his spin on his pitches keeps hitters off balance.
Consistency has been an issue, though. Kuhns had four games in his 2026 season where he allowed four or more runs, including a rough end-of-season stretch where he allowed 13 runs in four games. The one game of the four-game stretch he didn’t allow a run was his 15-strikeout performance against Texas.
The 21-year-old has the potential to turn into a front-rotation arm.
