As Tennessee heads into conference play later this week, new faces will see SEC action for the first time. For junior transfer Andrew Fischer, that won’t be the case.
Fischer, an Ole Miss and Duke transfer, has plenty of experience against top-end baseball programs. After spending last season with the Rebels, he has made an immediate impact for Tennessee, starting all 17 games after landing in Knoxville in early July.
The Manasquan, New Jersey native had another solid outing on Tuesday evening, going 1-for-3 at the plate but sending his lone hit over the left field fence.
“I just got a good pitch early in the count,” Fischer said after the game. “I saw a heater elevated before that and got a good look at it.”
That two-run knock on Tuesday evening is just another tally on Fischer’s home run count. Through the 17 games the Vols have played this year, the transfer has made a trip around the bases seven times.
After sending a ball into the right field stands in his second at-bat in a Tennessee uniform, he went on a slump. He batted .210, logging four hits over the next nine games. Through that same timeframe, he also walked 12 times and scored 11 runs.
The breakthrough came at the end of the Vols’ series in Houston, Texas on March 2. In his second at-bat against Arizona, he launched a ball into right field to end the drought.
Since that game, he has mashed five more home runs in six games, including a two-run shot to start the afternoon for the Vols against West Georgia.
“Nothing specific has changed,” Fischer said. “All these hits will even out as the season goes on.”
He later doubled down on that statement, saying how he just tries to be the same every day.
“I try to be the same guy every day with the same approach and same personality,” Fischer said. “Same everything, so it’s just where the chips are falling right now for me.”
While he tries his best to be the same guy every day, he doesn’t have that luxury on defense. Tennessee’s coaching staff have tried Fischer’s hand in many different positions, some in the outfield, but primarily in the infield.
Fischer spent all last season at third base for Ole Miss, starting 43 games there for the Rebels. Since he has become a Vol, most of his action comes at the other corner. On Tuesday evening, he logged another start at first base, a position he’s been getting comfortable with since the beginning of the season.
“With reps, it’s helping,” he said. “Whatever they ask me to do, I just go out there and try to do it to the best of my ability.”
Head coach Tony Vitello likes what he sees out of Fischer at first base as well.
“He’s older than those kids, but he plays with a kind of that natural confidence,” Vitello said. “As a coach, you’re getting sped up because you want everything to be perfect, but he doesn’t seem to get sped up. He’s got a real fun balance of the intensity like Drew Gilbert vibes, and he also has the Luc Lipcius little leaguer vibe too.”
He has also logged action at other positions this season, namely third base and right field. While Fischer has had action in other positions, Vitello knows there is one position he cannot play Fischer.
“He loves going out to left field, but I don’t know we can put him out there anymore,” Vitello said. “Him and those people in the porches, that’s a match made in heaven for hanging out at Rooster’s [Bar], but not on the ball field”
The Vols open SEC play this weekend, hosting the Florida Gators in Knoxville from March 14 to March 16.
