Major League Baseball still remains in a lockout; and with fans left to find alternative sources to quell their baseball thirst, college baseball is the savior. And with the college baseball season starting back up this weekend, viewers were quick to spot some similarities with a star pitcher. The Tennessee Volunteers took the diamond with Chase Dollander on the mound, and viewers could’ve sworn they saw deGrom incarnate.
Dollander is part of a star pitching lineup of the Vols, featuring alongside Chase Burns and Blade Tidwell. Chase Dollander, however, captured people’s attention online with his performance in the second game. With clips fast surfacing online, he has drawn comparisons with one of the game’s greats in Jacob deGrom of the New York Mets. Dollander threw up striking stats and if it is any indication of things to come, Tennessee fans can get hyped.
Jacob DeGrom has registered faster pitches in the past, but Dollander is only just getting started. Hitting the heady heights of 98 mph pitches only in college can surely be indicative of Dollander’s ceiling if he makes it big.
Chase Dollander draws deGrom comparisons
Dollander took the mound in a stunning display. Allowing only 3 runs in his performance from the mound, the crucial portion was that Dollander only conceded 4 hits. It was his strikeout record that shone too, with 11 batters to his name. And with an almost unhittable pace, his fastball was clocking speeds as high as 98 mph.
But apart from his record, it was Dollander’s actions that really garnered attention from social media. His pitching action seems to be an almost exact replica of Jacob deGrom’s. And with a compact wind-up and a solid release, the similarity in mechanics was reportedly really intriguing to pundits. Some even went as far as to compare the two very closely together.
Hailing from Evans, Georgia, the sophomore pitcher was impressive in his initial starts and will look to build on his performances as the season grows. The curious part about Dollander is that he had conceded only a single hit in his first 5 innings before slipping up in his 6th and failing to record an out. Notably, Dollander returned to the bullpen at the bottom of the 6th.
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The Tennessee Vols made their way to the College World Series last year and will be looking to repeat that feat this year too. However, they have lost a fair few players to the MLB Draft, and they will need to reinforce their pitching depth if they want to grow this season too! Do you see Dollander doing well if drafted?
