2 Tennessee players Tony Vitello would love for SF Giants to take in MLB Draft

The MLB Draft will be here in a few months and it will be the first draft in which the SF Giants have manager Tony Vitello in the fold. The organization has obviously been a fan of the University of Tennessee program in recent years as evidenced by their acquisition of players like Drew Gilbert and Blade Tidwell via trade as well as drafting players like Gavin Kilen and, of course, their hiring of Vitello as manager.

It would not shock anyone if the Giants drafted at least one or two Vols in this year's draft and they may target the two most interesting products out of Tennessee.

2 Tennessee products Giants may target in 2026 MLB Draft

RHP Tegan Kuhns

The Giants could use some more promising pitchers in the organization and Tegan Kuhns could be a nice target for the team. He had a 5.40 ERA in 2025 with Vitello as his coach. He had 40 strikeouts and 16 walks in 36 and 2/3 innings pitched.

Those weren't the most promising results, but he looked much better in the Cape Cod League over the summer as he had a 1.35 ERA in three starts.

This season for the Vols he has improved and has a 3.13 ERA in 72 innings pitched. He's a promising right-handed arm with a lot of velocity and he has 95 strikeouts this season compared to 13 walks so the command seems to be much better.

Some think he could sneak into the first round so he could be a guy the Giants take with the No. 29 overall pick they acquired in the recent trade with the Cleveland Guardians for Patrick Bailey.

3B Henry Ford

No, this guy did not start a car company but he does have some impressive power. Ford transferred to Tennessee from the University of Virginia ahead of the 2026 season and he's had a solid year. He's hitting .290/.350/.570 with 16 home runs and 50 runs batted in.

He's playing third base for the most part, but some think he is probably better suited to be a left fielder as a professional.

He's 6-foot-5 and weighs 220 pounds. The 21-year-old is a big guy so if he hits a lot of homers in the minors it is easy to imagine him rising through the ranks pretty quickly. He's projected to go a bit later in the draft.

The Giants likely aren't going to only draft Tennessee players because of Vitello, but he is familiar with these guys so if he is high on them then that may play a role in whether they take a chance on them if they are still on the board when San Francisco picks.

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