Clay Edmondson committed to play college baseball at Tennessee on Thursday afternoon. However, he is currently in the middle of the regular season at a different program.
The redshirt junior committed to his new school while actively enrolled at and playing for his current school. That is exactly how it happened.
Edmondson, a native of Greensboro, North Carolina, began his college baseball career at Guilford Technical Community College in 2022. He dominated on the JUCO level as a freshman, which allowed him the opportunity to transfer up to play at UNC Asheville.
The 6-foot-2, 195-pound right-handed submarine pitcher finished with a subpar a 5.50 ERA in 72 innings as a sophomore for the Bulldogs, but he struck out 68 hitters and finished the year at 5-3. Unfortunately, his 2024 season was cut short due to an injury.
Now, as a redshirt junior, Edmondson owns a 5-1 record with a 2.01 ERA in 10 starts this season. He goes deep into games and totaled 65 strikeouts in 62.2 innings pitched so far.
Those numbers made him a hot commodity in the transfer portal. Tennessee ultimately got him to commit.
It will be interesting to see how the Volunteers choose to use him. Clay Edmondson could step right into the starting lineup as a back-end weekend guy, or he could move to the bullpen. I guess it depends on how he finishes things out this year before he moves down the mountains to Knoxville.
That is so strange to me.
Tennessee is right in the middle of SEC play. The NCAA Tournament is set to get underway at the end of next month. Head coach Tony Vitello would presumably prefer to focus on the task at hand, but he is forced to build his roster for next season while still playing this season. I get it!
And on the flip side of that conversation, Edmondson has to make a decision now before his potential suitors run out of roster spots. He is a graduate transfer so he knows that he is for sure leaving after this year— whether he chooses to play for the Volunteers or go pro. I get it!
Still, though, the timing is uncomfortable.
Edmondson is the Friday night ace for UNC Asheville. The Bulldogs have practice during the week. Their best pitcher had to dip out for the day to visit his future school while in the transfer portal. He had to announce his decision for next season with more than 10 games to go this season.
I am sure his teammates are happy for him. His coaches too. And this is not the first scenario of this kind.
That doesn’t make it less weird that Clay Edmondson committed to Tennessee while serving as the ace for UNC Asheville. It’s not his fault. It is the system that makes it weird.