Evan Blanco (March 26, 2026)

Sunday starter Evan Blanco is the next guest for Kiv's Korner, presented by Calhoun's.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Kibb's Corner is presented by Cal Who's Nine to Area Locations in Knoxville. A taste of Tennessee, Cal Hood. Kibb's Corner is a show within a show, and it's all about Ross Kivitt, Tennessee assistant baseball coach, recruiting coordinator. It is his show. He lines up the guest, he does the interviews. I merely tell him when he has to go to break. Ross, welcome back. Congratulations on a winning weekend over Missouri. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 0:36

A big part of the reason why is because of our next guest. If you don't mind, I'll introduce him to left-handed pitcher from Boston, Massachusetts, out just outside of Boston, Massachusetts. He comes to us after three years at the University of Virginia. So he's a transfer student athlete. Our Sunday starter, who had a great, great, great game this past Sunday against Missouri, Evan Blanco. We'll golf clap? Yeah, you can go. Well, everyone's clapping. You just can't at home. Right. Yeah. I appreciate you having me. They're eating Calhouns and clapping in between bites because they haven't. But Evan, welcome to the corner. My first question is a hard-hitting one. You grew up playing what I consider the hardest sport to play. Ice hockey. How does ice hockey help with your approach to pitching?

SPEAKER_00 1:25

I think that my experience with hockey, just because you need to make split split-second decisions, like it makes the game of baseball feel that much slower. Like I grew up playing hockey for nearly eight years, and the decisions that you need to make in that game are incredibly fast compared to like thinking about a pitch or like what plays coming next.

SPEAKER_02 1:44

So you're saying the 20-second clock doesn't speed you up quite like uh how it might some of your freshman teammates?

SPEAKER_00 1:51

No. I mean, I I do have a pitch clock violation this year, but I mean which is kind of inexcusable.

SPEAKER_02 1:57

But if you're not trying, then you know everyone's got one under their belt. What about the competitiveness, the toughness part? Because that's one thing I really appreciate about Evan is he's always grabbing the ball, knocking on wood. He he's available and he's not a he doesn't give in. You pitched in a monsoon in Georgia and had one of your better outings. And I just think maybe the dropping the mitts at an early age has helped you be competitive on the mound.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

I think so. I mean, there are there are instances in hockey where you're always like, whether it's battling in the corners, like you kind of need to fight for yourself and fight for your team. And that's something that's kind of instilled in me based off of my experiences that I've had before college baseball. So that hockey is definitely a big part of that.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

I have one more before you go. Go right ahead. When you're going through the process, because it's a little different than a guy that's been one year out of school or even two. You've spent three years, you've had success. Your coach does leave, so I'm sure that's a point of it. But you're going into the portal. What are you kind of looking for for your last year?

SPEAKER_00 2:56

Yeah, I was looking for a place that was already established. Um, I wanted to go win at a place like Tennessee that already had a winning culture. And the culture from where I was coming from is a little bit different than here. Like you guys treat us like professionals, you guys treat us like we're the real deal, like we're players, like where we want to go. And I felt like that was something that would be super beneficial for my development, but also what a team, like a winning, a winning team would you know benefit from?

SPEAKER_02 3:22

Question one a coach Keith, onto my last question. Keep going, it's your show. How has the relationship with you and Coach Reynolds kind of sparked or or rejuvenated what we've saw out of you, your freshman year and parts of even your sophomore and junior season that you're showing consistently now? Is it a communication thing? Is it just kind of how he preps your your weekly schedule? Is it maybe the weight room with Keegan? What's kind of re-jumped what we already knew was in there?

SPEAKER_00 3:52

Yeah, I kind of think it's like a holistic approach to everything. Like whether it's communicating with Ren, well, like in between innings, him saying, like, hey, that fastball needs to be here, opposed to me just putting it over the plate for a strike. Um, you know, kind of realizing like what my mistakes are and kind of trying to fine-tune the little things. We work on mechanics basically every single day, think uh trying to make like consistent shapes with my fastball. So I think consistent communication with him is super important, but also the Keegan, he's the real deal. And like that's a dude that came from a big league club. Like he has all the experience in the world and he has worked with the best. And if you want to be the best, then you got to be around those type of people.

SPEAKER_01 4:29

As the game three starter, how do you watch games one and two in the series? Good one.

SPEAKER_00 4:35

Yeah, that is a good question. And I'm journalist, yeah. This guy's also trained professional. You know, the two guys that we have going before me, and even the relievers, like we all have different stuff, and especially me. So um, the things that I kind of look for are like who's swinging the first pitches, like, is this guy a small ball guy? Is he running? Um, stuff like that. Because I know that Tegan and Landon, they have incredible stuff, and it's a little bit different than mine. So I can't really judge like if they're just blowing guys away with the heater, like that might not be my game, but that's their game.

SPEAKER_02 5:05

Finesse is still cool. It is. It's finesse, he's throwing 93 miles per hour at Georgia, Mike. It's not like I mean 86. No offense to anyone that throws the whole thing is get him out.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

Yeah, right. That's right. That's all it comes down to. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 5:21

Yeah, and that's all I'm trying to do, whether it's you know, by a first pitch pop-out or a strikeout, like I'm just trying to collect outs as quick as possible.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

From your standpoint, when you go seven and two-thirds and you have five strikeouts, that means you're moving the ball around, giving the guys behind you a chance to play in that Missouri game that you just won. Was that your best performance of the year in terms of not just the stuff, but what your approach was and how you handled Missouri?

SPEAKER_00 5:48

I think it absolutely was. And like my game plan going into it was I knew that they were gonna give me swings early in the count. So as long as I was over the plate and hitting my spots, I knew that I would find success, especially with the guys that we have behind me. Like I trust Manny made a few great plays, uh, Garrett out in center. So those types of dudes like playing behind me, I'm super grateful for. So I think that it's just a combination of everything.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

People ask me this all the time. When when you say I'm trying to get swings early, you had 14 fly ball or pop-up outs. When guys are swinging and they're you know, they're missing up, do you adjust your stuff, or do you feel like, okay, now I know my stuff's on because they're clipping it, they're not getting it square? Because usually in games, you'll see you gave up the solo jack, which was a bomb. But hey, whatever. Solo homers, they don't beat you. The Max Scherzer approach. But when when you're kind of attacking, do you feel like your heater is on because they're getting the ball in the air? Or would you like to obviously you didn't it yesterday, but would is that an adjustment?

SPEAKER_00 6:53

Yeah, I think for me specifically, but also every pitcher, if your heater is in the zone consistently, you're hitting your spots, like you're gonna find success at some point. I mean, they might get a few hits, but if you are consistently hitting your spots with your fastball, it makes your breaking stuff better. Um, and like I said, like just early outs, that's the key to the deal.

SPEAKER_02 7:11

How about having a full house at 1 p.m. on a Sunday? People coming from church and juicing up the stadium. Does the vibe is it a little bit different than maybe not particular with Virginia, but maybe the difference in SEC and ACC that all three games are packed to the fullest, especially in Knoxville?

SPEAKER_00 7:30

Yeah, from what I've seen so far, like the atmosphere is I mean, even in Georgia too, like just in these two weekends, like the atmosphere, like the the fans are super engaged, like they understand the game of baseball. Um, and it does make a big difference when that stadium's full. Like, we we definitely do feed off of that energy. So, you know, the more the merrier. You were asked after the game.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

What you thought things would be like for you watching Tennessee play Virginia in basketball, considering that you spent three years at Virginia and now you're at Tennessee. You gave kind of an interesting answer. Uh-oh. Well, so so here's one of more Rick Barnes fans on this. Yeah, we're Rick Barnes fans. Understood. Uh that's cool. But as you, I'm assuming you watched the game. I did. Okay. As you watched the game, was it different than you thought it would be watching your old school play against your new school?

SPEAKER_00 8:21

It was a little different. Um, you know, the the Virginia style of play that I'm used to is like slow basketball, like very defensive approach. It's a little bit different this year now that I don't follow them. Like, I'm I do follow Tennessee basketball like this year. I don't follow Virginia basketball. I don't follow Virginia anything. So try and put the Twitter followers up.

SPEAKER_02 8:40

I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00 8:41

Nice go vols. But um, yeah, it was a little bit different, and especially because it was a school that I used to root for, and now that like this is the school that I bleed orange for. It was definitely a cool moment once we uh once we got that win.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

But you don't know anybody on their team. I know a couple kids, but not guys who play because they don't they all transfer. Yeah, they don't play yeah, they don't play anyone who was even there last year. Of course, their season's over now, but that's a different story. Right. Shout out Rick, shout out Balls.

SPEAKER_02 9:11

It's a shout-out show, Newton. Yeah, shout out Bishop Boswell. If you asked Henry Ford, you could call him out here. If you asked Henry Ford the same question, is he uh is he on board? Remember, he's from Charlottesville, Virginia.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

That's a different story. He's like the real thing.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

He's like he's a he's definitely a Who's basketball fan. I as much as that pains me to say, that dude.

SPEAKER_02 9:34

Well, he got a mean text from me last night. Yeah, I said, good season, it's over.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

Yeah, wow. Shout out Rick. Shout out Rick, shout out Bishop Boswell.

SPEAKER_02 9:42

I kind of got a fun one too, not to change the subject too much, but being left-handed, do you get offended? Because you you're a smart cat and you're not as goofy as most lefties, like an Appenseller or maybe I don't know, Tracy. Yeah, Tracy's goofy. Do you get do you get offended? Taylor Tracy. Taylor Tracy. He's throwing on some twos, Dave. Yeah, sure. Lane doesn't really count. He's more of a hitter. Do you get offended when people go, oh, he's left-handed?

SPEAKER_00 10:05

Some people might you know consider jealousy. Other people might think that that you know, we're we're weird. Are you jealous that he's left-handed? We're a commodity. I'm jealous he's tall. I don't know about that. Taller.

SPEAKER_02 10:18

He's taller. Taller compared to a mid-year-old. Yeah. That was an indirect year. 12 years ago, Bill.

SPEAKER_01 10:26

Oh no, no, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_02 10:27

I eat too much Calhoun's. Everyone thinks I'm I'm short, but I'm really 6'2. Are you actually? I'm just round. That's the problem.

SPEAKER_01 10:33

Oh, we gotta check his ID. I don't know if he's 6'2. Well, that one of the players for Virginia on Sunday night was listed. Malik Thomas, he was listed at 6'5. And Chris Lofton and I are sitting there going, 6'5? In what universe? This guy's lucky to be 6'10. I mean, some of the lies about height are some of the greatest things. But it needs the ABS. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:55

Bregman, he's listed at like three inches shorter than he was last year for the major leagues now. Okay. And measuring it to like the millimeter. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:02

Like Bregman is like three inches shorter than he was last year.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

Well, see, I had Bregman in a regional when he was at LSU, and he was listed as something. I'm like, no, he's yeah. He's five. He's a good player, great player.

SPEAKER_02 11:17

Tell Coach Keith who you get uh some people misconstrue you with all the time, especially in Boston.

SPEAKER_00 11:23

This guy calls me Bregman all the time. Nice.

SPEAKER_02 11:25

I'm not the only one.

SPEAKER_00 11:26

Walking around the city when you were with your cupcake, they called you out for they thought you were Bregman. Especially without the mustache.

SPEAKER_02 11:33

I was gonna get to the mustache. What is it with mustache? He's right and left handers, left handers and mustache. He's competing with Kirby actually.

SPEAKER_00 11:40

I'm not comp hey that that guy, that mustache is a staple in Knoxville. I'm not I'm not competing with him. Kirby Connell.

SPEAKER_02 11:47

Yeah, yeah. What's trained? Kirby's like seal. They know who Kirby is because of the stash. Right. But you're trying.

SPEAKER_00 11:55

Yours is a little more Luigi. It is. Some people are drawing some comparisons to Mario. I wouldn't I wouldn't say I'm in the same category as Kirby, but I'm I'm definitely I'm trying. Go back to the left-handers.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

No, because I'm just I'm dying to know this. Why is it so many left-hand pitchers are just wacky humid bigs? Because it's true.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

Isn't there something like they use the right side of the brain? Like it's a different but it is a thing. It is, yeah. The the weirdos that I've seen in on a baseball team, they're all lefty.

SPEAKER_02 12:27

They are always.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

That's just the way it is.

SPEAKER_02 12:31

But they're always a hot commodity, too, because we're always looking for them in recruiting.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

The only one that I know who wasn't was Todd Hilton.

SPEAKER_02 12:37

He was, but he was more of a hitter.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

He's a hitter. He's more of a hitter.

SPEAKER_02 12:40

Did he pitch here too? Yeah. He did. He's his number's on the wall. You need to Google that. He's a he's a man of the world.

SPEAKER_01 12:46

What they used to do with him was the great. You'll love this story. I tell this story once in a while. So he closed for Tennessee. So Dave Serrano. Shout out Dave Serrano. One of the greatest. Dave Johnson University is doing a great job, Dave. Shout out. Dave's great. So Dave was a pitching coach. He would start walking out to the mound, and somebody from the dugout would throw Helton a ball. And Matt Whitley, the shortstop, would get down in the catcher's stance. Because Helton was first base. Because Helton played first base. And so Helton would start throwing to Whitley. Low slot, too. Yeah. 94 probably. No, no, I mean firmer than that? 74. I mean, that was what was so great about Ty. And he had like, oh, he's his changeup was like 42 miles an hour. It was beautiful. Anyway, the other team would get so mad. Oh, they would be furious. You can't let him do that. You can't let him. Oh, because of the warm-up pitches? Yeah. Oh. Oh, yeah, yeah. And Dave's walk to the mound took like 25 minutes. Yeah. I mean, he's like, tie in his shoe. Oh, yeah. He got a little cough. You know. And so he would he would take forever and he'd stand there and talk. Home plate umpire would have to come out and throw him out.

SPEAKER_02 14:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:03

And so just as he got to the top step of the dugout to go back in, here came Rod Delmonico. Shout out, D. Coach D. Yeah. Hi Rod, baby. Going into the UT Athletics Hall of Fame, by the way. Yes, he is. Well deserved. So congratulations. So D would then come out and you know he would go fast because then they'd get tied. Todd would throw eight pitches, he'd be ready to go. And the other team, he was in their head. Right. Yeah. Which is kind of one of those great baseball things strategy. Yeah. Because I mean, when you know you've got a guy, when you know that guy's sitting up there, he has no idea what you're doing. How do you avoid getting too cued in those moments?

SPEAKER_00 14:46

It all comes down to throwing strikes. Like people like you're gonna have all the stuff in the world, but if you don't throw strikes, then you're not gonna you're not gonna find success. So I mean, if if a guy's guessing at the plate, then you know, if you put over the plate, then he's gonna have a hard time to hit it.

SPEAKER_02 15:00

You've had some adversity throughout your four years. Your freshman year was outstanding, a little bit slower the next two, and now you like I've said earlier, you're kind of rejuvenated. Is there anything particular mindset-wise, or maybe that you did this summer or in your in your fall, which was probably your least normal fall of four years, I would imagine.

SPEAKER_00 15:21

Definitely.

SPEAKER_02 15:22

Is there anything that kind of clicked when you got onto Rocky Top?

SPEAKER_00 15:26

Yeah, I'd say that um definitely last year I kind of put some unnecessary pressure on myself, and I kind of got away from enjoying the game for what it was. And now that I'm here, like I absolutely love the game of baseball again. Like I I'm excited to show up to the field every day. Like I want to be out there every day, like I want the ball every day. So I'm just playing the game like I'm 12 years old again.

SPEAKER_02 15:49

Not to try to pigeonhole you into one team drafting you or signing you. Are you excited about the socks? Do you think they can make a run?

SPEAKER_00 15:58

I don't know. I mean, the pitching staff's great, so I'm excited to see those ones.

SPEAKER_02 16:01

Who's your favorite pitcher on the pitching staff?

SPEAKER_00 16:03

Garrett Crochet. Shout out Garrett Crochet, BFL. There's only one answer.

SPEAKER_02 16:07

BFL, big and bald, but beautiful, baby. We love you, Garrett. Thanks for the suits. State in Liberty, he purchased suits for everybody for our charter flights. Nice. Yeah, they're really nice, they're custom made. They got around the Calhoun's body. I'm gonna have to go one time a week instead of two. There you go. Very generous to the program. We are appreciative of him. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

What does it mean to have a guy from your program on your favorite team? And oh, by the way, he's a left-hand pitcher.

SPEAKER_00 16:37

It's it's amazing. I mean, especially the stories that I've heard from him when or about him when he was here, knowing that like he dealt with adversity basically his whole time here. Yeah, and then he trusted the course and trusted this coaching staff, and then eventually blossomed into the stud that he is today.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

Yeah, he throws 118 miles an hour. I heard that's pretty good.

SPEAKER_02 16:57

It's crazy with his left arm, but he's not normal. You're such an interesting guy, and you're really smart and you have a lot of feel. What's something that you want to do after you're done pitching?

SPEAKER_00 17:08

I don't know. I always see myself in the sports world, like whether it's you know, coaching or you know, being a voice somewhere or working in the business side of things, but I definitely love the game of baseball and want to be around it as much as well.

SPEAKER_02 17:19

Yeah, you have a fun personality, he's fun to come to the yard and and and shoot the ish with, especially if it's about sports. He's really good at it. You kind of give me like uh a McAfee minion vibe.

SPEAKER_00 17:31

Like you can I'm a huge McAfee guy, so that I take a shout out Pat McAfee, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:36

Ish, unless you come on Kipp's quarter, then shout out Pat anything about Knoxville that you want to get out there that you didn't expect or that you might have expected, you're like, this is amazing. This is why I would live here after I was done pitching.

SPEAKER_00 17:49

After I'm done pitching, I would absolutely come back to Knoxville. But this this place, I mean, on my when I came here this summer on my official visit, I was here for no more than what 20 hours. And so I was limited to what I could see. But uh yeah, the city of Knoxville is amazing, especially like it's a lot bigger than I thought it was to where like you could go out to like Farragut or like me and my friends golf like 40 minutes away, and people are so welcoming in the community. And I think that's the biggest part about this place is the community. Like, I never expected everyone around this place to kind of revolve around the University of Tennessee because it wasn't really like that anywhere else that I experienced. So, for this community to be as bought in into Tennessee as they are, it's it's definitely special.

SPEAKER_02 18:28

My last one is a fun one about golf. This group loves the golf, it's starting to really heat up here in Knoxville. The weather's been beautiful. I know that you guys like to go out on Monday specifically. What's your best round? What course are you looking forward to playing over the next 10 weeks? And who maybe it's your a guy that you like to go out with, or who's maybe the best stick on the team?

SPEAKER_00 18:50

I haven't gone out with him, but I've heard that Cam Appenzeller is he's the real deal when it comes to golf. And I hate to say it. Yeah, he gets a lot of credit. Yeah, do you play left-handed? I do. I'm uh I'm very good with my irons. I like to play the slice with my driver, so I'm I'm aimed like way into the woods, and it'll find its way into the fairway. He's good with his irons, though, so I guess it doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_02 19:11

I'm not much of a golfer. Are you not anymore? What was your best go? Me? I'm asking the questions. It's Kiff's quarter.

SPEAKER_01 19:19

Yeah, it is Kiff's quarter. I I was not a very good golfer. You were under 20 handicapped. No, come on, well, maybe a little bit. Yeah, at one point, at one point in my life, I was yeah, I was better, but then it kind of all children kind of took it all away because you just don't have time. What's your handicap?

SPEAKER_00 19:37

I don't know what my handicap is, but my best round ever was an 84. So I'm okay. Okay. I'm honest. I'm not I'm not the best golfer, but I like to get out there. I'm a big vibes guy. Yeah, yeah. Me and Brady Frederick, we like to play a lot. We're usually in the same cart, so we both we both play for vibes.

SPEAKER_02 19:52

And he's self-proclaimed good golfer.

SPEAKER_00 19:54

He's totally he likes to say he is. Oh we we definitely we definitely pick each other up. So if I hit a bad shot, usually it's a good one. So it kind of works out.

SPEAKER_02 20:02

But total pro move, not throwing his buddy under the bus.

SPEAKER_00 20:05

Shout out Brady.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

All right, talk to us about this weekend.

SPEAKER_02 20:08

Yeah, I'm excited. Uh, Vanderbilt's a tough club, in-state rival. I think one thing about Vanderbilt is that their run game, the way that they play small ball, but they also have the ability, especially with some right-handers, to leave the yard. Pitching wise, they've been a little bit down, but they have enough in there. They always will, as long as Tim Corb is the head coach and Scott Brown's, you know, leading that staff. So it's a really tough matchup, but it's every team's good in the SEC. Um, it's fun to go down there and play in Nashville. It's usually all orange. Um, but uh, my question to you with that, how is attacking a team that likes to move the ball a little bit more rather than sit and slug? How does that affect your strategy on it?

SPEAKER_00 20:49

It really doesn't affect it at all, especially because I mean, if they're gonna play small ball, if they're gonna run a lot, like we got a guy like Levi behind the dish on the days that I pitch, we got guys up the middle like Manny and whoever's playing second that day. But um, I have all the trust in those guys to make the plays behind me and you know make sure that we control the running games well.

SPEAKER_02 21:07

How exhausting is an SEC weekend? I I thought about this driving in today is like it doesn't matter who you play on a weekend, you are just exhausted, which is why you see some teams get clipped on Tuesdays. How how is your first two weekends in this league different than maybe what an ACC schedule is?

SPEAKER_00 21:25

It is different, and like there's no there's no easy games, there's no layups in this league, and that is something that you know it was kind of new for me coming into this league. Um, you know, a team like Mizzou, like they were a very talented club, like every game was really close up until I mean Sunday was close up until one of the last innings, but um, you know, that's just something that you know we need to be magically prepared for, and especially, you know, uh by the time Sunday rolls around. I know the guys that play all three games, like they're mentally exhausted, also physically exhausted.

SPEAKER_02 21:53

So just staying in the fight is super important. How about staying locked in? Like being Being able to take punches throughout, but also having to stay locked into your scouting report and the strategy from Ren for seven and two-thirdings, two-thirds of an inning this past week. And when it's monsoon raining in Georgia, Van D is gonna be a club that puts a lot of pressure on you. How what is maybe your routine in between innings?

SPEAKER_00 22:19

Try to keep things simple. And I mean, I have a ton of time in between innings compared to hockey, like we talked about earlier. Line change. Hockey's prepared me for this.

SPEAKER_02 22:27

40 second shifts.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

Yeah, you gotta be in and out of there. But you know, with with uh in-between innings, I like to keep uh keep my heartbeat down, you know, really control uh control my breathing, but also just kind of staying present in the game and watching my guys do their thing at the plate. I feel like that keeps me centered and just keeps me kind of relaxed.

SPEAKER_02 22:44

It's for the boys. Glad to have them. It's a good thing, glad to have them.

SPEAKER_01 22:48

Glad you're here. Yeah, thank you for that. Thank you. It's really great to have a chance to talk with you and um kind of hear your story. Evan Blanco. Evan Blanco. Good Kibb's corner. That was good. It was, that was great. Thanks for having me. A lot of shout outs on this kid. A lot of shout outs. I'm sure we'll see more of that coming up.