Almost exactly one year after helping lead Tennessee to its first national championship,
Christian Moore will get his shot in the Major Leagues after officially being called up by the Los Angeles Angels on Friday.
Moore is set to be the third VFL to make his MLB debut this season, along with pitchers Chase Dollander (Rockies) and Blade Tidwell (Mets), as he joins the Angels for a seven-game road trip that begins Friday afternoon in Baltimore before a four-game set against the Yankees in his home state of New York starting on Monday.
Moore is the ninth Vol in the
Tony Vitello era to make it to the Majors, joining Garrett Crochet (2020), Ben Joyce (2023), Andre Lipcius (2023), Trey Lipscomb (2024), Jordan Beck (2024), Seth Halvorsen (2024), Dollander (2025) and Tidwell (2025).
In 79 minor league games played, Moore slashed .302/.382/.475 with an .857 OPS.
He scored 54 runs and had 92 hits, including 14 doubles and 11 home runs, to go along with 52 RBIs during his rapid accession to the big leagues, spending two games with the Single-A Inland Empire 66ers, 55 games with the Double-A Rocket City Trash Pandas and 20 contests with the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees before getting called up.
The Brooklyn, New York, native, became the 20
th first-round pick in program history and the highest drafted Volunteer under Vitello and his staff when he was selected No. 8 overall in the 2024 MLB Draft by Los Angeles. He is the fifth player from the 2024 MLB Draft class to make it to the Majors.
A consensus first-team All-American at Tennessee during his junior year in 2024, Moore posted one of the most prolific offensive seasons in program history, setting single-season records for home runs (34) and total bases (236) while also ranking second in UT history in hits (111), third in runs scored (83) and seventh in RBIs (74). He is the program's career leader in homers (61) and also ranks top five in Tennessee history in runs scored (179), extra-base hits (100), total bases (438) and walks (115).
Moore is the 51
st VFL in program history to make it to the big leagues and joins Beck (Rockies), Crochet (Red Sox), Dollander (Rockies) and Halvorsen (Rockies) as current major leaguers who played at Tennessee.