Blaine Brown will return to Tennessee baseball for the 2027 season, the soon-to-be junior indicated June 12 on Instagram.
The talented two-way player started 59 games in his first season at Tennessee after transferring from Rice last offseason. Brown made 45 starts in left field, 14 at designated hitter and four starts on the mound. He pitched sparingly, however, throwing just 3.0 innings in four appearances for an ERA of 3.00.
Brown finished tied for second on the team with 13 home runs, but hit just .240 during an up-and-down debut season with the Vols. He finished SEC play with a .233 batting average, seven home runs and 18 RBIs. The transfer struck out 36 times in conference games to finish with a .313 on-base percentage.
The left-handed pitcher and outfielder committed to Tennessee after a strong freshman season in which he earned all-conference honors in the American Athletic Conference. Brown was named to the All-AAC First Team as the designated hitter and also earned all-freshman honors.
Brown led Rice as a freshman in batting average (.292), hits (61), doubles (12), home runs (10), slugging (.493) and RBI (38), while making a team-leading 54 starts. He became the first Rice freshman position player since Anthony Rendon in 2009 to earn first-team all-conference honors. Brown was the first Rice freshman overall to be named to an all-conference team since 2011.
On the mound, Brown made seven appearances and four starts to finish 0-1 with a 20.77 ERA. The southpaw struck out six, allowed 12 walks and gave up 10 earned runs on nine hits in 4.1 innings of work. Opponents hit .391 off him.
The 6-foot-3, 180-pound Brown signed with Rice out of Shadow Creek High School in Pearland, Texas as the No. 224 overall player in the Class of 2024, according to Perfect Game. He was ranked as the No. 39 outfielder and the No. 24 player from the Lone Star State. Brown was a district 22-6A second-team selection as a junior and senior in the Houston area. He was ranked No. 285 on Perfect Game's MLB Draft Top 400 coming out.
Brown's father, Chris Brown, was an All-American running back at Colorado and was a third-round pick by the Tennessee Titans in the 2003 NFL Draft. He played five seasons in Nashville.