Former NC State catcher Cannon Peebles commits to Tennessee

Tennessee will start the day seeing one side of the transfer portal and they’ll end it by seeing the other. The portal giveth and the portal taketh — tonight it gives Tennessee a catcher with some serious pop at the plate.

Cannon Peebles, fresh off of his freshman year with the Wolfpack, has committed to play for Tony Vitello and the Volunteers tonight.

Peebles, a switch hitter, started 30 games for NC State this past season. He got nine starts at catcher, while spending the rest of his time as the team’s designated hitter. Peebles ended up hitting .352 on the year, driving in 50 runs for the Wolfpack. He hit 12 homeruns in just 142 at bats as a true freshman. Peebles now heads to Knoxville to play in the hitter-friendly Lindsey Nelson.

Peebles was first-team All-State, first-team All-Metro, and first-team All-Region in the high school ranks in Virginia. He led Hanover High School to a Class 4 State Championship as a senior, where he hit .534. Peebles was ranked as the top catcher in the state of Virginia coming out of high school.

Following his efforts with NC State in 2023, Peebles was named to the NCBWA first-team All-American squad. He also was named to the All-ACC Freshman team.

He put together his best outing of the season against NJIT, where he went a perfect 6-6 with a staggering ten RBIs.

Tennessee had a weakness in the lineup at catcher this season, where Cal Stark hit just .180 on the year. The Vols needed more bats in the lineup, and Vitello certainly got one here.

Peebles is Tennessee’s second addition out of the transfer portal so far. The Vols picked up a commitment from Jacksonville State pitcher AJ Causey last week, but lost star pitcher Chase Burns to the portal this week. Reserves Jake Fitzgibbons, Hollis Fanning, Jacob Bimbi, Shawn Scott, Turner Swistak and outfielder Alex Stanwich have also hit the portal.

Expect plenty more movement over the next couple of weeks, with the portal set to stay open through July 13th.