Austin Price: Hello, everybody, and welcome in for another episode of Vol Club Confidential. I'm your host, Austin Price. The Orange and White game has just wrapped, Tennessee baseball continues on with SEC play. We'll talk about it all tonight here on the show because we'll be joined by Tennessee pitcher, Drew Beam, later on in the broadcast. But first we bring in Spyre CEO, James Clawson. James, you just wrapped up the Orange and White tailgate. Massive turnout. Advent Electric was huge in helping some underprivileged and less fortunate people get to the Orange and White game. How big was that? James Clawson: Yeah, absolutely. We had a great time at the tailgate. Obviously the Orange and White game, everything was great. We had a lot of fun. We also want to thank Advent Electric for sponsoring the tickets for our members and then also a large number of tickets to the Emerald Youth Foundation, which helped a lot of kids be able to go to a game, maybe their first game ever. So that was a cool experience. We wanted to thank them for that. Austin Price: You're now over 2,500 members. You continue to grow, continue to see more and more outreach as far as local businesses and even some corporate businesses reaching out. How big of a change is that from just a year ago? James Clawson: Well, probably a year ago, we were under 500 members. So over 2000 members and probably less than a year. So we're just trying to figure out more ways to add value to our members, whether that's more signed items coming in the mail or things where we can host. We got a couple big baseball series left, Kentucky, Mississippi State, so getting more people up to the porch or getting access to tickets and things like that. Austin Price: What's the biggest question you get from people that just don't know, are confused, just don't understand. James Clawson: Probably, "How do you decide which players? How much? What's the market rate? How do you determine that kind of stuff?" And we certainly don't have all the answers. We've leaned on our technology partner, Open Doors, which has come out with some guidance on players by position and by conference. And so that that's helped us come up with more of a model of, "Okay, we think this position is worth this, and here's what we can get out of it." Austin Price: Well, one of the more key positions in baseball is the pitcher and that's why we bring in tonight's key guest and that's Drew Beam, pitcher for the Tennessee Volunteers. Drew Beam: Hey. Austin Price: How are you? Drew Beam: Good. How are good you? Austin Price: Drew, we're a year and a half in and you've had this uber successful run as Tennessee's Sunday starter, sometimes Saturday starter, depending on when the series starts. Could you have ever envisioned this run when you missed junior year due to COVID, senior year, you had to have Tommy John surgery. You hadn't really pitched a whole lot dating back to your sophomore year and then, all of a sudden, you come in and you're a starter as a true freshman. Drew Beam: Yeah, I was dying to get back on the field after those two years missed. Obviously, the pandemic and then injury. Injury part sucked. But I was just dying to get back out there and I never knew, coming into college, what I was really expecting to be as my role. But whenever they named me the Sunday starter, I was just more than excited and I was excited to take it and run with it. Austin Price: When you sit down with Frank Anderson and he gives you the news that he wants you to be the guy that takes the ball in game three every series, what are you thinking at that point? Because you've just been on campus a few months. Drew Beam: It actually wasn't even a sit down at all. It was a- Austin Price: Hey Beam, you're getting the ball. Drew Beam: Yeah, Coach walked in Sunday morning of that first series last year and my name was on the starting pitching roll. I had an idea it was between me and one other guy and so Coach didn't want me to overthink it the night before and stuff, so I actually think it worked well. So came in, saw my name was on it and went with it, I guess. Austin Price: You see that number 32 there on the chain. That's not what you wore in high school. Drew Beam: It is not. No, Sir. Austin Price: I remember your mom being like, "I'm not sure about this," and you've kind of made that your own. 32 is Drew Beam. Drew Beam: Yeah, I love the new number. Do actually had my number from high school and that's cool. He was coming in, big name, from Georgia Southern, so they rolled 32 towards me and I was like, "Let's roll with it," and I kind of like it now. Even if I had the chance to switch, I don't think I would. Austin Price: Are you a big numbers guy? Drew Beam: Not crazy. It is what it is, really. Austin Price: So those that don't know, I've known Drew's family for a long time. First time I ever met Drew's family, Drew, you weren't there. I think you were playing baseball that day. I met your sister, Carly, who at the time was selling lemonade during basically a community yard sale and everybody was coming over and getting lemonade from her and all that stuff. For those that don't know, fill everybody in on your sister and where she's at. Drew Beam: Yeah, so my sister, she's 15 years old now. She has spinal muscular atrophy, which is better known as SMA. It's a muscular disorder and so basically, it's made her wheelchair bound since a young age. Other than that, she lives a pretty normal life. She's her cheer team's manager for Blackman High School, and then like you said, she's making lemonade for other people. She just lives a normal any other kid's life, other than the fact that she just has that boundary of being in a wheelchair. But she makes it work and she's who she is because of it. Austin Price: Is she bossy to you? Drew Beam: A little bit and she gets away with a little bit, being the younger sibling, so I kind of have to bite it and just go with it sometimes, but I guess that is what it is whenever you're an older sibling. Austin Price: When she's able to come to your games though and doesn't really miss, as big bro, how much has that kept you grounded and how much do you... Do you ever just sit around and go, "It's really kind of neat that she's able to make it to as much as she can"? Drew Beam: Oh yeah. A good or bad game, no matter what it is, she's always the first person I see after the game and it just brings a smile to my face and just lights up everybody around her, I guess. And I think everybody in Lindsey Nelson knows who she is. Everybody on campus just are starting to know who she is and her story, so just knowing that she's gone through some of these things and fights these trials and tribulations every day just helps me overcome things as they come to me. Austin Price: Yeah, and you wear the purple glove- Drew Beam: Absolutely. Austin Price: ... for SMA for- Drew Beam: Correct. Austin Price: ... for her and any other, I guess, cleats, that type of stuff that you'll try to throw in there in going forward? Drew Beam: The ideas have ran through my head and we'll see what we can come up with going forward, but that idea's definitely gone through. There's a bunch of guys on the team that wear her purple bracelet. So do it. It's the purple one on my wrist and there's a bunch of guys who support her and support me with it and so they wear it every day. Austin Price: Do you feel like that your role, you've just gotten more comfortable with it as we shift back to baseball, especially this year because in the last month or so, you've came in and kept Tennessee out of the ditch with some big game three wins on series where Tennessee could've got swept? Do you feel more confident now than maybe you even were a year ago? Drew Beam: Yeah, absolutely. Obviously, me, Do and Burns have gone through last year. We build off of each other and it really helps me, the day three guy, seeing Doe and Burns do what they do and see what other pitchers do. And it helps me learn the team we're playing and figure them out and helps me in the long run honestly, because I get to see two days of our pitchers figuring out their weaknesses and I think that's been a big testament to helping me is just being able to watch the game and understand what this hitter likes and doesn't like. So I think that's been a big thing, and then just being a Sunday guy for the second year in a row, respect level's there with the other teammates just like I have for them and just being able to help some of the younger guys along and it's just been great. Austin Price: So when you're watching the Friday night game, the Saturday game, are you really quiet on the bench because you're trying to study, as you said, the other team or are you still really chatty? What are you like in those non-throw days when you're watching the Friday, Saturday games? Drew Beam: I try to stay chatty. Obviously, I don't want to be in the dugout just being a Debbie Downer, so I like to get in there. I'm not the biggest chirpper, the biggest come up with the funny things to say, but I'm definitely into it. I love baseball games and so I'm not going to miss out on just sitting there. Austin Price: Who's the one guy that has meant the most to you since you got here, whether it be a coach, could be a player, could be a sports staff member? Drew Beam: Yeah, I've got some really good buddies on the team. I know Kirby, Wyatt and Xander are some of my closest buddies on the team that way. Redmond's been great, just being that older guy who knows a lot and had been around as a player last year and he is a coach this year. So he's got both sides of things and he got a lot of wisdom and knowledge and I don't think I could really pinpoint one person, but I think just the whole group as a whole has been great to me. Austin Price: How's your game continue to get better as a pitcher? Do you feel like you have different arm angles you can come at now? Do you feel like you have different pitches that you're more confident in than maybe you were? Again, because I feel like you've not still played a ton of baseball because you missed those back to back years where I feel like you still have your best baseball ahead of you. Drew Beam: Yeah, I think one of the big things is just getting deeper into what I said, was talking about, watching and understanding what hitters do and do not like and there's new technology coming out all the time about, "Oh, this hitter likes certain pitches," and it just shows you and there's all kinds of different graphs and it's honestly pretty cool. But honestly, it's above my head. I don't really know what I'm looking at. So I guess that side of the game, I'm just keep developing my craft and getting my pitches more dialed in where I can put this pitch right here, put this pitch right here, versus missing by a few inches on everything. Austin Price: If you could pick the brain of any pitcher in any era, who would it be? Drew Beam: He still plays but he's just goofy. Zack Greinke, that would probably be my guy. He calls his own pitches now on the pitch comp thing, which is pretty cool. He shook himself off. I want to understand why he does that kind of stuff, but what I've heard from other people is he just has such an in depth baseball mind that it goes beyond what I can think of right now. So that'd be a cool talk. Austin Price: Favorite pitcher growing up? Was it just Greinke or when you were a kid, was there somebody that you're just like, "Man, I just love that guy." Drew Beam: Yeah, Greinke wasn't it growing up. I was a Reds fan growing up, so Johnny Cueto was really cool to watch with his wind up and he'd mess with hitters and then Chapman, Aroldis Chapman, was on that team and he threw fuel. So those are probably my top two growing up. Austin Price: You were a Reds fan. Drew Beam: I know it. Austin Price: I respect it because they've not been very good so it's hard to be a Reds fan. Drew Beam: Got to stay true. Austin Price: What made you a Reds fan? Drew Beam: Zack Cozart was their shortstop at the time and he was the son of one of our family friends, so that got me. I was young, knew him personally, so I started watching the Reds and kind of went with that. Austin Price: You've got the UT across the chest. What's that mean to you? Drew Beam: It means a lot. Forever, since I was little, my whole family's been Tennessee fans and bleed orange, as they say, and I think that's truly something that I do and it's just always been a big thing to me is living true to being a Tennessee Vol and I think my dreams came true when I got to come play here. Austin Price: You came in here so early. When you first got that offer, what was a younger Drew Beam going through mentally at that point? You know what I mean? Because that's a lot for a 15, 16 year old kid to digest. Drew Beam: I was beyond excited whenever I got the offer from Tennessee. I'd had a few other offers on the table, but this one just stuck in there and I was like, "Ooh, that's really where I've always wanted to go," and when it came time, it was like, "Why are we asking questions? It's a SEC school, big program that's on the up come and I've always wanted to go there," so it was just an easy decision. Austin Price: What's Tony Vitello meant to you? Drew Beam: Tony's been great. That feels weird calling him Tony, but Coach V, he's awesome. He brings the energy. He just keeps us alive and I think he's just that backbone of the team on energy and feel and we just all kind of vibe with him. Austin Price: Flip that to Frank Anderson. He seems so calm but yet so ready to rage at any moment at times. Drew Beam: You're right. Whenever- Austin Price: If I said, "Who do you want to get in a foxhole with on the baseball team?", I think he probably would be number one. I just feel like he would do anything for you guys. Drew Beam: Absolutely. He's all in for us. Obviously, like you all notice, he's very calm, but when the moment's needed, he's all fire and he's ready to just flip that switch. Austin Price: How different is he in the team room? Is he a reserved guy in the team room and behind closed doors? Is he a reserved guy? Is he a cut up? Is he a practical joker? Is he sneaky joker? The prankster? Drew Beam: He has his jokes and he's funny at times. He can crack up with us, for sure. Austin Price: All right, so you're dating this girl from Texas A&M. Drew Beam: I am. Austin Price: Her dad's a coach at Texas A&M. Drew Beam: Correct. Austin Price: You all swept Texas A&M? Drew Beam: We did. We did indeed. Austin Price: How was that? Was that good bragging rights? Drew Beam: It was great. Obviously, I respect her dad and her brother and stuff and that was cool, but it was cool to play against them and obviously we want to go out and beat everybody so that wasn't too much of a problem. Austin Price: Do you like pitching on the road or pitching at home better? Drew Beam: I love both, but the road's almost... It's interesting. It's cool to see different fan bases and stuff like that and see how they do different things at different stadiums. Obviously, I love being at home in Lindsey Nelson and just our fans and stuff are great. But it's cool to be on the road. Austin Price: As a pitcher, Lindsey Nelson is a hitters park. It's smaller. So when you get in those bigger parks on the road, is it almost better for you, do you feel like? Drew Beam: It can be. Austin Price: Even though you're on the road in a hostile environment at times? Drew Beam: Yeah, but honestly, it's not terrible. It's obviously nice to have a bigger field, but I'm going to be honest. Some of the guys in college, it doesn't matter if we're on a little league field or- Austin Price: They can rake. Drew Beam: ... a big league field. If it's going over the fence, it's probably going out in most places. Austin Price: Aluminum bats, my man. Drew Beam: Yeah. You're right. Austin Price: Do you think your game probably translates better to professional baseball where you're going against wooden bats? Drew Beam: Oh, I hope so. That's the goal. I hope it translates real well. Austin Price: When people talk to you about your game, what do you think they see? What do they tell you they see about you as a pitcher? Drew Beam: Yeah, recently it's been the QB1 approach. Coach V originated that, said that I model my game after being a football player in how I keep a level head and really don't let much affect me. Austin Price: What pitchers at the major league level do you try to model your game after? It doesn't have to be modern pitchers. Do you ever just watch old YouTube clips of Pedro Martinez or Roger Clemens or Tom Glavine or anybody like that? Or are you just like, "That was before your time so you don't even entertain that"? Drew Beam: I'm going to be honest. I really don't try to model my game after anybody. I just try to be myself and really doesn't... Guys will say they model after somebody else, but I'm trying to be who I am and make myself, I guess, a household name. So I want it to be after me and not somebody else. Austin Price: So who is Drew Beam? Drew Beam: I don't know. I'm still trying to mold that and figure that one out for myself, but hopefully people know me as a good human being, a great ball player, great pitcher who wants to compete and just going to get after it on the field. Austin Price: Do you feel like you're stronger now? I feel like you and Burns, especially late last year, it's a long season. It's just like going from playing college ball to major league ball. You go from playing 50 or 60 games to playing 162. Do you feel like you hit a wall last year and you're more prepared now to not hit that wall as we head late April, early May? Drew Beam: I think so. Last year at this time, I was not feeling that great. Body was starting to fall apart a little bit and I think this point this year, I'm feeling a lot better, feeling like I can get deeper into the season without hitting that wall that I felt like I hit last year. Austin Price: When you go back home, is there a certain thing you do? Is there a certain set of group of friends you see when you head back to Murfreesboro? Drew Beam: Yeah, absolutely. All my high school buddies I played football with, I definitely go see. Go golfing and fishing when I'm back home. So it's really just keep it simple, hang out with some old friends. Austin Price: What's your favorite memory from high school football? Drew Beam: That would definitely be the Riverdale game. I believe it was my junior year. We were down by three touchdowns at halftime and we came back all the way and won it with seven seconds left. Austin Price: That was the COVID year? Drew Beam: Yeah, right before. It was the season, fall before COVID. Austin Price: What do you feel like your game from the football field maybe helped you in baseball? Or what could you take from one sport to the next? Drew Beam: One was just being an athlete, being athletic and taking parts of my game from football and bringing it over. But just the mental side of clearing it and going to the next thing is if you make a bad pass, just clear it and you've got to be ready for the next series, next play and not hold onto it. If you hold that in your mind, it's going to happen again. Austin Price: We're going to go rapid fire here. You ready? Drew Beam: Cool. Austin Price: Doesn't have to be one word answers, but don't need to be three minute a answers either. Drew Beam: Gotcha. Austin Price: Favorite childhood memory? Drew Beam: Probably just hunting with my dad. Austin Price: Biggest game you've killed? Drew Beam: Killed a six point deer. I'm not much of deer hunter. I'm a more of a bird hunter? Austin Price: What kind of birds? Grouse? Drew Beam: I like to duck hunt, waterfowl. Austin Price: You like getting in the blind? Drew Beam: Love the blind. Austin Price: You need get with the Mayes brothers then. They have a nice little honey hole out there in West Tennessee. Tell us something about yourself that would surprise most people. Drew Beam: I love cars and trucks. I like going to car shows and stuff. That's cool to me. Austin Price: If you were a WWE wrestler, which one would you be? Drew Beam: Rey Mysterio. Austin Price: Why? Drew Beam: He's just cool and interesting. I was never an into WWE much, but he just pops and has fun. Austin Price: Batman, Superman, Spiderman, if you could be one, who and why? Drew Beam: Batman because he's rich and has all kinds of different technology. Austin Price: You pull in here in a black truck. You're in a black, and of course, Batman's in all black, so not surprised that answer. Who's your role model and why? Drew Beam: Both my parents. Get some from my mom, get some from my dad, but they're just great people and they've taught me to be who I am. Austin Price: Do you have any hidden talents? Drew Beam: Other than throwing a baseball, I don't got anything out of the ordinary. Cannot juggle, cannot do anything like that. Austin Price: Best round of golf? Drew Beam: 81. Austin Price: Close to breaking 80. Drew Beam: Getting there, getting there. Getting close. Austin Price: Best part of your game? Drew Beam: Right now, the short game. Really good 150 in. Austin Price: If you had a walkup song like the hitters do, what are you rolling with? Drew Beam: It's been so long. My go-to back in the day whenever I did hit was AC/DC but that was- Austin Price: Back in Black? Drew Beam: Yeah, Back in Black, played a little bit of that, a little Thunderstruck. Austin Price: Thunderstruck, that's a good one. Drew Beam: Stuff like that. Something cool like that. A little heavy metal I think would be my way to go. Austin Price: Biggest pet peeve in life or in sports? Drew Beam: Really messes with my head, people parking. You got to be a perfect parker. You got to have it in between the lines, perfect. If you're on the line, it just really ticks me off. I don't like... I don't understand how people cannot park correctly. So that's a big thing. Austin Price: Now you've got the big truck. Are you one that parks in the back 50 to make sure your truck doesn't get dinged by the cars? Drew Beam: Yeah, park near no one is a big thing. Austin Price: But between the lines. Drew Beam: Between the lines, absolutely. Austin Price: When did this start? Drew Beam: When I started driving, I guess. I got tow mirrors on my truck so I can see the lines easier. Now, that's not the only reason. I think they look cool but it helps. Austin Price: Best driver in your family not named you? Drew Beam: Ooh, probably my dad. Mom likes to drive fast and she gets onto me for driving fast so it's a little hypocritical. Austin Price: Stunned. Stunned. Kelly, stunned. I'm not shocked at all. Best place to eat in Murfreesboro? Drew Beam: Got to go with Toots. Good old Toots. Austin Price: It is Toots. Drew Beam: If we're bringing someone home to Murfreesboro, you got to got to take them there. Austin Price: Toots or Demos'? Drew Beam: Demos' goes good too. Austin Price: Get a little cheese bread. Cheese toast or whatever they call it over there. Drew Beam: Or that... Was it Bad Daddy Burgers? That place. Austin Price: You like that? Drew Beam: I really like it. They got real big nice burgers. I've downed it a few times. Austin Price: Koji? Drew Beam: Koji's good. I really like Koji. I kind of wish we had one here. Austin Price: We do. It's called Asahi. It's in Lenoir City. Drew Beam: Oh, I'll have to check it out. Austin Price: Or Ashi in Maryville. They're owned by the same people. They just didn't want it to be as confusing so they- Drew Beam: Oh, nice. Austin Price: ... moved some letters around. Drew Beam: We found a all-you-can-eat Japanese place here is Makino. Austin Price: Where's that at? Drew Beam: It's on Kingston. It's right down there across from Rice, the GMC dealership. It's pretty good. It's 20 bucks and we go in there and we eat a lot. Austin Price: Who goes on these eating adventures? Drew Beam: We've had 15, 16 guys go before and I can tell you we got every bit of our $20 worth. Probably not. Maybe even 40 bucks. Austin Price: They wanted you to leave? Leave. Drew Beam: We've had sushi eating competitions before in there. Austin Price: Who wins those? Drew Beam: I won one. I don't know if I could win another. That put me down for the count. I had 40-something pieces of sushi. We were just ordering, letting it settle and kept ordering, because none of us wanted to lose. Austin Price: Best teammate? Drew Beam: Best teammate. Logan Chambers. Austin Price: Why? Drew Beam: Just always supportive. Always there to help, talk about anything. No one hates him at all. There's nothing he's ever done wrong, so I just like the guy a lot. Austin Price: Funniest teammate? Drew Beam: Zander Sechrist or Aaron Combs. They both have their different types of funny and it's awesome whenever they mix. Austin Price: This team obviously doesn't have the bravado that the last year's team did. Do you feel like that you need to get a little bit of that though, heading down the stretch here? I'm not saying you got to go full back flipping and walking backwards and carrying the bat like Pedro Cerrano on Major League around the bases when he hit a home run, but do you feel like you need just a little bit? Does there need to be a little energy? Drew Beam: Yeah, I think the energy's coming. I think we're also at the point where we feel like we haven't proved ourself yet, so we don't want to be too boastful and the fact that we are kind of underperforming as we feel like, so I think it'll come with, but I think we're still figuring ourself out as a team. Austin Price: Last year, you had one of the greatest seasons in college baseball history. You didn't even make it to Omaha. Drew Beam: You're right. Austin Price: Is that the thought process this year? Let's just get in and be playing our best baseball when it matters, because last year when we did all that from February to May and it didn't matter in June. Drew Beam: It did not one bit. Yeah, we absolutely would like to be playing our best baseball in June and be one of the last team standing. Absolutely. Austin Price: Do you think this team hates cold weather because you played two cold weather series. Last year, Kentucky rainy, overcast, not real warm, then freezing in Missouri and you all went one in five. Drew Beam: We did. I don't think anyone likes playing baseball in cold weather. Austin Price: But those teams are around it every day. Drew Beam: You're right. Austin Price: So it's a little easier to adjust to it. Drew Beam: Yeah, and I talked to one of their pitchers at Missouri and he said he even hates it, but you're right, they are around it and get acclimated a little more to it. It could just be a mindset thing, but I don't hate playing in cold weather, but I'd much rather be playing in 75 and sunny here in Knoxville then Columbia, Missouri. Austin Price: Yeah, I understand that. What's the best advice you could give younger Drew Beam if you could go back. Drew Beam: I'd say, "Don't do the stuff I did to tear my ACL," but I guess it has helped me out and made me sit back and watch the game and learn it a little bit from the other side of things. So just don't take for granted being the high school and stuff, to enjoy that, and then, because the grind, once you get to college, it's fun, but it's still a grind. Austin Price: For people that want to learn more about your sister's fight and SMA, how can they do that? Drew Beam: Yeah, there's a few videos out on Instagram and stuff and then there's obviously you can go to curesma.org. That's where you'll find the best information. There'll be multiple videos on that. You can learn about all the different types of SMA so that'd probably be your best place to find it. Austin Price: As we wrap up, in a perfect world, most baseball players are three and gone. You got a year and a half left on that path. What do you want to get accomplished? Drew Beam: Here? Austin Price: Yep. Drew Beam: I want to win a national championship, obviously. That's the goal. Bring another championship or bring the first baseball championship back to Knoxville. That's the main goal, keep perfecting my craft and win a championship while I do it. Austin Price: How does Drew Beam get better the next year and a half? Drew Beam: Stay in the weight room, stay training outside of the weight room. Austin Price: What'd you weigh when you got here and what do you weigh now? Drew Beam: When I got here, probably because I was post-surgery and had a little bit of fat on me, I was about 225. I'm 210, 212-ish right now. Austin Price: But it's a different 210. Drew Beam: It's a whole lot different. Q had fun getting that weight off of me real fast in the summer of my freshman year. Austin Price: Best thing when you go over there to the nutrition bar or going to Smokey's is what? Drew Beam: Wings. The wings are my favorite thing. Absolutely. But I'm a boneless wing guy so I really don't like eating traditional wings. Austin Price: Me neither, but Brent Hubbs will tell me that those aren't wings. Those are called chicken nuggets. Drew Beam: And that's fine. I'll stand by it. I like chicken nuggets more than I like wings. Austin Price: I'm with you, buddy, 100%. One million %. Well Drew, we appreciate you, man. We appreciate you catching up with us tonight and Tennessee fans, if you want an easy guy to root for, it's number 32. He's made it his own. He's your Sunday sometimes Saturday starter for the Tennessee baseball team and we look forward to watching you to the rest of the way, okay? Drew Beam: Appreciate it.