Former Tennessee baseball second baseman Christian Moore was called up to the big leagues Thursday by the Los Angeles Angels, according to multiple reports. Moore is expected to make his major league debut Friday 364 days after he hit for the cycle in UT’s opening game at the Men’s College World Series last June.
Moore, a native of Brooklyn, New York, is set to join the Angels in Baltimore this weekend for a three-game series with the Orioles. The Angels begin a four-game series with the Yankees in the Bronx on Monday.
The Tennessee baseball great began the season at the Double-A level with the Rocket City Trash Pandas, where he hit .234 and one home run in 34 games. The Angels promoted Moore to Triple-A Salt Lake on May 20. He hit .350 and four home runs in 20 games with the Bees. Moore hit .347 with six home runs in 25 professional games after being drafted last July.
Moore is considered the No. 1 prospect in the Angels organization and the No. 56 overall prospect in baseball, by MLB Pipeline. He was drafted No. 8 overall in last July’s 2024 MLB Draft, which made him the highest-drafted Vol during the Tony Vitello era.
He is the ninth Vol from the Vitello era to reach the big leagues and the seventh from Tennessee’s 2022 team. He is the third to debut this season after RHP Chase Dollander did so against the Athletics on April 6 with the Colorado Rockies and RHP Blade Tidwell was called up by the New York Mets on May 4 to start against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Moore is the fifth player from the 2024 Draft to reach the Majors, joining Angels pitcher Ryan Johnson, Astros right fielder Cam Smith, A’s first baseman Nick Kurtz and Royals slugger Jac Caglianone.
Moore finished his career at Tennessee 11 months ago as a unanimous All-American after one of the greatest single seasons in program history to lead the program to its first national championship. He became just the third player in SEC history to win the Triple Crown, leading the SEC during conference play with a .429 batting average, 20 home runs and 41 RBIs. He also led the league with 57 hits and 123 total bases.
The national champion finished the year as the nation’s leader in hits (111) and total bases (236), while also ranking in the top-25 nationally in home runs (3rd, 34), runs (t-8th, 83) and slugging percentage (14th, .797).
Moore’s numbers from his final season rank in the top 10 in UT single-season annals in multiple categories, including first in home runs (34), first in total bases (236), first in extra-base hits (55), second in hits (111), third in runs (83), seventh in slugging percentage (.797) and seventh in RBIs (74).
For his career, Moore hit .338, a program-record 61 home runs and drove in 160 RBIs. He started 162 of the 186 games he appeared in to hit over .300 and double-digit home runs in each of his three seasons. Moore hit .305 with 10 homers 36 RBIs as a true freshman in 2022 before hitting .304 with 17 long balls and 50 RBIs as a sophomore in 2023.
