Christian Moore Posts Final Farewell Message to Tennessee Baseball

Tennessee infielder Christian Moore leaves a historic and memorable legacy as he leaves Rocky Top to continue his journey to professional baseball.

Moore finished his final season at Tennessee as a two-time first-team All-American, two-time second-team All-American and a first-team All-SEC selection. Moore’s dominance at the plate and invaluable leadership skills in the locker room helped him put together a dominant season and march through the streets of Knoxville to win the title.

On Friday morning, Moore wrote a farewell message to Tennessee on social media as he addressed his teammates, the program and fans.

Here is Moore’s message:

“I don’t really know where to start. These last three years have changed my life. Thank you to this amazing coaching staff for believing in me, for giving a chance to a young guy who should never have found himself in this situation, for trusting me to lead a team and for allowing me to be myself. I will always be grateful for all these long discussions, countless hours of work and, above all, for the memories shared!”

To my teammates… you all have seen me grow a lot these past few years. Thank you all for taking me under your wing, allowing me to grow and mature. Without you all I am not the player I am today. Always remember Chuck T “Hang out type”. I love you all guys, thank you for all the memories and moments, I will miss it a lot ❤️

Vol nation, you are incredible. On behalf of the rest of the team, you were the heart of this adventure. Thank you for always being there for us, cheering us on in good times and bad. We will be forever grateful and I will miss you all! GB🍊 Forever! »

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Christian Moore carried several individual records into his final season, which also helped the Vols achieve new program records.

Moore broke Tennessee’s single-season home run record with 34 longballs, shattering the previous record set by Sonny Cortez with 24 in 1998. Moore also set Tennessee all-time records for at-bats (296), extra-base hits (55), total bases (236) and games played (tied with Blake Burke, 72). The Brooklyn native also set Tennessee’s career home run record with 61, 21 more than Luc Lipcius.

Moore’s batting prowess as Tennessee’s leadoff hitter also contributed to the program’s team records in wins (60), games (73), home runs (184), doubles (160), RBIs (609), grand slams (12), slugging percentage (.607), extra-base hits (353), runs scored (657) and total bases (1,494).

The 1.85m infielder began his career at Tennessee in the 2022 season after seeing head coach Tony Vitello’s vision for the program, believing he could be a part of success. Moore appeared in 51 games with 29 starts as a freshman that season and hit an impressive .305 with 36 home runs, hinting at a bright future.

Moore got a lot more playing time as a starter for Tennessee in 2023, remaining consistent with a .304 batting average despite playing nearly 100 more at-bats over the course of the season. However, with Tennessee looking to make a big leap forward in 2024, it would need Moore’s play to elevate rather than remain consistent.

that’s exactly what happened.

With 296 at-bats this year as Tennessee’s leadoff hitter, Moore posted a .375 batting average with a program-record 34 home runs. Moore was a menace to opposing pitchers and kept his foot on the gas during the postseason, even recording the sixth home run in Men’s College World Series history.

Moore now looks ahead to the MLB Draft in June. Jonathan Mayo’s latest draft for MLB Pipeline lists Moore as the 13th-best player and the 12th pick of the Boston Red Sox. Mayo also notes that the Pirates could be interested in Moore’s services with the 9th pick as well.

Christian Moore is one of the most decorated Tennessee athletes of all time and will be remembered as a legend on Rocky Top.