Why Riley Quick Did Not Pitch in Alabama's SEC Tournament Game vs. Tennessee

HOOVER, Ala.— The Alabama baseball team's stay in Hoover for the SEC Tournament ultimately spanned two games. After the first, a 4-1 win on Tuesday against 16-seed Missouri, head coach Rob Vaughn said redshirt sophomore Riley Quick hoped to start Wednesday in the second round.

Quick, who has a 3.54 earned run average in 13 starts, has not pitched since May 16 at Florida. The Crimson Tide did not announce a pitcher for Wednesday against No. 8-seeded Tennessee until shortly before the game began. Aeden Finateri was given the ball first.

No. 9 seed Alabama dropped the game 15-10, using nine pitchers and bringing weekend starter Zane Adams in out of the bullpen during the contest. The result eliminated the Crimson Tide from the tournament. Vaughn attributed the choice not to play Quick to multiple factors.

"I think a lot of that goes into kind of pitch count. A lot of that goes into workload," Vaughn said Wednesday after the game. "You look up and Riley is still coming off a TJ, and he's a max effort arm. It's not like it's 86-88 [mph] and a changeup guy. It's 98 to 100 and kind of max effort stuff."

The big righty did lose all but three innings of his 2024 campaign to Tommy John surgery. He came back in time for the first weekend of the 2025 season but was on a pitch count until league play in March and missed a short time due to a blood blister shortly thereafter.

"Riley's pitch count got up a little bit higher last week at Florida," Vaughn said. "We talked to Riley. He played catch yesterday [Tuesday], and I think would have loved to have got out there and gone... We need Riley as fresh as he can be this upcoming Friday [in a regional]."

Wayne Quick, the pitcher's father, weighed in on X (formerly known as Twitter) on Wednesday night with further context surrounding the call the coaching staff made. Riley Quick's health has been one of the paramount concerns of the Crimson Tide program throughout the spring.

"We respect [C]oach Vaughn, [pitching coach Jason] Jackson and trainer Sean Stryker's decision to hold him out," Wayne Quick said. "What fans and people do not know is the heart and soul these coaches and trainers put into these boys. They make the best decisions for them. Can promise that."

Another point of consideration was this summer's upcoming MLB Draft, where Quick notably projects as a high pick. Adams had a lower pitch count in Gainesville than his counterpart; however, the bigger picture expectation has also been that Quick is finished in college ball after this year.

"That kid is going to make a whole lot of money in about a month and a half," Vaughn said. "You also can't put your arms at risk, especially a kid that's poured his heart and soul into Alabama like Riley Quick has."

Alabama using Adams, whose last game action was a day after Quick's most recent outing, called into question whether the latter would have still been available based on timing. Two of three weekend starters for Alabama played in the SEC Tournament. Tyler Fay started the Missouri game.

The Crimson Tide, with its 41-16 overall record and 16 conference wins during the regular season, will learn Sunday night whether or not it gets chosen as one of 16 NCAA Tournament regional hosts. The larger reveal containing the full field of 64 follows on Monday.

"The reality is, like, we won 17 games in our league. 17 games in this league. I don't know what our RPI is after today's game, but it's got to be in the top 12 at least. To me, it's a no-brainer," Vaughn said. "Do I think this team has done enough? I don't think there's any doubt."