What a Potential Zane Adams Return Means for Alabama Baseball

The 2025 MLB Draft is underway. Alabama starting pitcher Riley Quick was the first Crimson Tide player off the board, going to the Minnesota Twins at pick No. 36. Another rotation piece from this past season awaits his draft fate, and the choice that follows.

Left-hander Zane Adams, who just finished his sophomore campaign, was 7-4 with a 5.54 earned run average in 14 starts this year. At 21 years old, he's eligible to be drafted, but a Sunday report from The Tuscaloosa News stated Adams would be returning to school instead of going pro this summer.

Adams' mother, Amanda Adams, took to social media Sunday and strongly implied that an official decision regarding her son's future had not been made yet. The southpaw was not chosen in the first three rounds of the draft, with rounds four through 20 being conducted Monday morning.

He is going to be selected. It is merely a matter of when. Adams has college eligibility left, which can spur clubs to raise signing bonuses above the slot value of a given pick if the selected player is regarded highly enough. That can conceivably happen for Adams, whose stuff will play at the next level.

If Adams opts to don a crimson uniform again for the 2026 season, he'll be one of two main contenders for the Friday spot in the weekend rotation. Should right-handed sinkerballer Tyler Fay turn professional, Adams will be the unquestioned favorite for the role heading into fall camp.

Alabama mainly acquired pitchers from the transfer portal this cycle, including starters in case the program has to retool its entire weekend stable. Adams immediately raises the profile of the whole staff if he headlines the rotation next spring.

The futures of Adams and Fay represent the largest question mark surrounding the Alabama team draft-wise. Both players remaining in Tuscaloosa would be a dream scenario for the Crimson Tide staff. Adams was the Friday starter this past season until midway through league play. Fay took over the role in April.

Adams defeated Coastal Carolina and LSU, the last two teams standing in the College World Series last month. He struck out 62 on the season. Before that, he was a Freshman All-SEC player in 2024, a year where he made 13 starts and pitched eight scoreless frames against then-No. 1 Arkansas.

The Texas native was a recruiting priority for head coach Rob Vaughn once the latter was hired in the summer of 2023. There is a saying that the more things change, the more they stay the same, and much as Vaughn placed a premium on getting Adams to Alabama two years ago, retaining him for next year is of similar importance.

Adams pitched well at times in 2025, striking out 10 in a March 7 home game against Presbyterian. Though he was not draft-eligible last summer, he was an attractive portal option for other programs. This season, his ERA number was not as good as he might have hoped; still, he established more consistency as the calendar went on and he began pitching out of the final weekend spot.

Any starting pitcher is going to go through ebbs and flows, as all baseball players do. That was Adams' experience this spring. He was even called in from the bullpen during the SEC Tournament. Ups and downs are the norm, and do not change the fact that Adams is a bona fide prospect and could be one of the top-end pitchers in the SEC next season.

The Crimson Tide maintaining his services on the hill is one of the keys to its continued success in 2026. Having just extended Vaughn's contract, the program eyes another postseason bid and a deep run. Adams being a focal point of the roster drastically enhances those pursuits.