Former Tennessee Vols baseball star officially takes his pro career to the next level with recent success

You can use one word for a former Tennessee Volunteers star on the mount. Dominant. That's the only way to describe Ben Joyce this season for the Los Angeles Angels.

Joyce started off a bit slow this summer, but he is rounding into form. That won't surprise fans of the Vols, whatsoever. His physical talent simply wasn't going to be denied.

Ben Joyce proving his MLB talent for the Angels

As the tweet notes, that's fifteen straight scoreless appearances for the Former Vols fireballer.

Earlier this month, our own Craig Smith highlighted Joyce's strides forward this season as a pro. He's gone from a shaky middle relief guy to one of the most effective relief arms in the entire AL.

Joyce returned to the majors in early June and started off with a scoreless outing against Detroit. However, he allowed a combined five earned runs in his next two appearances in losses to Houston and Arizona on June 8 and 11. Since then? Zero earned runs allowed over 11 appearances and 14.1 innings. For the season, he's struck out 16 and walked just 6 in 16.1 innings of work with a 2.76 ERA. -- Smith

Joyce's arsenal is simply unhittable when he's right.

Accompanied by a nuanced splinker, his fastball sits above 100 MPH regularly, and his slider has made progress, too. The slider, his slowest pitch by far, gives hitters a change of pace that they simply cannot adjust to as of now.

Joyce made the jump from double-A straight to the majors for the Angels in 2023. They clearly thought that his talent was ready for a spot in their bullpen early on in his pro career. So far, he's proving them right.

Everyone knew Joyce's potential as he entered the MLB Draft, but he is hitting his stride quite quickly after a great career with the Vols. He's a joy to watch, and he's only just begun as a key arm in the pros.

Related: Tennessee Vols pitcher Ben Joyce did something that no MLB pitcher has ever done