Christian Moore's quest for greatness leads him to brink of Tennessee baseball icon status

OMAHA, Neb. — Christian Moore might be crazy.

The Tennessee baseball second baseman has pondered the possibility before. He leans forward in a tall green leather chair on the second floor of the Omaha Marriott Downtown and puts his forearms on the table.

He is pondering it again.

“I don't know if it's because I play for Tony Vitello and he's embedded that in my head or if it's God's gift or I'm just that competitive and I'm a lunatic,” Moore said this week. “But I just hate being mediocre.”

Crazy or not, everything Moore is has brought him to this stage in the College World Series. His unstoppable quest for greatness — and to be the greatest — has culminated with the best offensive single-season in Tennessee history and the cusp of the program’s first national championship.

In the span of a 20-minute conversation with Knox News, Moore's craziness is clear. But it's not insanity. It's exceptionality.

How Christian Moore has fostered a desire for greatness

Moore’s mind is a bustling factory of plans to be great. He is shut off to the idea of being anything less than the best.

“In this sport, I don’t ever want to be average," Moore said. "I want to be the best there ever was at all points. I have been that way since I was a kid. I just hate being mediocre.”

Moore has long possessed a craving to be great.

He learned a distaste for losing by competing against his brother, C.J., who is seven years his elder. He learned to rein in his intensity as a freshman at Tennessee under the watchful tutelage of Trey Lipscomb, whose internal pace is markedly slower but his performance in 2022 might have been the best offensive season at Tennessee prior to Moore’s.

Moore unlocked new levels to his play by listening and adjusting to ensure his strengths are strengths and do not work against him. He analyzes situations in a manner that teammates likened to Andre Lipcius, Vitello’s first superstar who utilized his engineering mind to mentally outmaneuver opponents. He funneled his natural tenacity into positive channels.

He allowed it to shape him into less of an athlete and more of a warrior spearheading Tennessee's powerful lineup.

“It turned me into a person that I didn’t think I could become,” Moore said. “Now, I am. And I love it.”

Moore's success this season is generational. He has smashed a program-record 33 homers, giving him a program-best 60 in his career. He is the third player in SEC history to win the SEC triple crown, powering Tennessee to the second-most homers in NCAA history.

He has performed best when it counts and relishes what that has meant to the Vols this season

Moore wants to feel the crowd against him and the opponent wishing he'd botch a moment. The second a dugout chirps at him or a pitcher looks him in the eyes, he morphs into a different force.

“The minute you start talking to me is when I get locked in and the dog just goes,” Moore said. “You really want to see me fail. All right, I’m not.”

Moore cannot imagine failing in those moments. He can’t explain what happened when he hit for the cycle against Florida State in the College World Series opener. He felt his body take over like it did when he had a three-homer game against Kentucky in early May.

Tennessee loses those games if not for Moore’s brilliance. It won because of the internal burning in his heart to be great.

“The drive of being great just turned me into someone,” Moore said.

What Christian Moore wants his Tennessee baseball legacy to be

Moore brooded on Tennessee’s flight from Omaha to Knoxville in June 2023. He wracked his brain thinking about how the past two seasons ended.

The 2022 season halted with the pain of not advancing to the College World Series. The 2023 campaign ended abruptly after three games in Omaha.

He had one more year to feel something different.

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“I didn't want to be like the 2022 team and I didn't want to be like the 2023 team,” Moore said. “I wanted to be better. As a team, I wanted us to be better. I wanted us to end our season with joy.”

Moore made a different ending his mission.

He knew it would take winning and winning is what he cares about. He views Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter as the greatest baseball player of all time. It has nothing to do with Jeter’s accomplishments. It’s that he won five World Series titles.

“If you are the greatest of all time, you’ve got wins,” Moore said.

Moore has 159 wins at Tennessee. Two more would cement his status as a legend of Tennessee baseball. He rattles off names like Todd Helton and Chris Burke who came before him. They top the list of Vols greats in his mind. Drew Gilbert is in that mix, too, to Moore. Gilbert is the one who embedded in Moore’s mind that you win, you move on, you win again.

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“I'm not gonna lie,” Moore said. "That’s a hard list to be at the top of. But if I could, I would want to.”

Moore has at most three more games to make his case as the Vols (58-12) face Texas A&M (52-13) for a national title starting Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN). He will be done at Tennessee after that and people will have to decide where he stands in Vols history.

He hopes the comments will lead to a consensus: “He's a national champion. He’s a winner. He's the greatest of all time — at Tennessee," Moore said.

It might sound crazy. But that’s just Moore.

Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on Twitter @ByMikeWilson. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Christian Moore on brink of Tennessee baseball icon status at CWS