Only a month remains until Vanderbilt baseball finally returns to the field.
On Feb. 18, the Commodores will host Oklahoma State in its season-opening series. Pitchers Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter may be gone, but Vanderbilt still has a lot of talent, including almost all of the position players who are back from last year’s University World Series finalists.
Here are some things to know about the opening day:
Charts
There are six major polls in college baseball: Baseball America, D1Baseball, Collegiate Baseball, Perfect Game, NCBWA and USA TODAY Coaches Poll.
Until now, Vanderbilt was ranked n ° 1 of Perfect Game, No. 2 by Collegiate Baseball is No. 3 of D1Baseball. Baseball America also ranked the Commodores No. 2 in July in the publication of the publication too early.
Other polls have not yet been released.
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Preseason All-Americans
Of course for a team that returns as talented as Vanderbilt, the Commodores have a number of players who earn pre-season accolades.
In the pre-season of Perfect Game All-America, catcher and first baseman Dominic Keegan was named to first team center fielder Enrique Bradfield Jr. to second team and right-hander Nick Maldonado to third team. Baseball College he also named four Vanderbilt players to the All-Americans second team: Keegan, Bradfield, Maldonado and shortstop Carter Young.
In 2021, Keegan won the second All-American Perfect Game team and was Nashville’s most outstanding regional player. Bradfield, the 2021 SEC Freshman of the Year, was an All-American consensus and also won a Rawlings Gold Glove. Young was named to the SEC All-Newcomer Team (an award for sophomores whose early years ended prematurely due to COVID-19) in 2021.
Lockout furnisce incertezza
Major League Baseball is in the middle of an ongoing blockchain that began in December. While the block has no impact on college baseball on the surface, it adds some uncertainty to what is coming for some of the veteran players.
Many around the MLB have embraced the idea of changing the draft order or setting up a lottery. The biggest impact, however, is that a date for the 2022 draft has not yet been set. The draft was still in June before 2021, but last year it was moved to July to coincide with the All-Star weekend. The date of the project has an impact on who is eligible; sophomores are eligible for the draft if they turn 21 in 45 days from the last day of the draft.
The main Vanderbilt player who could be impacted is catcher and outfielder Jack Bulger, who was born on September 1, 2001. Bulger will be eligible for the project if the project ends on or after July 18, and is ineligible if he is before that. (The All-Star Game is set to be held on July 19, though that could change if the block has an impact on regular season games.)
Another impact of project uncertainty is how many times there will be. The draft is typically 40 rounds, but has been cut to five in 2020 and 20 in 2021. If the shortened draft is here to stay, fewer players will be selected.
The youngster is the Commodores ’main prospect and is currently scheduled to go somewhere in the middle of the first half. Other draft-eligible players who could go into the first rounds include Keegan, Maldonado, outfielder Spencer Jones, right-handers Chris McElvain and Thomas Schultz and outfielder Troy LaNeve.
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Meet the new ones
Vanderbilt has a class of 16 people in addition to a transfer, Princeton graduate Jack Anderson. The Commodores are known to have brought upper classes year after year, but D1Baseball has ranked only 17th as many of its top commitments signed with MLB teams. That may not matter, though, with all the experience that Vanderbilt brings back.
Infielder Davis Diaz and left-hander Carter Holton were impressed in the fall and will have to fight for starting roles in their freshman year with others finding roles in the bullpen or as safety actors. Four true first-year students from at least one part of 2021: Bradfield, Bulger and right-handers Patrick Reilly and Christian Little.
Rebuilds rotations
Even with the high and low seasons, Reilly and Little have shot 2023 draft boards based on what they showed in 2021. Reilly started in the bullpen before winning the rookie role on Sunday, and Little was the midweek starter for the most of the year. before becoming the No. 3 Vanderbilt in the postseason. Both will likely start as weekend starters, with other options including Maldonado, Holton, Thomas Schultz and Chris McElvain.
Series of opening a curtain
The Commodores opened their season against Oklahoma State, which was ranked No. 7 by D1Baseball and Collegiate Baseball and No. 16 by Perfect Game. The Pokes will provide a good litmus test for where Vanderbilt is, especially in the rotation. After that, the Commodores will face unrated opponents until the start of the SEC game, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t intriguing encounters. Vanderbilt faces Belmont and Lipscomb at First Horizon Park in late March, rivals Louisville in May and frequent postseason Michigan enemies in mid-March. Several other teams in the area are on the non-conference schedule: Austin Peay, Western Kentucky, Tennessee Tech and Middle Tennessee.
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt Athletics for the Tennessean. Contact her at [email protected] o nant’at Twitter @aria_gerson.
This article originally appeared in Nashville Tennessean: What to know about Vanderbilt baseball as the season draws to a close
