The goals in Vanderbilt baseball are all about winning championships. Coach Tim Corbin breaks it down a lot more incrementally. He wants to win the day. That’s what this baseball team has done in 12 years under Corbs, and that’s what they plan to do again in 2015. We want to be playing in late June in Omaha without a doubt. But in order to do that, we need to get better every practice, every game, every series. It all starts Friday, February 13th, with a weekend series against Santa Clara at the Hawk. But actually, practice is at full tilt right now, so Corbs and the guys are now heavily honing their skills for the season opener. The SEC is very good with eight teams in D1Baseball.com’s top 25. LSU is very good, Florida is excellent, South Carolina, Arkansas, Tennessee, Ole Miss, A&M, Alabama and UT, the whole conference is talented across the board. To navigate our way through the pre-conference schedule, which includes playing top 10 teams UCLA and TCU in LA among other games, and then matriculate successfully thought the conference schedule in pursuit of conference and tournament titles, we will need all hands on deck. We’ve got excellent experience back in our pitching staff, on defense and at the plate. Three of the guys who will be instrumental in this team achieving its goals are Carson Fulmer, Hayden Stone and Dansby Swanson, three integral members of last year’s national championship team. Dansby was the college World Series MVP and Carson and Hayden played a huge role in the championship victory over UVA and throughout the season. I had a chance to speak with all three on the phone last Wednesday and got their thoughts on the upcoming season. All three are energized and focused on bringing more championships back to Nashville.
Hayden Stone said the world series was not as much a physical challenge as it was a mental grind.
“It was an awesome experience,” Hayden said. “It was really emotionally draining. It was a lot more of a mental drain than a physical drain. By the time it was over it was a relief. We were glad we brought the trophy back to Nashville.”
Hayden, with his methodical delivery and incredible stuff, could be Corbs’ closer this season, taking the place of the awesome Adam Ravanelle, who closed out the championship game with a strikeout of a Virginia hitter. Adam was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the fourth round. The Tigers have become Vanderbilt north with the great David Price and several others former VU baseball players members of their organization.
“I hope I can close, but I also like to come in early,” Stone said. “Whenever I need to go in is fine with me.” Hayden says that redshirt freshman Jordan Sheffield will be a key part of the bullpen along with stud lefty Ben Bowden. Hayden says those guys and some others out of the pen have “electric arms.” You always need a stellar bullpen to win championships. Our bullpen, stellar defense and timely hitting won us the national championship last season.
Carson Fulmer says he is clocking mid-90’s and sometimes hits the high 90’s with his heater. “My breaking ball is my out pitch and I’ve developed my change up pretty well too.” Carson saId. He and teammates Walker Buehler, Swanson and Bryan Reynolds spent last summer playing ball in North Carolina, the Neatherlands for a week, then Cuba for 10 days. “We played against some guys in their late 20’s. It was an incredible experience.” Walker will be another key starter on this baseball team. Either Carson or Walker will be our Friday night starter with the other one taking the mound on Saturdays. Walker brings it in the mid 90’s as well and can hit high 90’s some too, and he has excellent stuff with a breaking ball and slider along with a change-up. Reynolds is another key cog in this baseball team. As a freshman, Bryan hit .338 with four homers and 54 ribeyes. In hitting .338, he also racked up 24 doubles. Dansby led the team with 27 doubles. We hit 145 doubles last year, a top five number in the country. Reynolds also made some huge defensive plays in left field in the World Series. This year should be even better for Bryan with more power numbers and even better defensive play. He’s another guy who the sky is the limit for.
Carson likes what he sees from returning catchers Karl Ellison and Jason Delay. “They’ve very good and we’ve developed a very good relationship. Their bats are becoming very good too.”
Dansby will move over to shortstop this season, which was his natural position coming out of high school. He played second last year as Vinnie Conde, who is now in the Yankees organization, played a stellar short and he, Dansby and center fielder John Norwood formed an exceptional group up the middle for the Dores baseball team. You’d have to include catchers Delay and Ellison in that group up the middle as well. Norwood hit the epic home run in the bottom of the eight inning off a 97 MPH fastball that will go down as one of the greatest plays all time in VU sports history. John is now with the Miami Marlins, so Dansby will move to short, Tyler Campbell will move to second, Nolan Rogers will play left field and freshman Will Toffey will move over to third. Xavier Turner will not be on the team this season. He had some discipline issues during the world series last year and he is trying to get his act together.
“Tyler is really good up the middle, he’s phenomenal,” Dansby said of Campbell at second. “Hopefully we’ll have good chemistry together like Vinnie and i had. I don’t think that will be a problem for us. Tyler has good speed and power. The whole team will have a lot of speed and power.”
Rogers will man center field and he will be flanked by Reynolds in left and the awesome Rhett Wiseman in right. Both Campbell and Wiseman played key roles for us in winning the national championship last year. Campbell played a stellar third and Wiseman made play after play in right and had an excellent bat throughout the series as did Campbell. Wiseman made the first out of the ninth inning against UVA on a tough over the shoulder catch, a hugely clutch play in the game that helped us win it all.
“We have good speed and we should steal a lot of bases and put pressure on the other teams,” Dansby said. “Nolan will give us good speed in the outfield and a good bat. We have good power with Zander Wiel (at first base), who should break out this season. Wiseman and Reynolds have good power too. Kyle Smith has great raw power and he should hit like he did two years ago (as a freshman). He just needs to play under control at the plate. He’s got excellent power.” Kyle could be our DH this season.
“Will is going to be a phenomenal third baseman,” Dansby added of freshman third baseman Will Toffey. “He’s gritty, tough and really competitive. He has a hockey background and he brings that toughness to baseball.” Will is a former hockey player in high school and is 6’2″, 195. “Nolan will make a huge impact with his speed and his defense (in center). He’s a tough competitor also.”
Dansby will be our leadoff hitter and will set the table for guys like Reynolds, Wiel, Wiseman and Toffey. Nolan Rogers could hit second for us and that will bring us some awesome speed at the top of the lineup.
Should be an exciting, and hopefully electric season. Look for John Kilichowski to play a role in the starting rotation. The lefty has another powerful arm. He and Tyler Ferguson are guys who could be weekend/Sunday starters. Kilichowski can bring it and has excellent stuff. Tyler has a powerful arm and just needs to get his control down.
The team is locked and loaded and ready to compete for an SEC and a national championship. It’s already started with practice running at full bore. Incredible group with talent, experience and, most importantly, high character. These three guys will play a major role in this team’s quest for another run at Omaha and a shot at another national championship.
