Our exceptionally talented former VU baseball players, they’ll always be Vanderbilt players, have been tearing it up in the Major Leagues. Here’s a look at each of our stellar Commodores and their recent achievements for their respective MLB teams. Also, not a great report on VU football, but there is still positive stuff going on. Just a small glitch with COVID right now.

Walker Buehler, L.A. Dodgers

Walk had struggled in his first 4 games, not registering a decision and posting a 5.21 ERA. But that all changed last Friday Night at Dodger Stadium against the Colorado Rockies. The man pitched 6 very strong innings, giving up 4 hits, 1 earned run, with 0 walks and 11 K’s. It was spectacular. Walker threw 92 pitches with 67 for strikes against 25 balls, a 3:1 strike to ball ratio. Exceptional.That’s the Walker Buehler we’re used to and the Dodgers are used to. The Dodgers won the game over the Rockies 5-1 and Walk got the victory to move to 1-0 with a 4.32 ERA and a 1.040 WHIP, walks plus hits per inning, which is not too bad really. Walker was hitting 98 regularly and his stuff was electric. I picked the Dodgers over the Tampa Bay Rays in my World Series prediction before the season started in July, and Walker as my Cy Young Award winner for the National League. He pitched like that last Friday Night. Interestingly, Walker, according to the Dodgers broadcast team, started last season posting a 5.40 ERA in his first 4 games, and then, in his next 9, he posted a 2.68 ERA.

So awesome stuff from one of our studs. Walker’s next outing will be Thursday Night at 7:05 CT @ the San Francisco Giants. Yaz and Sam Selman. Tyler Beede is out this year with an injury, but hoping he’ll get back for next season. Always conflicted when my guys face each other. The Giants have become my favorite team, though I should pull for the Dodgers as I picked them to win it all, but I love Yaz and the blue collar mentality of the Giants. Walker will square off with a very good young pitcher for SF, Logan Webb, who is 2-2 with a 3.29 ERA. The Dodgers and Giants open their 3 game series tonight in SF at 8:45 CT with Julio Urias for the Dodgers facing veteran Johnny Cueto of the Giants . The Giants have won 6 in a row and have been an enjoyable team to watch. They have so much spirit. The Dodgers are 22-8, playing .733 ball, best in the majors, and lead a red hot San Diego Padres team, which has won 7 in a row, by 4 games. The Padres are at 18-12, and have the best young player in baseball, 21 year old shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. Tatis Jr., in his second year from the Dominican Republic, is leading the Major Leagues in homers with 12 and Ribeyes with 29. He’s hitting .314 and has stolen 6 bases. In 87 chances this season, he hasn’t committed an error. Looking like an MVP player right now, but long way to go. He’s also controversial. Last week, with the Padres leading the Rangers by 8 runs late in the game, with the bases loaded and a 3-0 count, Tatis sJr. swung away at a 3-0 pitch and hit a grand slam. That’s an unwritten rule in baseball, or any sport for that matter, that you don’t pile on when the other team is struggling and you have the game won. It was poor sportsmanship, and he was called out by the media and several other players. We’ll see how he develops the rest of the season. Certainly an elite talent, but could be a head case at times. The Giants are 14-16 and trail the Dodgers by 8 games. Huge series for the SF guys starting tonight. Will watch 3 innings or so, then catch the rest tomorrow on the MLB app.

Bryan Reynolds, Pittsburgh Pirates

BR had a very nice weekend at the plate for the Pirates against the Milwaukee Brewers at home over the weekend. The Pirates had really been scuffling around, but woke up at PNC Park on Friday Night and swept the Brewers. Bryan had a superb game Friday Night going 3 for 4 with a triple, a homer to right central, and 4 Ribeyes. Bryan had 2 hits Saturday Night, including a double, and singled in a run on Sunday. On Friday Night, he also made a superb diving catch in left on a line drive off the bat of Brewers superstar outfielder Christian Yelich. If Bryan didn’t catch it, it would have been a triple and a possible inside the park home run so he had to catch it. Bryan is an excellent defensive player like all our superbly fundamentally coached players. After a slow start, BR is now hitting .220 with 2 homers and 7 Ribbies. However, in his last 6 games he’s hitting .318 with 7 hits in 22 plate appearances, with a double, a triple, a homer and 6 RBIs. So looks like that bat is heating up. The Pirates are 7-17 and 9 back of the NL Central leading Chicago Cubs, which are 18-10, but the sweep over the Brewers was impressive, and the Pirates played outstanding baseball all weekend. The Bucs play at the solid Chicago White Sox tonight at 7:10 CT and tomorrow at 1:10 PM CT. The ChiSox are, 17-12, tied for 2nd place with the Cleveland Indians and 2 1/2 back of the Minnesota Twins in the AL Central, the Twins are 20-10. The Bucos then travel to St. Louis Thursday for a 4 game set through the weekend. Some super news, Carson Fulmer was claimed off waivers by the Pirates from the Detroit Tigers. Carson has been struggling at the big league level since being selected 8th by the White Sox in 2015, but this is a new opportunity, and playing with Bryan can help Carson. He’s such a talent, an awesome competitor and a phenomenal guy, you just pull for him. Carson was National Pitcher of the Year as a junior at VU in 2015 going 14-2 with a 1.83 ERA with 167 strikeouts in 127,2 innings. So, he has it in him. Will keep you posted on both of our Bucos in the coming days/weeks.

Yaz, San Francisco Giants

Mike Yastrzemski is knocking the cover off the ball for a resurgent SF Giants team. Yaz is hitting .309 with 10 doubles, 3 triples, 7 homers and 23 RBIs. He had a special weekend at Oracle Park in SF as it was his grandfather, the former Boston Red Sox great and Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski’s birthday last Saturday Night. And while Yaz was disappointed he didn’t get a hit, he made a leaping, phenomenal catch in right central that robbed the Arizona Diamondbacks of a double and probably a triple when the game was very tight. On the next day, Sunday, August 23rd, Mike himself turned 30, and with the game tied at 1-1, Yaz cranked a homer to left central to put the Giants in front. The Giants went on to win the game and sweep the series. I believe in this team. With the 16 team playoffs this season, 8 per league, all you have to do is qualify and you’ve got a shot to win it all. The Giants look pretty special to me. They’ll be tested by the awesome Dodgers tonight through Thursday, so they need to bring their hard hats and lunch pales. I’m sure they will. They always do.

Also, Sam Selman is doing an extraordinary job out of the Giants bullpen pitching to a 2.70 ERA while walking just 3 and striking out 13. In Sam’s last 7 games, his ERA has been 2.57 and his WHIP is 1.00, excellent numbers. I would love to see manager Gabe Kapler start Sam. Their rotation has been solidified somewhat, but Sam would be a major asset to the starting rotation or as a closer. He could be an exceptional closer. So good stuff from Yaz and Sam. Looking forward to Tyler getting a shot next season. Some of their starters are getting older, so Tyler, who started for the Giants last season and pitched well some, could get an opportunity next year.

Dansby Swanson, Braves

Saving maybe the best for last. Dans is hitting a sizzling .318 with 10 doubles, 3 homers and 16 Ribeyes. Dans is still a perfect 1000 in his fielding percentage as well. Dans just doesn’t commit errors. He’s an exceptional all around player. The Braves are 16-12 and lead the NL East by a game and a half over the Miami Marlins. The Braves just took 2 out of 3 from the Phillies over the weekend and host the New York Yankees starting tonight at 6:10 CT with the great Gerrit Cole pitching for the Yankees versus Braves newcomer Ian Anderson. The Braves have had trouble with their starting pitching, and Ronald Acuna and Ozzie Albies have been injured, so it’s miraculous that they keep playing well. Unfortunately, Kyle Wright was sent down to the Braves alternate site to get some reps and improve. In my opinion, the Braves pulled the trigger too quickly on Kyle. He’s got superb stuff, just needs to get his control down. He should have gotten another shot to prove himself especially since they’re not too many options for the Braves starting pitching wise. Kyle will get back up to the big team at some point this season, hopefully sooner rather than later.

As for our man, Dansby, he’s tearing it up. Sunday Night was an amazing yet frustrating game for Dans and the Braves versus the Phillies. Dans belted 3 doubles, but the most fascinating and frustrating thing happened in the bottom of the 9th. With the Braves down 5-3 and 2 outs, Dansby walked and to put runners at first and second base. The great Freddie Freeman came up and belted a deep double into the left central field gap. The runner from second easily scored. The outfielder for the Phillies cut the ball off in deep left central and threw the ball back in to shortstop Didi Gregorious. Third base coach Ron Washington sent Dans home and Dans was flying around third. With 2 outs and you’re one down you have to send the runner, particularly when it’s a near world class sprinter in Dansby. Gregorious’s throw to the plate came just ahead of Dansby’s arrival. The catcher. J.T. Realmuto, was clearly blocking the plate, which is illegal as MLB instituted a rule 3 or 4 years ago that catchers could not block the plate for player’s safety purposes, both for the catcher and the runner’s safety to avoid collisions that had been leading to concussions, mainly for catchers. The throw was up the third base line and Realmuto caught it and was still blocking Dansby from reaching the plate. Dansby slid in hard head first, but Realmuto tagged him, and the home plate umpire called Dans out, which gave the Phillies an apparent 5-4 victory. But the Braves appealed the play, stating that the catcher had interfered with Dansby trying to score, which he did. The umpires and New York reviewed it, and upheld the out call. It was robbery. There was no way that Dans could get to the plate with how Realmuto was blocking it. The call should have been overturned to safe and the Braves should have been tied 5-5 with Freddie at second and catcher Travis d’Arnaud, a .333 hitter, coming to the plate. So it was a bad deal for the Bravos. Still have a great team with a chance to win it all if the starting pitching gets better and Acuna and Albies get back in the lineup, which should be soon. Love what the man is doing for the Braves. Playing stellar short as well. Dans does it all.

Sonny Gray didn’t get a decision in a Cincinnati Reds’ 5-4 loss to the Cardinals last Thursday Night. Sonny went 6, gave up 4 hits, 2 earned runs, with 4 walks and 6 K’s. He left the game with a 4-2 lead, but the Cincy bullpen gave up 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th, very frustrating. Sonny is still having a stellar year at 4-1 with a 2.21 ERA and an 0.982 WHIP with 13 walks and 51 K’s. Sonny is @ Milwaukee tomorrow night, Wednesday, at 7:10 CT.

It’s been a struggle so far for Mike MInor for the Texas Rangers. Mike is 0-5 with a 6.75 ERA. He had a decent outing Sunday versus the Seattle Mariners going 6, giving up 5 hits, 4 earned, with a walk and 4 strikeouts. He did give up 3 homers. The long ball has been hurting Mike this season. I’m wondering if the shoulder that bothered him in the past is an issue right now. His velocity, which was 93-95 last season, is down to 92 now. Mike will figure it out though. He’s too good and such a warrior not to figure it out. He pitches again Friday at home versus the Dodgers at 7:05 PM CT. Mike will face Dodgers young gun Dustin May, who has an under 3.00 ERA, so it’ll be a challenge, but Mike’s up to the task.

Football

It’s not all bad news for football, just not all great news. Last Thursday Night, 7 players and a coach tested positive for the Cornonavirus, so practice has been postponed from Friday through today. It is being reported by Chris Lee of Vanderbilt Sports that 20 other players were exposed, but I don’t know if that’s accurate. We are scheduled to start back practice tomorrow. The players and coach who tested positive will be quarantined for 14 days, which would put them back on the field around September 3rd through the 5th or 6th. That’s still 3 weeks before our Saturday, Sept. 26th contest @ A&M, so they can get their strength back and plenty of reps in before the kickoff. So it’s not as dire as Chris Lee is making it sound. It’s not great, but it’s repairable. Still like our talent, we just need to get everybody back.

On a very positive note, Vanderbilt 84, 3 star running back commit Dylan Pauley ran for 66 yards on 18 carries and scored on TD runs of 1 and 25yards in No.2 ranked Hoover High School of Alabama’s 45-35 victory over No.5 Central-Phenix City last Friday Night at Garrett-Harrison Stadium in Phenix City, Alabama. Phenix City is interestingly one of the few cities in Alabama that is on the eastern time zone. Alabama is mainly on Central time, but there are a few places in Southeastern Alabama which are on Eastern time. Phenix City is one of those places. I went there several times when I was writing my book, Leadership Lessons for Life, and highlighted one of the classic high school football coaches in Alabama history in Ron Nelson. It was a book about 45 of the best high school coaches in Alabama along with several quote pages in between the coaches’ personal stories.

Several significant things to report on the game. Dylan’s 25 yard TD run was a masterpiece. He took the handoff up the middle, cut left and outran the secondary to take it to the house for the Hoover TD. It was a spectacular run. Hoover is in Class 7A, which is the highest football classification in Alabama, and winning on the road at a highly talented Central team was tremendous. Central-Phenix City won the state championship in Class 7A in 2018 and were runner-ups last season. Hoover is a perennial powerhouse in Alabama with several state titles this century, and have been in the USA Today Super 25 National High School Football Rankings several years. They look to have a state championship and national powerhouse team once again this season. The victory over Central was a major momentum builder for the season. Dylan is set to have a gigantic senior year. Just need to get him signed up in December with the 13 other players in the class along with the other stellar players we are recruiting. The other players in our class have not started their respective seasons yet, but I will keep you posted on their progress as the season ensues in September. Love what we’re getting out of Dylan Pauley. Would like to get another RB in this class if we can land one. We’ve got a very solid group by the film I’ve watched on each one of them, and there will be more in the hopper. So, will keep you posted on that.

As far as our present team, obviously we need to get healthy, but if we can get back to full tilt in early September, we’ll still be on schedule for our game at A&M. And we start back practice tomorrow, so there will be plenty of guys getting reps.

Will keep you apprised of everything cookin on the West End and in the Major Leagues in the upcoming days. Have a great evening.