There’s a lot of super stuff going on for our professional baseball players, First in the majors:

David Price threw a Van Gogh yesterday. It really was a thing of beauty to watch. Pitching against the Tampa Bay Rays, who have been hitting him hard this season, Curt Casali being one of the main culprits, and while I don’t mind Curt having big games at all, in fact I love it, I want David to do well as always, David really excelled.  DP was spectacular. David worked eight shutout innings, giving up only four hits, zero runs, with one walk and 10 K’s. David threw 113 pitches with 78 for strikes and 35 balls, an outstanding over 2:1 strike to ball ratio. That’s what you want out of your horse, and the Sox got that from their bell cow pitcher.

David’s fastball was hitting 95-96, which is David Price-like, and he was locating it so well, with low strikes, high strikes, hitting corners, just a perfect mixture of locations. He really had the Rays hitters on their heels. And his change up is a weapon. It comes in at 85-86, and has become his second go-to pitch and almost his most effective out pitch. It’s a real weapon in David’s arsenal. David used his curve well and his cutter was effective too, running away from hitters. David’s curve was very good yesterday and he employed it more frequently. Manager John Ferrell and the Sox players were very pleased with their ace’s outing. Great stuff from the man. Good momentum for the second half as the Sox swept the Rays over the weekend and won six of eight on their homestand. The Sox are now 49-38, two back of the O’s in the AL East. The O’s are 51-36. The Toronto Blue Jays are 51-40 and just .03 percentage points behind the Sox for second place. Going to be a horse race for the AL East title in a riveting second half of the season. Should be epic.

Big Papi hit his 22nd homer of the season in the first, a two run shot over the Green Monster in left central. It was also David’s 71st and 72nd Ribeyes of the season. He’s been sensational. Ortiz wants a World Series title in his last season at Boston, and the 40 year old, who is going on 25, is doing everything possible to enable his team to reach that ultimate goal. It’s been spectacular to watch this season. The Red Sox are fantastic and if Dave and the starting pitching can keep their momentum going in the second half, and they get solid bullpen work, they have a real shot to go deep in October. Of course, they’ve got some serious competition to overcome, starting with Pedro and the O’s and the Blue Jays.

DP is now 9-6 with a 4.34 ERA, that’s down from a 4.64 ERA before the game started yesterday. He has issued 27 walks and 140 K’s, a tremendous 5.1 to 1 strikeout to walk ratio. His WHIP is down to 1.19, which is getting close to his 1.14 career number, and he can do even better. If David keeps pitching like yesterday, the Red Sox are going to a real happy team in the second half if the rest of the rotation and the bullpen hold up. 

Speaking of the Orioles and Pedro, they are playing stellar ball, too. Pedro was three for four yesterday with a couple of hard hit singles and a double that was a popup  that dropped into left field in the O’s 4-2 victory over the LA Angels at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Pedro is back from the bereavement list as he went to the Dominican Republic to be with his family after the passing of his grandfather last week. Proud of Pedro for coming back and performing so well after a tough week. Pedro is now hitting .249 with 9 homers and 26 Ribeyes. He’s had a good season for the  O’s. Love what Pedro is doing with the bat.  

Here are some stats on our minor league guys who are really excelling:

Tony Kemp has moved to second base for the Fresno Grizzlies, the Houston Astros triple A team, and Tony is really swinging the bat well. Tony is hitting .317. Wow, is the man ever making a case to make the big club again. As you probably remember, he got a shot with the Stros two months ago, and stayed for a while, but they do have a lot of really good players and they’re the hottest team in baseball right now, but Tony is really making a case to make the big club. Will be fun to see Tony keep matriculating. He’s a big league player for sure.

Dansby Swanson is playing excellent shortstop for the Mississippi Braves, the AA team for Atlanta, and is hitting .269 with five homers and 29 Ribeyes. Dans will be in the big leagues in the next year, I’m pretty sure of that. Hope Tony joins him.

Another guy stating his case for the big leagues is Tyler Beede. Tyler is 5-4 with a 2.57 ERA for the Richmond Flying Squirrels, the San Francisco Giants AA team. Tyler has 25 walks and 74 strikeouts. He’s pitching terrifically. His fastball is lightning at 95-96, his curve is almost unhittable, it just drops from 12-6, and is such a deceptive pitch. His change up is solid, too, and his slider is clicking. Tyler looks great.

Carson Fulmer had a nice outing for the Birmingham Barons last Wednesday at Chattanooga. Carson went only five, but gave up only two runs on five hits with three walks and 10 K’s. Carson looks like he’s figuring it out. He’s 4-9 with a 4.78 ERA, but he’s starting to get into a zone, and he just needs to hone up his control. Carson is a pitcher who hits corners and gets guys to swing at pitches out of the strike zone. Like Sonny, he throws a lot of pitches, but is a total warrior, who will battle until his last pitch. Carson will get there and the White Sox really like him. Like Carson’s future as well.

Rhett Wiseman is the starting right fielder for the Hagerstown Suns, the Washington Nationals’ Class A team. Hagerstown is in Maryland, close to D.C. Rhett is hitting .249 with six homers and 44 Ribeyes. Rhett is playing well, and the Nationals like him, so his future is bright there.

I saw where Connor Harrell had a really outstanding game for the Erie SeaWolves the other night. The SeaWolves are the  AA team for the Detroit Tigers. Connor is hitting .267 with 8 long ones and 23 ribbies. The Tigers really like him and he could very well be their center fielder of the future. They really don’t have an established center fielder on the big league club, so Connor can very well get a shot in the next year and a half. His hitting has always been excellent with good power numbers and he plays stellar center field.

Will keep you posted on all these guys, and, of course, our major leaguers. By the way Sonny Gray had a good outing for the A’s last Wednesday, going six innings giving up just one run on six hits with four walks and five K’s. Sonny threw 113 pitches with 66 for strikes and 47 balls. Sonny really battled though the A’s lost to the Twins, 4-0, at Minnesota. There have been quite a few rumors about Sonny being traded before the July 31st trade deadline. The Cubs, Blue Jays, Cards and others are potential suitors for Sonny. Would love to see Sonny go to the Cubs and Joe Maddon. That would be a great place for him on a team that has a chance to win it all. Sonny would do well with Joe, who is the ultimate players manager, and a very good manager overall. Sonny will be a free agent after this season, and the A’s are a small market team that doesn’t spend a lot of cash, so we’ll see what develops the rest of this month.  Would love to see Sonny on a contender and sign a big deal after this year. He’s pitching a lot better and has struggled with his trapezius injury all year. Looking for a big second half out of the man. 

VU hitting coach and recruiting coordinator Travis Jewett has been hired as the new Tulane head baseball coach. Travis did a tremendous job with our hitters in his four years on the West End, and he will do a tremendous job at Tulane. We’ll miss him in recruiting, too. Will keep you posted on what Corbs does in hiring a new coach. We have a little time to hire a coach, but I know Corbs is on it, and there are a lot of quality coaches who want the job, as our program is the best in the nation in my opinion. So will keep you posted on what Corbs does.

Derek, Oren, Ralph, Zach

Coach Mason will speak at Hoover, Alabama today at the SEC Media Days. Derek will be speaking around 3 or 3:30 PM today. The Media Days are being televised by the SEC Network. Coach Mason will follow Gus Malzahn of Auburn, and Jim McElwain of Florida, so this will be a good day at Media Days, and an epic week for SEC football fans. Will be very interesting to see what Coach says about his 2016 team. Recruiting has been through the roof good this summer as Coach Mason and the staff have secured 10 excellent commitments, and there are quite a few promising prospects who are highly interested in our program, and the complete package we have to offer with a world class university, a great coaching staff, a super group of players, a tremendous city, and the chance to play in the best conference in college football is very enticing to young men in the Southeast and throughout the country. The prospects like what we have to offer and want to play for us. So the future is extremely exciting in recruiting and the guys we have in the fold look exceptional. 

As for the 2016 team, Coach Mason has brought down three superior players on our 2016 team. Zach Cunningham is coming off a first team All SEC selection last year as our middle linebacker. Zach finished last season with 103 tackles, 16.5 for loss, four forced fumbles, and three fumble recoveries. Zach is going to have a tremendous junior year for us and his future in the game is through the roof exciting. Zach will  be a major leader on our defense and has a chance to be a first team All American.

Ralph Webb rushed for 1,152 yards for us last year. Ralph’s become a complete back for us, and has an exceptional work ethic. Nobody outworks Ralph in college football. Ralph is another tremendous leader on our team which will have a massive amount of leadership, which is critical to a team having a tremendous football season.

Oren Burks had 58 tackles last year at safety and added three interceptions, one for a pick six against Kentucky. Oren is superb and has played quite a bit at the “Star” position in our defense over the spring. Will be interesting to see what Coach Mason and Oren say about his move to more of a linebacker-safety hybrid role. He’s one of the best athletes on the team, a superior person and leader, and a playmaker and great tackler on defense. Love to see what Oren can do in 2016.

Love the representation we’re getting at Hoover today. Pumped for South Carolina September 1st, a Thursday Night, at 7 PM CT/8 PM ET at Vanderbilt Stadium on ESPN. There is a lot of work to do before that to get ready for the Gamecocks, and Coach James Dobson and his strength staff are doing terrific work getting the guys ready for August and going forward into the season opener against the Gamecocks. The guys are working extremely hard and there is a tremendous energy on this football team and an electric atmosphere around this football program. We have a new recruiting staff with excellent additions to our recruiting efforts. Will have more about that later. But first things first. Time to start getting geared up for 2016. Will have a full report of Coach Mason’s comments early tomorrow.

Kyle Shurmur has been named our starting quarterback for 2016. Not a big surprise, but glad Coach Mason and Coach Ludwig went ahead and made the decision. Awesome move. Kyle’s going to have a great career at Vanderbilt University. It’ll start this season. Thanks. 

Final Note

Festus Ezeli signed a two year deal with the Portland Trailblazers last week. Good to see Fes get another opportunity. John Jenkins still trying to make his way and Damian will be a Golden State Warrior player this upcoming season. Excited to see what the two Big Fellas can do with their respective teams, and what Wade Baldwin IV can do at the Memphis Grizzlies. Good stuff for bball. And extremely excited for what Coach Bryce Drew can do with the Vanderbilt basketball team in 2016-17.