Corbs and I discussed the upcoming season and his aspirations for his 2016 team, which opens play Friday with a weekend home series at the Hawk against San Diego with first pitch @ 4 PM CT.
Our team has been predicted by the USA Today Coaches’ Poll as the No.3 team in the country in their preseason rankings. D-1 Baseball has us at No.3, and Baseball America has us at No.7. Florida is the unanimous choice at No.1 and Louisville is at No.2. Interestingly enough, we will play Louisville at home, Tuesday, May 10th, @ 6 PM CT, and then go to Florida that weekend, May 13th-15th. A lot of work ahead for this team with some good experienced guys in the field, some experience on the mound and some youth who will play a major role in this team’s fortunes this season.
This freshman class was the No.1 rated class in the country according to Perfect Game, and, FYI, our 2016 class, with four Top 100 guys and 16 commits, is No.2 in the country, our 2017 class, with 16 commits and 8 top 100 guys, is No.1, and our 2018 class, with 14 commits and 11 top 100 guys, is also No.1 in the country. Corbs just keeps recruiting better than anybody else in college baseball. We very well may lose some of these recruits to the draft as five of our commits for 2015, this freshman class, signed pro contracts, but we still had the best class in the country, and I expect that to hold true going forward.
It’s truly amazing the way Corbs recruits and that should never be taken for granted. He just has a way of connecting with young high school players, getting them to believe in them, and convincing them that Vanderbilt University is the place for them. The proof is in the pudding. We have five guys who are playing in the major league with more to come and it seems like every one of our guys to a man comes back to VU to get ready for their respective pro seasons. Corbs sticks with them in high school at VU and in their lives moving forward. He is truly a father figure to all of his young men who play for him. They love him like a father and he treats them all like they are his sons. Ask David Price, who may be the greatest proponent of Vanderbilt in the history of Vanderbilt athletics. David loves VU and we love him. Can’t wait for David’s 2016 season with the Sox.
And Corbs’ track record as a coach with three college world series appearances, six Super Regionals, a national title in 2014, a runner up finish last year in a classic series with Virginia which was one hit away from us winning back to back national titles, in his 13 seasons at the helm speaks for itself. His ability to recruit and coach is better than anybody else in the country. I’m partial and loyal to Corbs and VU, but how can you argue with those results? His 14th VU baseball team looks pretty riveting with the players returning, the arms we have on the mound, with our potential starters, middle guys and closers, and the experience of catchers Karl Ellison and Jason Delay behind the dish.
The other teams in the top 10 are A&M, UVA, Oregon State, Miami, Cal, Oklahoma State and UCLA depending on which poll you are looking at; that’s the Baseball America Poll, which has us at 7th. The Coaches’ Poll has LSU in at N0.5, A&M at No.4, us at No.3, Mississippi State at No.17, Arkansas at No. 22 and South Carolina at No. 23. D-1 has us at No.3, Florida at No.1, A&M at No.4, LSU at No.7, State at No. 15, South Carolina at No. 17 and Arkansas at No.25.
So we’re right there in the mix according to the writers and the coaches.
Our leading returning hitter is junior center fielder Bryan Reynolds, who hit .318 last season with five homers, 49 Ribeyes and 18 doubles. Bryan is awesome. He struggled for a while at the plate last year after having a banner freshman season, but got on a tear late last season and became the Reynolds we’ve been accustomed to seeing at VU. Bryan also plays terrific center field. In right field, we’ll have the phenomenal Jeren Kendall. Jeren hit .281 last season with eight long ones and 40 ribbies, 10 doubles and six triples. Jeren brings power and speed to the plate. I expect a .330 hitting year from Jeren with possible double digit homers and good RBI numbers. Same for Reynolds, who could very well be the leader on this team along with Ellison and Delay. Bryan was 17-of-19 stealing bases and Jeren was 19-of-23. We have center and right well covered with these two. Jeren can go get it in right. Jeren, if you remember, hit the incredible two-run walk off homer against Cal State Fullerton in the bottom of the ninth in the first game of the CWS last season with us trailing 3-2 and Fullerton’s ace left hander facing him. Jeren, a left handed hitter, caught a fast ball and drove it over the right field wall. It was a magical hit by a magical player on what was a magical team that just missed from going back to back on national championships. We just came up a hair short against those guys from another state.
Left field is up for grabs. Ro Coleman has moved out to the outfield, so Ro could be an option. Love Ro’s heart and character, his dedication, his speed and I expect his bat to be good too. Tony Kemp-like in many ways. Maybe not as vocal of a leader as Tony, but I’m sure Ro has gained confidence now that he is a junior and he can lead. There are some younger guys that will be competing for the job as well, mainly freshmen. One of the freshmen could win the job, Ro could DH again and we’ll have Ro’s bat and his super speed on the base paths. Ro hit .295 last year. Two other guys to look at in left are sophomore Drake Parker and junior Nolan Rogers. Drake has amazing speed and great ability. He could be a guy to watch. Nolan could give us good help out there too.
****Note: Drake Parker is no longer on the team, but is completing his degree at VU. Good for Drake.****
In the infield we have the awesome Will Toffey at third. Will hit .294 last year with four homers and 49 Ribeyes as a freshman and added 20 doubles. He also played terrifically at the hot corner. Expecting huge things from Will. Tyler Campbell and Penn Murfee will battle it out for second base. Both are good fielders and Penn can really hit. Like both those guys to play a lot. First base and short are a little open right now. Liam Sabino, a sophomore, is a guy to look at at short. At first, we’ve got the Tyler Green and possibly Kyle Smith. Both are capable. Again, some of our talented freshmen will be in the mix. So we have some good experience and some inexperience, but a lot of talent in our infield and outfield. Reynolds, Kendall, Toffey and of course Ellison and Delay will be our leaders in the field. Ellison hit .215 last year, but I still like him as a hitter and he’s brilliant behind the plate with the pitchers. Delay hit .283 and really improved on defense. Feel good about both those guys calling the signals and at the plate. Karl can be a .280 hitter. He’s got a pretty good bat.
On the mound, Corbs says there are about seven guys who are in the mix to be weekend rotation guys. Look for Kyle Wright, Collin Snider, John Kilichowski Jordan Sheffield and Ben Bowden to be key players in the weekend rotation mix. One question is the health of freshman sensation pitcher from two years ago, Hayden Stone. Hayden was such an integral part of us winning the national championship two years ago and we really missed him last year. Hayden had Tommy John surgery last spring and he’s coming along. It remains to be seen when Hayden will be available. It takes eight to 12 months to recover from that surgery, so it may be early to mid March even April before we see Hayden pitching for us again. Would love to get his talent and leadership back. Love Hayden. We’ve got talented freshmen, too. Again without seeing them play, I don’t know exactly who will emerge as key guys in our pitching rotation either as starters, middle guys or closers out of our freshmen class. Those first several guys I mentioned, the veterans, will be our leaders on the hill this season. The freshmen have a lot of talent and some of them will contribute in a big way this season. Will have to watch the San Diego series and going forward to see who can help us this season.
We lost some great players in Dansby, Carson, Walker, Pfeif, Rhett Wiseman, and Zander, so we have some rebuilding/reloading to do. Dansby is now with the Braves, Carson is with the White Sox, Walker and Pfief are in the Dodgers organization, Rhett is with the Washington Nationals, and Zander is with the Minnesota Twins. I expect Dansby and Carson to be playing in the big leagues pretty soon. The other guys have a shot too in the next couple of years.
DP is going to be the number one guy for the BoSox. Already ordered my BoSox hat and ready to roll with DP at Fenway and competing for his new team. The BoSox are certainly relevant again in the postseason mix. Sonny is firmly entrenched in Oakland for this season, but another season like last year, and Sonny will be a hot commodity and headed for a huge contract. I’m not sure if Sonny is a free agent or not after this season. Will check into that and get back to you. I know Sonny wants to have a good season this year and get the A’s back in the hunt for the postseason. Pedro and Mike Minor have not been picked up by teams, which is really ticking me off. Both are high quality big league players. Some team should pick each of them up. Corbs told me that both guys had babies in the offseason, so he’s most proud of Pedro and Mikey for that. Typical Corbs. He’s most interested in former players on a personal level moreso than anything else. That is awesome for Pedro and Mike.
Corbs did say he expected Tony Kemp and Yaz to be in the big leagues soon; Tony with the Astros and Yaz with the Orioles. Ryan Flaherty is still a valuable player for the Orioles. Ready to see Tony and Yaz up there. They were superb players for us. I don’t know how there is any way possible that the Astros can keep Tony in the minors. He is lighting it up down there. So is Yaz in the O’s organization.
Our baseball team in 2016 will be right there in the mix in the SEC and nationally when all is said and done. We are so well coached, our kids are unreal, and they are highly talented baseball players. If the freshmen can come through some and our veterans,Reynolds, Kendall and Toffey, lead the way, and guys like Wright, Kilo, Sheffield, Bowden and Snider perform well and if we can get Hayden back and in good shape, we will have an outstanding baseball team that has a chance to once again go to Omaha and win it all. Can’t wait.