By Jake Mastroianni
Vanderbilt and long-time head coach Tim Corbin do a great job of testing their team in the early part of the season, and this year was no different.
While they’ve only had one ranked team on their schedule, they’ve taken two trips out west to face solid competition in teams like Grand Canyon, Nebraska, UC Irvine, UCLA, USC, and UConn.
Even their home weekends were against solid mid-major programs in Saint Mary’s and Xavier.
Through all of that, they have a 13-3 record, with all three losses coming out West, as they remain perfect at home on the season with one final tune-up against Valparaiso before SEC play begins on Friday at Auburn.
Pitching Taking Shape With One Exception
As is typically the case with Vanderbilt, you expect dominant pitching, and that’s what they have gotten through the first four weeks.
While they rank just 10th in the conference in ERA at 3.27, they’re fourth in strikeouts with 200 in 135 innings pitched.
Corbin has solidified a group of five or six arms he can rely on.
It starts on Friday nights with JD Thompson who is 2-0 with a 3.66 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 19.2 innings pitched through 4 starts. In his last two starts, he’s allowed just 5 earned runs on 5 hits and 2 walks over 11 innings with 18 strikeouts.
Against Xavier this past weekend, he was brilliant, outside of two long balls that accounted for all 3 runs allowed.
Sawyer Hawks is the top guy out of the bullpen. He came on in relief of Thompson on Friday to close it out, and on Sunday, tossing a total of 4 perfect innings on the weekend with 9 strikeouts. He’s allowed just 1 run on 4 hits and 3 walks over 12 innings this year with 20 strikeouts.
Cody Bowker has solidified the Sunday role with 3 scoreless starts already. His lone bad start came against UConn where he allowed 4 earned runs on 5 hits and 2 walks over 4 innings with 6 strikeouts. This past weekend against Xavier, he struck out 10 in 6 innings while only allowing 1 hit and 2 walks.
Two other key arms out of the bullpen are Alex Kranzler and Miller Green. They’ve combined to allow just 2 earned runs over 18 innings with 5 saves.
Ethan McElvain remains the wild card here. The stuff is certainly there, but he’s yet to make it through 4 innings in any of his starts. This past Saturday against Xavier, he was on a roll through 3 innings, and then it all unraveled in the fourth. You have to wonder if Corbin will stick with him going into SEC play, knowing he could blow up your bullpen in game two of a series. On the year, McElvain has an 8.74 ERA in 11.1 innings, but he’s struck out 22. Do you use him as an opener and tell him to air it out for 2-3 innings, or do you move him back to a traditional bullpen role?
Brodie Johnston Brings Stability to Offense
It doesn’t look like we’re going to see the improvement on offense that Vanderbilt was hoping to see this year. They rank 14th in batting average in the SEC and last in SLG% at .435.
Granted, they’ve faced better pitching than most of the SEC to this point, but those numbers are disappointing.
However, after missing the first four games of the year, freshman Brodie Johnston has brought some stability to the top of the order. He’s slashing .372/.391/.721 with 4 doubles, a triple, 3 home runs, and 17 RBI.
With RJ Austin at the top and Johnston in the 3-hole, Vanderbilt has a very scary top of the order. Austin has already scored 17 times and stolen 10 bases this year.
Before things got out of hand on Friday, Austin broke a 3-3 tie in the fourth inning by lacing a 2-RBI double into the left-center field gap.
Johnston would later finish the game with a run-rule, walk-off grand slam.
Biggest Concern as SEC Play Starts
You can see the pieces of a solid pitching staff and a dynamic top of the order with Austin and Johnston, but it feels like Vanderbilt’s margin of error for success this year is very small unless others step up.
If McElvain can’t figure it out as a starter, who do they turn to? Connor Fennell could be that guy, but he’s been out since throwing 1 inning against UCLA on Feb. 28. And if there is a major injury to a starter, the depth might not be there for Vanderbilt to cover it.
But perhaps the biggest concern remains the offense.
Freshman Rustan Rigdon has cooled down significantly since his hot start with just 4 hits since Feb. 18. Senior leader Jonathan Vastine is batting just .240 – although the defense at short remains elite, and he had a big 2-RBI hit in Saturday’s game against Xavier.
Colin Barczi, Mike Mancini, and Braden Holcomb have all underwhelmed to this point.
Jacob Humphrey has been a hit machine at the bottom of the order. Corbin could move him to leadoff to stretch out the lineup, or bat him ninth as a second leadoff hitter to get on base for Austin, Riley Nelson, and Johnston.
But if this offense is going to be able to score with the top teams in the SEC, they’ll need others to pick it up.
Weekend Results
Fri. 15-3 (7), W. Thompson - 6 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 3 ER, 10 Ks; Johnston - 2-5, 2 HR, 2 R, 6 RBI.
Sat. 6-1, W. Kranzler - 4.1 IP, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 ER, 3 Ks; Vastine - 2 RBI.
Sun. 4-0, W. Bowker - 6 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 0 ER, 10 Ks. Humphrey - 1-2, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB.
Up Next
Tue. March 11 vs. Valparaiso
Fri. March 14 at Auburn
Sat. March 15 at Auburn
Sun. March 16 at AuburnThings Coming Into Place For Vanderbilt as SEC Play Begins
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