Feb. 15, 2009
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Southeastern Conference regular season and tournament championships, SEC Coach of the Year, three consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, a No. 1 national ranking, 36 players drafted and two players selected in the top two of the draft.
The list of accomplishments would read like a career resume for most, but for Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin, the achievements are a snapshot of his past three seasons alone.
To say Vanderbilt’s baseball program has arrived would be an understatement. However, before the Commodores can advance to their fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament, they must overcome the loss of virtually their entire offense from last season.
Gone from last year’s squad that finished 41-22 overall and 15-14 in the SEC are 73.8 percent of the team’s runs scored, 68.5 percent of its RBI and 69.2 percent of its hits.
The majority of that production came from the likes of Pedro Alvarez, Ryan Flaherty, Alex Feinberg, David Macias, Dominic de la Osa and Shea Robin, who have all either graduated or moved on to the minor leagues.
Showing just how far Vanderbilt has come as a baseball program, Alvarez’s selection to the Pittsburgh Pirates at No. 2 overall, gave Vanderbilt the distinction of being the only school — high school or college — to have players picked either No. 1 or No. 2 overall in consecutive MLB Drafts since Major League Baseball began having just one draft per year in 1987. David Price was selected No. 1 overall in 2007.
The 2009 team will not only have to overcome the loss in production of players such as Alvarez, it must also replace the leadership the group provided.
A good portion of that leadership may come from the pitching staff, which will be the most experienced group on the team.
Having a team with experienced pitchers and a host of wet-behind-the ears position players will be a complete 180 from the outlook for the 2008 season when the team returned 85.5 percent of its hits, which helped offset the losses of Price and Casey Weathers.
“We will be inexperienced on the field,” Corbin said, but we bring back 87 percent of the innings on the pitching staff, led by Mike Minor and Caleb Cotham.”
Because of the team’s lack of experienced position players, the Commodores will lean heavily on its freshman class to provide an immediate impact. The 13-member class was touted as the No. 2 class in the country by Baseball America and the No. 3 class by Collegiate Baseball.
Eight of the 13 members of the class were drafted in the 2008 amateur draft. Of the position players in the class, six are listed on the three-deep.
All of the players saw significant action in the fall with eyes on a starting spot in the spring.
“In the seven years that our staff has been at Vanderbilt, this class will have more of an impact on the field than any previous group,” Corbin said. “We are fortunate to have a class that is this talented and this deep.”
