NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Three weeks – that’s all that separates the Vanderbilt baseball team from the 2021 season.
And on Friday, head coach Tim Corbin led his team onto the diamond at Hawkins Field for the first official team training session of the preseason. The Commodores open the campaign Feb. 19 at home against Wright State.
“It’s crazy to think that we’re only about three weeks out from playing real competition,” Vanderbilt senior outfielder Cooper Davis said. “The biggest part about the fall is we love playing against each other and playing against the competition, but we’re just so exited to come together as a unit and compete against somebody else.
“That’s the biggest piece of anticipation is, yeah, we love scrimmaging, we love playing against one another, but we’re excited to all put on the same uniform and all go out there and compete against another university.”
Vandy had high hopes and high expectations in 2020 after coming off an historic 2019 season. Corbin’s Commodores won the SEC regular season, SEC Tournament and, ultimately, the national championship that year.
But the COVID-19 pandemic ended the 2020 slate 18 games in just as the Dores were seemingly starting to get rolling. Vandy was 11-1 at home and an 11-2 win over visiting Toledo on March 11 appeared to signal good vibes before the start of SEC play scheduled for a few days later.
Vanderbilt hasn’t been on the field for an official game since that time.
“I think we were just fortunate that we could get back on campus because, as I told the boys, it wasn’t a slam dunk that we were going to be able to come back. We didn’t take that for granted,” Corbin said. “The fact that we could come back a little bit earlier, they were eager to do that. They were home longer than they’ve ever been home before so they just wanted to get back here.”
The 2021 team is one of plenty of returning student-athletes – although those who were true freshmen last season hardly got the experience needed out of their rookie campaigns. Starting shortstop Carter Young recently quipped that he still hasn’t competed against SEC competition despite this being his second season.
Vanderbilt also has 17 freshmen on the roster.
“The biggest thing I can say is just pay attention to detail in practice,” Vanderbilt pitching ace Kumar Rocker said. “As the season moves forward they’ll start to get a grasp of themselves. We got a lot of big personalities – I think we got a lot of swagger, too. I think that’s going to play is this type of conference.”
On the other end of the spectrum, Vandy should have enough leadership components to wade its way through any adversity that might arise.
Rocker is part of seven juniors, among them Isaiah Thomas, Tate Kolwyck and Dominc Keegan, in the clubhouse and a trio of seniors – Davis, Jayson Gonzalez and Hugh Fisher – have the added responsibility of coaxing along the younger Dores.
Part of that education began during the fall months.
“It doesn’t matter how many seniors, it’s more the outreach that we have with the guys,” Davis said. “It’s really just getting the freshmen in, getting them integrated as fast as possible and I think we did a really good job this fall of being able to have a full fall training schedule that allowed us to really show the freshmen of how we do things at Vanderbilt and how things are done.”
Vanderbilt’s full 2021 schedule has yet to be finalized, although a tough trip to Oklahoma State awaits the team in mid-March before the start of conference games a week later. These next three weeks will be key in building the shape of the lineup and pitching rotation before first pitch and the beginning of that schedule.
Corbin will continue to evaluate the 43 student-athletes on his roster and as he does their respective roles will fall into place. Besides, there only so many opportunities to get on the field as the days grow longer and the weather turns warmer.
“On their end, they’re going to have some patience,” Corbin said. “If only nine people are eating at the table, that means a lot of people are watching. When you’re watching you have to find other roles that are conducive to help the team move forward.
“There’s a playing role and there’s a team role. It’s very understandable that most of these guys, on any given day, are going to have to understand what a team role is.”
Vanderbilt’s preseason training sessions will be closed to the public.
— Chad Bishop covers Vanderbilt for VUCommodores.com.
Follow him @MrChadBishop.
