By Zac Ellis
VUCommodores.com
On campus in Nashville — D.J. Svihlik points to a whiteboard in his office, which overlooks a sunny Hawkins Field on Vanderbilt’s campus. On the board sit a few dozen magnets, each with a different name, position and hometown corresponding to a recruit on the Commodores’ radar. The magnets are categorized according to year: 2017 class, 2018 and so on.
For Svihlik, his whiteboard represents the future of Vanderbilt baseball. But it’s also a reminder of a former life for the Commodores’ new hitting coach and recruiting coordinator. In August, Svihlik joined coach Tim Corbin’s Vanderbilt staff after 14 seasons as a scout for the New York Yankees. Back then, Svihlik was tasked with finding future major league talent. Now his job involves luring the nation’s best high school players to Nashville.
But as Svihlik adjusts to his new gig, he often finds himself harkening to his trove of experience with the Yankees. “All those magnets up there?” Svihlik asked. “Future Commodores are on that board.”
These days Vanderbilt’s newest coach is also learning how to… well, coach. Prior to arriving on West End, Svihlik had never coached baseball at any level, save for a short stint as a part-time assistant in extended spring training and short season Staten Island for the Yankees in 2002. But that year the Yankees recognized Svihlik’s true skill as a talent-evaluator, so he spent the next 14 seasons as an area scout and a national cross-checker for the organization.
Svihlik had never considered a move to the college game. He’d been fixated on a career in major league baseball for his whole life, dating back to a love of the game cultivated as a kid in Cleveland, Ohio. “College was just another stepping-stone in that process,” he admits. Still, Svihlik’s job with the Yankees allowed him to form relationships with college programs (and coaches) across the country. That meant he spent plenty of time witnessing the Vanderbilt program, which has had 12 players selected in the first round of the MLB draft during Corbin’s tenure.
“I’d seen a lot of good baseball programs around the country, but when you’d sit in the stands at a Vanderbilt game, something was very different,” Svihlik said. “You knew Vanderbilt was winning a lot and producing major-league talent. Big-league teams take notice of that.”
That’s why Svihlik’s ears perked up when Corbin reached out this summer. Vanderbilt hitting coach Travis Jewett had left in July to become the head coach at Tulane. In assessing his staff’s needs, Corbin recalled Svihlik’s skills as a scout. So Corbin asked the Yankee to join the Commodores’ program as an assistant coach.
The decision was hardly random for Vanderbilt’s coach; Corbin had considered adding Svihlik, an All-America and former Big Ten Player of the Year at Illinois, to his staff in previous years. “It goes back to a conversation I had with Dan Hartleb, who was D.J.’s assistant coach when he played at Illinois,” Corbin said. “I was asking Dan about D.J. five or six years ago. Dan said D.J. was one of those people who could adjust to anything in life.”
The opportunity intrigued Svihlik, but he wasn’t necessarily looking to leave his career with the Yankees or major league baseball. He’d become a mainstay in the Yankees organization and had found a niche in the world of amateur scouting. But Svihlik also liked the prospect of change and growth; as a scout he spent roughly 200 nights a year on the road, key time away from his two young kids. Plus, Svihlik already lived in Nashville. This seemed like a natural fit.
“It came down to my family, being at home more and having the opportunity to grow professionally outside of my comfort zone. being around college players I thought were major-leaguers,” Svihlik said.
Corbin never doubted that the former big-league scout could adapt to the college dugout. “It was just my gut instinct that I thought he could do it,” Corbin said. “I thought he was a very good decision-maker when it came to players. So the next step was that those skills might satisfy the recruiting element of that position.”
Now Svihlik is recalibrating his eyes in order to evaluate high-school prospects. But just as importantly, Svihlik is learning how to coach. For the new Commodore, that approach has involved a sit-and-watch mentality as he analyzes Vanderbilt’s slew of sluggers. And it hasn’t taken long for Svihlik to fully appreciate the challenge of winning at the college level. Corbin, in a sense, has served as an example for Svihlik’s transition.
“You find out how much you really know when you have to teach,” Svihlik said. “Tim is a tremendous teacher. I’m in awe every day when I listen to him talk to these players, because he doesn’t miss a thing. His game knowledge and attention to detail are outstanding. His passion for the game and the players he instructs is inspiring & motivates me everyday to become a better coach.”
Svihlik hopes he can add a new element to a staff that already knows how to win. If all goes according to plan, Svihlik’s experience as a player and scout will help push the Commodores towards another trip to Omaha.
Of course, there’s one elephant in the room that needs to be addressed: Will Svihlik feel odd wearing something other than pinstripes next spring?
He laughs at the question.
“For 16 years, the New York Yankees were a significant part of my life,” Svihlik said. “It is a world-class organization that demanded excellence. I have strong loyalties to many people on Brian Cashman’s staff that have been a part of my life both personally & professionally. This opportunity with Vanderbilt would not have come if not for the opportunities afforded to me by the Yankees.
“I will always feel a great amount pride knowing that I was part of the most successful & prestigious sports organization in the world,” Svihlik said, “but Vanderbilt is the New York Yankees of college baseball.”
