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Live Chat with Tim Corbin Monday
VUcommodores.com will host a live online chat with baseball head coach Tim Corbin on Monday, February 16, from 10:20-11 a.m. CT.
Send in your questions now in the box below. We will select the best questions to answer live on Monday.
The Commodores will open the season Friday, February 20 with a two-game series at Stanford, followed by two more games at Cal.
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| Moderator: Welcome to our live chat with Tim Corbin. Coach is on his way.. Submit your questions in the box below. |
| Moderator: Don’t forget, season tickets are on sale starting at $75. Call 322-GOLD to reserve your spot inside Hawkins Field or order them online at the following link: http://vucommodores.cstv.com/tickets/vand-tickets-baseball.html |
| Moderator: While we are waiting, the SEC Preseason Coaches Poll just got released. Vanderbilt is picked to finish 3rd in the SEC East. Georgia is picked to finish first, while LSU is picked to claim the SEC West and the Overall Championship. |
| Moderator: Coach has just arrived from his morning meetings… we’ll get underway in just a moment. |
| Moderator: The breakdown of the coaches pick for SEC Champion is LSU (10), Georgia (1), Ole Miss (1). |
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Tim Corbin: Here we go, thanks for waiting guys. |
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| david price: do you miss me? |
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Tim Corbin: yes |
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| Candy Finch: Which is your favorite uniform? |
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Tim Corbin: I like the all-white uniforms the best. It just means we are at home. |
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| Justin (Nashville): I saw in the Tennessean today that you think this team might have more power than the last couple of teams. Who do expect to step up and put up big power numbers this year? Curt Casali jumps out, but who would be some of the others? Thanks! |
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Tim Corbin: Good question Justin. I would say power in terms of more extra base hits, not necessarily home runs. More balance throughout the lineup. Guys like Casali, Westlake, Giobbi, Liddle and White. |
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| Jeff (Hendersonville): Has there been a particular Freshman that has stood out early? |
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Tim Corbin: I would say several. Jason Esposito, Riley Reynolds, Grayson Garvin, Sonny Gray, Matt Marquis, Navery Moore and Joe Loftus have all done well at one point or another. Deep class and all should develop into good players. |
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| Mike Holder Aiken, SC: Coach, I’m looking forward to tracking the team this season. My questions are how difficult it will be for you to utilize your pitching staff to the fullest with all the options you have? Also, is this team going to win stricly with defense and pitching and will the offese have to create with the short game or rely on power? Go get ’em in California! Take Care, Iron |
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Tim Corbin: Thanks Iron,I think from a pitching standpoint, we will have more opportunity to mix and match, more so than in the past. The young pitchers will have a chance to fill signifcant roles midway and at the end. Offensively, we are more balanced. I would say name wise, it isn’t earth shattering right now but the potential is there to be a good offensive lineup. |
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| Mark Arons (Westport, CT): I submitted this earlier….How did the State of CT become such an important part of your program?Have a great season! See you in April |
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Tim Corbin: It isn’t so much as Connecticut, as it is New England. We have had great success getting kids from the are and it just so happens we have a couple in Esposito and Casali. New England has been good to us. |
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| Owen Burnett (Cookeville, Tennessee): What is a typical reaction from a potential recruit when they have a chance to experience Nashville for the first time on a recruiting visit? |
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Tim Corbin: It really depends where they are from. We have been fortunate to recruit some Nashville kids. Anyone who comes from New England, Califronia or the Midwest have been impressed. It is a city that isn’t overwhelming in terms of it isn’t huge and yet it still has pro sports and other things to do. |
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| austin h: is mike minor going to lead the team this year? |
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Tim Corbin: He certainly fits in the No. 1 spot and deservedly so. He was in the No. 2 spot as a freshman and has pitched in a ton of big games not only here but for Team USA. |
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| vandyboy95: I’ve herd many people say that in order for us to win this year we are going to have to play small ball, with flattery, and Alvarez gone.do you think this is true? |
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Tim Corbin: Not at all. Losing Flaherty and Alvarez you do lose power numbers. But that doesnt mean we replace them with six-foot 180 pound bunters. We have some big guys that you haven’t seen yet. I think they will be fine. |
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| Robert (Bellevue): Coach Corbin,I love going to Vandy baseball games with my kids. I don’t have any official data on this, but it seems that college baseball games are taking longer to play–oftentimes going 4 hours. For instance, SEC baseball tournament games are running past midnight every year lately it seems. I’ve started showing up at Vandy games nearly an hour late just so I can make it to the 9th inning within 3 hours after arriving. Does the game length concern you? If so, what do you think are the causes and do you have any suggestions for solutions? |
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Tim Corbin: Length of games has been a concern to me. Pace of Play has been something we accented on in practice and scrimmages. A lot has to do with routines in the batters box and such. You speed it up by doing so in practice. I don’t like to play slow baseball either. |
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| jensen lewis: do you miss me? |
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| jensen lewis: do you miss me? |
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Tim Corbin: Yes. |
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| Mark Williams, Franklin, TN: I have never witnessed a classier Baseball team. Appearance, behavior and attitude are all top notch. The finest example is the teams attention and respect during the National Anthem. Who or what are your inspirations for running such a first class organization that is second to none? |
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Tim Corbin: Thanks for the kind words. The fact that this was my second job as a head coach, you want to put your stamp on a program. I knew that the way the kids act or anything like that comes back to the head coach. So attention to detail has always been something I look at. As far as role models, I would say Don Meyer. He has heightened my awareness to detail from his time as coach. |
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| Teddy (Fayetteville): How close are you to naming the starting line-up and the staring pitching rotation for Stanford series??? |
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Tim Corbin: I could probably give the rotation in Minor, Cotham and Christiani in that order. As far as the lineup, with so much youth nothing is in cement right now. |
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| Eric (McGugin, TN): This year’s incoming class certainly seems to be right up there with some high ceiling arms. How much do you worry about getting enough innings to develop such a strong crop of young pitchers? |
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Tim Corbin: Never really worried about it before. We have always thought about bringing along slow like Price and Minor. I always thought you bring along slow and build confidence in process. |
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| Greg (NYC): Coach, you’re dealing with the deepest staff you’ve had in 7 years at Vandy. With the opening weekend rotation set with Mikie, Caleb and Nick going in the first three games, who will be the #4 and 5 guys to start the season? |
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Tim Corbin: Probably boil down to Bierman, Reid or Hill. Those three come to mind right now. |
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| Greg (NYC): Coach, I understand that Curt Casali will be starting the season at 1B due to an arm injury. Can you talk a little bit about what happened, the prognosis and when Curt and Andrew Giobbi will switch back between 1B and Catcher. |
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Tim Corbin: It happened a couple of weeks ago. We are being very cautious right now and keep his throwing down to a minimum. Thank goodness we have a guy like Giobbi who has had time behind the plate. We will move Curtus to first and evaluate it from there. |
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| George (Brentwood): It would appear that a pitcher could shrug off an inflated ERA and/or other stats and, alternatively, position players could have false confidence in their #’s. Does the College game better prepare pitchers than position players for the Pros… do to use of aluminum bat? |
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Tim Corbin: I don’t necessarily agree with that. Throwing against the aluminum bat in the SEC certainly prepares u for pro ball if you can be effective. I dont think hitters growth is stunted with aluminum. They hit with wood in summer and sometimes in practice. A good hitter can hit with anything in his hand. A position it certainly helps is defense as fielders have a chance to receive faster ground balls and it slows down at the next level with wood. |
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| W. Larry Summar: I always feel like you have to be strong up the middle first,how is it looking at ss, 2b, and cf. |
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Tim Corbin: I feel good about middle infield with Brian Harris at SS and Riley Reynolds at 2B. Alex Hilliard will man center. Three new guys who I feel will do a good job. We should be solid up the middle. |
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| Moderator: Final couple of questions. |
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| Justin: Do you think Sonny Gray will start out in the rotation? |
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Tim Corbin: I think right way Sonny will pitch as a middle reliever. He will get a lot of innings. He is very competitive. Works hard and is a gamer and already for a young kid he is a good leader. It is evident to me why he won two state championships in football. He is a very unique man. |
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| Todd Craighead (Atlanta): What is the best piece of advice you ever got from one of your baseball mentors? |
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Tim Corbin: I think the best advice I got is don’t try to hard as a coach. Dont try to force things. Teach, praise, have confidence and discipline and let the kids play. |
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| James Guthrie (Scottsboro, AL): Of the players you’ve coached at Vanderbilt, who do you think has the most potential to become a great coach themself? |
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Tim Corbin: A lot of them do, but the first guy who comes to mind is Matt Buschmann. I see him getting to the bigs, but after he is done he will be a good coach should he go into the field. Another is Ryan Flaherty. They both have a good personality and a mind for the game. |
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| Moderator: Last question…. |
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| peyton (dickson): what is the plan in the hot corner with pedro gone and can we fill the spot in the batting order? |
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Tim Corbin: Right now Jason Esposito will play that position and hit in the middle of the order, much like Pedro did his freshman year. |
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Tim Corbin: Thanks for all the questions guys, sorry I couldn’t get to all of them. |
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