MLB Desert Invitational
Game 1: No. 16 Vanderbilt at Grand Canyon • GCU Ballpark • MLB Network
Game 2: No. 16 Vanderbilt (Home) vs. No. 24 Nebraska • Salt River Fields • MLB Network
Game 3: No. 16 Vanderbilt (Away) vs. UC Irvine • Sloan Park • MLB.com
Opening Weekend: Vanderbilt starts its 2025 campaign at the MLB Desert Invitational on Friday-Sunday in Phoenix. All three of Vandy’s opening weekend opponents were NCAA Tournament teams in 2024.
- The Commodores open the season at Grand Canyon on Friday evening in the first of two contests that will air on MLB Network. Vandy and Grand Canyon will be meeting for the first time.
- Saturday features Vanderbilt vs. Nebraska at Salt River Fields, also on MLB Network. The Dores fell to the Cornhuskers in 2023, the only prior game between the two sides.
- Vandy wraps up the opening weekend with UC Irvine at Sloan Park on Sunday on MLB.com. Vandy and UC Irvine first faced each other in 2014 with the Commodores winning 6-4.
- This will be Vanderbilt’s third time competing in the MLB Desert Invitational. The Dores participated in the event in 2019 and 2020 when it was the MLB4 College Baseball Tournament.
- Deegan Cordova (Lake Havasu City) and Ryker Waite (Queen Creek) will be returning to their home state this weekend. Additionally, Riley Nelson played at Yavapai CC in Prescott, Arizona last season.
The 2025 VandyBoys: Vanderbilt’s 2025 roster features 22 returners and 21 newcomers.
- Seventeen states are represented on the roster. Tennessee leads the way with 10 Commodores followed by Texas with six and California, Florida, Georgia and New Jersey with three each.
- There is one graduate student, five seniors, eight juniors, 15 sophomores and 14 freshmen on the squad.
- Among the 21 newcomers, seven transferred in during the offseason.
- Jayson King and Ty Blankmeyer joined the coaching staff in the offseason. King was most recently the head coach at Dayton while Blankmeyer was an assistant coach at Duke.
Golden Spikes Award: RJ Austin was one of 55 players named to the 2025 Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List.
- Austin was also named to the 2025 second-team preseason All-SEC and earned preseason All-America honors from Baseball America.
- The junior led the Commodores in batting average, runs, hits, RBI and stolen bases as a sophomore in 2024.
- He was named to the Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List and the 2024 SEC Community Service Team.
- The Atlanta native helped lead Vanderbilt to the SEC Tournament championship as a freshman in 2023, earning tournament MVP honors along with a selection to the all-tournament team.
Johnny V: Vanderbilt shortstop Jonathan Vastine returns for his senior season and was named the top senior in college baseball by Perfect Game.
- Vastine led the team in doubles (18) last season and, after leading Vandy with 18 doubles in 2023, became the first Commodore since Dansby Swanson to lead the team in doubles in back-to-back seasons.
- In D1Baseball’s 2025 preseason position rankings, Vastine came in at No. 10 among all shortstops.
- According to D1Baseball’s Synergy stats, Vastine’s 11.27 defensive runs saved last season was good for eighth nationally and ranked first among SEC shortstops.
The Gauntlet: Of Vanderbilt’s 56 games this season, 30 are against opponents who made it to the NCAA Tournament last season and 12 are against opponents who made it to Omaha.
- Six of Vandy’s opponents are ranked in the D1Baseball preseason poll including five in the top 10 and three in the top five.
Newcomers: Vanderbilt’s 2025 roster features 21 newcomers, seven of which are transfers.
- Mike Mancini played his first two season at James Madison, helping lead the Dukes to the NCAA Tournament as a sophomore. Mancini earned a spot on the Sun Belt and NCAA Raleigh Regional all-tournament teams last season.
- He was named to the 2025 first-team NCBWA preseason All-America and is ranked by D1Baseball as the No. 19 second baseman entering the season.
- Freshman Brodie Johnston was named the No. 14 third baseman by D1Baseball and the No. 10 overall freshman by Perfect Game entering the season. He was also projected as the SEC Freshman of the Year by Baseball America.
- Johnston earned Appalachian League MVP honors at the all-star game last summer.
- Junior Cody Bowker joined Vanderbilt after two seasons at Georgetown. Bowker enjoyed an impressive summer in the Cape Cod League after a breakout sophomore campaign for the Hoyas.
- A pair of Dayton transfers joined the team in the offseason in David Mendez and Connor Fennell. Mendez was a first-team NCBWA Freshman All-America selection in 2024 and was the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year. Fennell made 15 appearances including 12 starts for the Flyers as a freshman.
Preseason Accolades: Vanderbilt will start the season ranked in the top 25 in all five major preseason polls.
- Three Commodores landed on the preseason All-SEC team. Juniors RJ Austin and JD Thompson and sophomore Miller Green were voted to the second team by the league’s coaches.
- Austin was honored by USA Baseball with a selection to the 2024 Golden Spikes Award Watch List. Vandy has had a student-athlete on the watch list 32 times under head coach Tim Corbin.
- Austin was named preseason All-America by Baseball America while Green and Thompson were named preseason All-America by D1Baseball. Mike Mancini was named preseason All-America by the NCBWA.
- Green was one of 77 relief pitchers named to the NCBWA preseason Stopper of the Year Watch List.
