NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt received two preseason top-five rankings as both the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and USA Today Coaches Poll slotted the Commodores second in their top-25 rankings.
With the rankings, Vanderbilt enters the upcoming season as a unanimous top-five team. The Commodores are ranked in the top three of every major collegiate baseball poll – No. 1 in Perfect Game, No. 2 in Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball, NCBWA and USA Today and No. 3 in D1Baseball.
Vanderbilt registered a 49-18 record across the 2021 campaign, culminating in the program’s fifth trip to the College World Series, where they closed out the season as the national runner-up. Though six Commodores were selected in the 2021 MLB Draft, including a national-best two top-10 picks from last year’s team, Vanderbilt returns four players who were ranked among D1Baseball’s 2022 Top 100 MLB Draft Prospects: Carter Young (No. 25), Spencer Jones (No. 60), Dominic Keegan (No. 66) and Nick Maldonado (No. 74).
Vanderbilt is scheduled to open the 2022 season on Feb. 18, when the Commodores will welcome Oklahoma State to Hawkins Field for a three-game weekend series.
