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College  | Story | 3/8/2018

Quick Take: Vanderbilt

Photo: Vanderbilt Athletics



Perfect Game College Player Database

During the season Perfect Game scouts will be traveling to some of the top series to watch the very best players in college baseball. Those observations, captured with both written notes and video, will be shared in the College Player Database as linked above, notes that can also be accessed on the players' individual PG profile pages. Throughout the season select reports will be shared in feature format to promote the players, the teams and college baseball as a whole.


Vanderbilt Commodores

What Happened: Vanderbilt dropped two of three in the Shriners College Classic in Houston, losing in extras to Sam Houston State and 3-0 to Louisiana before getting the victory on Sunday over Houston. The Commodores got solid starting pitching and high-end individual bullpen performances, but the bullpen as a whole is responsible for the Friday loss to Sam Houston. With the exception of the Saturday shutout, Vandy's offense, highlighted by a whole mess of true freshmen, showed that they should be able to hit and hit well this season. 

Carrying Tool: Those freshman hitters. Vanderbilt's offense is built with freshmen up and down the lineup, with Austin Martin, Pat DeMarco, Jayson Gonzalez and Phillip Clarke all getting significant at-bats thus far. They, by and large, have exceeded expectations thus far, with all of them hitting at least .300 (Martin leads the pack at .405) and they've done a fair job of limiting strikeouts while also hitting for power along the way. If they can avoid any serious group-wide dropoffs as SEC play gets rolling along, they have a chance to help carry this team deep. 

Concerns: Starting pitching. While the stats on the surface look fine from the perspective of the Vanderbilt weekend rotation, just below the surface raises some concerns. While Drake Fellows was dominant in his start, both Patrick Raby and Chandler Day struggled a bit and had short outings, counting heavily upon a bullpen, that, while talented, also has some warts. For the Commodores to go deep into the postseason this year they will need that starting rotation as a whole to come together to go deeper into games. 

Best Player on the Field: J.J. Bleday. While he didn't stuff the stat sheet as a few others in Vandy's lineup did, the argument can be made that Bleday had the greater overall impact on the games, particularly their win, from the perspective of both offense and defense. Bleday was sterling in right field, making a pair of diving catches and a sliding third, all while hitting in the middle of the lineup and providing a big power presence, something Vanderbilt is missing since the departures of Jeren Kendall and Will Toffey of a year ago. 

Fearless Forecast: We'll see Vanderbilt's offense hit a bit of a lull during SEC play, but they'll be back in rare form by the tournament. Any time you expect major contributions from freshmen, regardless of the level of talent, there are likely to be some growing pains as the scouting report gets out on them. Vanderbilt's super frosh aren't likely to be immune to this, but they're also so talented that they may be able to stem the flow of it. The SEC will make adjustments to them, that much is for sure. Vanderbilt's season will likely be determined by how these freshmen are able to re-adjust back.  


Database Player Reports (11):

• J.J. Bleday
• Tyler Brown
• Chandler Day
• Pat DeMarco
• Drake Fellows
• Jackson Gillis
Connor Kaiser
• Zach King
• Ethan Paul
• Patrick Raby
Reid Schaller


Prospect Spotlight: Connor Kaiser, SS



As Vanderbilt's much-heralded freshman class gets off to a hot start, so have the Commodores, but it's Connor Kaiser who is likely to be the first Vanderbilt positional player off the board when the draft rolls around this June. Kaiser is a long, athletic-bodied shortstop who is definitively bigger than most at the position, fitting into the new-age sort of shortstop model, being tall with good athleticism but also good physical projection. He's got some strength to the build right now but he could end up out-growing shortstop altogether if he keeps filling out that physicality.

He's a solid average athlete with the necessary quick-twitch athleticism to play shortstop well at the collegiate level, but his professional home may be as more of a utility player who could handle some second and third base as well. The hands are quite clean in the middle infield and the side-to-side agility is pretty solid as well, especially for a player of his length, and he shows enough arm strength to handle the throws from deep in the 6-hole with no real trouble. 

Offensively, Kaiser is off to a hot start and is expected to be a steadying veteran presence in a lineup that features a good number of underclassmen. He has a mostly quiet approach, with a leg lift trigger and lower hand pinch load that can cause him to be a bit late creating separation, but he shows more bat speed this year than he has in the past and he has solid feel for timing to begin with, so the complexities of the hand load aren't a problem at this point. It's a compact swing online drive path, built for covering the plate well and using the whole field, and he shows solid extra-base pop as well. A mostly average runner, Kaiser will occasionally dig down the line in the 4.25 second range, which is above average, but he's likely to be pretty consistently an average runner long term. 

He's going to have to hit this year, and ideally hit for some power as well, as while he's been a good defender at Vanderbilt, when it comes to the draft, the offensive profile is a little light for much beyond rounds 4-5. He shows the ability to handle the bat and spray contact, but without some punch to that offensive profile he looks more like a potential utility guy at the big league level as compared to a starting shortstop. However, the early returns are encouraging, as he's shown more adept at making hard contact thus far this season while continuing to play steady defense.

College | Recruiting | 12/15/2025

Recruiting Notebook: December 15

John McAdams
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Tournaments | Story | 12/17/2025

15u Tourney All-American Team

Jason Phillips
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Hitter of the Year: Landon Bonner The 2028 class saw many players from across the country take the next step in their development as they entered the High School ranks. There were huge performances from highly ranked players on the PG circuit as well as some under-the-radar guys who burst onto the scene. Landon Bonner came into Sophomore National as a Top 500 ranked player and after an impressive showing, left with all eyes on him as a rankings riser in the class. The left-handed hitting shortstop from The Colony, Texas, had a summer to remember with All-Tournament Team selections in three of his next four events culminating with a historic performance at the 2025 PG 15U WWBA National Championship. The Hebron High School prep went 20-for-24 in nine games for 5 Star Mafia 15U Black with four homeruns and 12 runs batted in. He also scored 17 runs and finished with a mind-boggling 2.500...
Tournaments | Story | 12/16/2025

16u Tourney All-American Team

AJ Denny
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Hitter of the Year: Koa Romero is the Hitter of the Year for the 16u group, as he would come to every premier event of the summer and earn All-Tournament honors (Beast of the East, 16/17u WWBA, Jupiter) in every single one. Over 82 plate appearances, Romero would pump ten homeruns with forty two RBI and sixteen walks, good for a .378 average and 1.339 OPS. The performance on volume at the best events of the year pushed Romero over the edge here, as he’d hit a pair of homeruns in Jupiter (one of them at 112 EV) as an underclassmen and collect double digit hits in BOTH WWBA events with a combined six jacks over the two tournaments. It was a summer that combined performance and winning on the biggest stages for Romero. It’s a quiet left-handed swing that packs a punch. He would reap the benefits of his performances, earning a commitment to LSU and jumping to the #74 prospect in...
Tournaments | Story | 12/15/2025

17u Tourney All-American Team

Vincent Cervino
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There’s a lot of talent throughout this 2026 class, filled with the big-name stars, to talent that spreads across the nation. It’s been a lot of fun seeing these prospects grow and develop over the years, from the days of watching some of these guys at the 13/14u days at events on the circuit, to now where they are all graduating seniors in 2026. There’s been new faces who have popped along the way over the years, even in 2026, where some players who were relatively undiscovered, have come out and made a name for themselves with a statement performance. Between the familiar and the new, there’s a lot of names on this list that are going to be quite regularly talked about on the circuit, and for good reason.  Whether it’s PG All-Americans or not, there’s a lot of names with superstar potential at the next level. We’ve got 14 PG All-Americans...
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Finest in the Field: Class of 2029

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Finest in the Field: Class of 2026 | Class of 2027 | Class of 2028 These guys might just be entering high school, but they've certainly already made a name for themselves on the national circuit, especially with their abilities on the defensive side of things.  C: Xavier Rodriguez (Logansville, GA) Rodriguez is a polished defender with real arm strength behind the dish, while showcasing the ability to impact the baseball with authority to all fields evident by thirty of his sixty-five hits going for extra-bases including seven bombs. He handles high-level pitching extremely well, commands his staff and his offensive prowess makes him a true two-way asset. 1B: Cooper Knight (Buda, TX) Knight is a smooth operator at first base with plenty of range, fluidity and agility in his footwork around the bag. Add-in a rocket for an arm, the ability to change slots and to...
Tournaments | Story | 12/12/2025

Scout Stories: Part 5

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Best Game I Saw: The Dream NTL 18U vs. MBA Scout Team Murphy Jupiter always brings out the best, and we got fireworks from the jump. Turner Marshall gave The Dream an outstanding 4+ innings of work on the mound, holding a lethal MBA team at bay with Chance Dixon, Derrick Carter, and Ellis Appling providing an offensive spark out of the gate for the Georgia based boys. However, it was only a matter of time before the talent on the other side got going, as MBA erased a 3-run deficit in the 5th to take a 4-3 lead led by a Parker Loew HR. The Dream then took command again in the Top of the 6th, before MBA punched right back with a huge 5-run inning in the bottom half capped off by a clutch RBI single from Matthew Kerrigan, ending a wild sequence with tons of notable performances from two very competitive rosters. Best Tournament Performance I Saw: Surely someone has already brought this...
College | Story | 12/12/2025

College Notebook: December 12

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Tournaments | Story | 12/12/2025

Finest in the Field: Class of 2028

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PG Softball "Toys 4 Tots" Fundraiser 18U division

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Scout Stories: Part 4

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Scout Notes: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Best Game I Saw: Hudson Reed (‘26, GA) torches this ball to deep CF for a solo 💣. Generates easy power that plays to the big part of the yard. Middle of the order traits #UBCWest @PG_Georgia @PG_Uncommitted pic.twitter.com/UXqDVFmUBx — Perfect Game California (@California_PG) June 18, 2025 I was fortunate enough to see a lot of highly competitive games with loads of talent on the field, the game that sticks out to me the most was Alpha Prime 2026 vs. ZT National Prospects at the UBC West. The game was an efficiently played affair with arms dominating on both sides. Graham Schlicht was masterful for Alpha, striking out 12 hitters over 5 dominant innings. PG All-American Julian Cazares came out of the pen blowing smoke, touching 97 mph with the fastball. On the other side, Jake Carbaugh surrendered just one hit and...
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