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College  | Story  | 3/13/2020

Scout Take: Vanderbilt

Connor Spencer     
Photo: Kumar Rocker (Vanderbilt Athletics)

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Vanderbilt Commodores

What Happened: Previously third-ranked Vanderbilt struggled at the Southern California College Baseball Classic going 1-2 on the weekend and barely escaping with a win on Sunday as they won with a walk-off walk against TCU in the bottom of the ninth inning. They then slid to No. 7 in the PG college Top 25 and were expected to start SEC play against Kentucky this weekend, but unfortunately, out of nowhere, all hell broke loose. The SEC officially suspended their baseball season until at least March 30 before the NCAA shut down all remaining winter and spring sports tournaments. The 2020 college baseball season and the road to Omaha as a whole seems to have come to a bizarre and unprecedented end. Vanderbilt (for now) ends their season with a 13-5 record as the defending national champions.

Carrying Tool: Their pitching staff. From 2014 on, Vanderbilt has set an unprecedented standard of excellence in college baseball and one could argue that they’ve been somewhat of a college baseball dynasty over the past six years. They returned one of the most talented and experienced pitching staffs in the country in 2020 along with one of the most exciting and electric pitchers in all of college baseball in Kumar Rocker. Their pitching staff gives them a chance in any ballgame against any program in the country and they had the potential to guide them to yet another national championship.

Concerns: Now that the 2020 season has come to an end, their concerns feel like somewhat of a formality. However, the Commodores did falter a bit in non-conference play this season, dropping games against major West Coast underdogs such as Cal Poly, Hawaii and USC. Their offense already was experiencing some growing pains at the plate and after losing Austin Martin to a lower body injury in Friday’s matchup against UCLA, their offense felt extremely young and inexperienced throughout the order. With six underclassmen riddled throughout the starting lineup on Sunday, including two freshmen, the offense was still settling into their roles on the team.

Best Player on the Field: Austin Martin. There’s a possibility that the first player selected in the 2020 and 2021 MLB drafts will both come from Vanderbilt. Austin Martin and power righty Kumar Rocker are two of the most highly anticipated prospects to come out of the two draft classes, respectively. Martin only had two at-bats on the weekend after leaving the game in the middle frames on Friday. He possesses elite barrel control that justifies a 65 or 70 hit tool and he can play just about anywhere on the diamond. Unfortunately for Martin, his elite hit tool may get slightly lost in the deep talent pool of the 2020 draft. There are multiple generational bats that are available in this year’s draft (assuming the draft is conducted) including names like Torkelson, Gonzales and Hjerstad. It will be interesting to see where in the top few picks Martin will be taken.

Fearless Forecast: Vanderbilt is an extremely talented team with more talent on its way in next year’s class. So much of their future forecast relies on decisions from the NCAA. Obviously, there’s no championship left to play for this season, however, this is uncharted territory for college baseball and the sport’s landscape over the next few years will be shaped over whether or not the NCAA grants players with an extra year of eligibility. Nevertheless, Vandy is and will continue to be one of the strongest teams in the country.

Previous player reports:
March 6: Kumar Rocker, Sam Hliboki
March 7: Jake Eder, Tyler Brown
March 8: Jack Leiter

Players Covered: CJ Rodriguez, Dominic Keegan, Ty Duvall, Spencer Jones, Parker Noland, Cooper Davis, Carter Young



CJ Rodriguez, C
Rodriguez’s talent behind the dish has shined early for the Commodores and his mature bat took no time at all to settle into a very competitive lineup. Through 11 games started this season (as he splits time with senior Ty Duvall) he’s batting .302 with three doubles and his plate discipline has been solid. At the plate, Rodriguez uses an even and upright stance with a low leg kick trigger. His hands are at a lower handset and there’s a slow rhythmic bat wag that he taps on his shoulder before going back quietly into his load. His ability to throw his hands at the inside half of the baseball is impressive for his age and he still has the ability to get into a ball to his pull side. His hands dance beautifully in sync with his trigger and his stroke stays well balanced through his linear weight shift in the box.


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