Next year's roster

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fldore
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Next year's roster

Post by fldore »

I don't know when the covid additional year finally expires. Are any of the seniors eligible to come back? Assuming the best of them will be leaving regardless.

What about the juniors? Assuming Bradfield is gone. Not sure what our pitching depth looks like for next year but would like to see Owen and Moore come back. Moore was under utilized this season.

We could be in a world of hurt offensively next year unless one of the incoming freshman can really swing it. Yes some existing players could develop but those tend to be outliers.


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Re: Next year's roster

Post by DS2001 »

We have been in a world of hurt offensively for these past 2 years and it looks like it's going to continue into next year. I see no relief in sight on the hitting front.
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Re: Next year's roster

Post by AuricGoldfinger »

Aria Gerson just tweeted her version of a roster tracker which answers some of the questions posed here:
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Re: Next year's roster

Post by dore74 »

anyone with insight on which of the incoming frosh are likely to sign and play professionally instead?
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Re: Next year's roster

Post by AuricGoldfinger »

dore74 wrote: Tue Jun 06, 2023 9:22 am anyone with insight on which of the incoming frosh are likely to sign and play professionally instead?
For starters, Max Clark is the longest of longshots to make it to campus.
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Re: Next year's roster

Post by dore74 »

Thanks AG
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Re: Next year's roster

Post by AuricGoldfinger »

dore74 wrote: Tue Jun 06, 2023 5:43 pmThanks AG
I'll try to get some more perspectives on the signees most likely to go pro. Clark was the only one I knew off the top of my head.
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Re: Next year's roster

Post by Minoadoc »

Thomas White is longshot
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Re: Next year's roster

Post by Levon »

AuricGoldfinger wrote: Tue Jun 06, 2023 5:06 pm
dore74 wrote: Tue Jun 06, 2023 9:22 am anyone with insight on which of the incoming frosh are likely to sign and play professionally instead?
For starters, Max Clark is the longest of longshots to make it to campus.
MLB draft prognosticator on ESPN online a few days ago pegged Clark as the potential #1 pick because, in a nutshell, the Pirates are cheap, i.e., Clark would sign for less than Crews, Skene or the other top guys.
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Re: Next year's roster

Post by Versus75 »

I see Bradfield and most of the draft-eligible pitchers being drafted and turning pro. That's a lot of pitchers, but we lose guys to the pros who barely broke the lineup in college.

Doolin is not a redshirt freshman because you can't have 3 injury RS years (error by Aria), but he hasn't shown anything recently. Will he ever pitch in college again? I hope so, unless he transfers.

Good chance that Noland isn't drafted. Same with McKenzie, Hewett, Rogers. We could see all of them next year.

LaNeve, Bulger, Espinal? The catchers might be drafted since that is a desirable position, but if they don't get a decent offer return to VU to show off your stuff. LaNeve might be drafted based on the way he finished, but Troy could play a big role for us in 2023-24 and improve his stock.


As for the incoming freshman, I looked at the MLB.com Top 200 prospects.

https://www.mlb.com/prospects/draft/

005 Max Clark
023 Thomas White
038 George Lombard Jr
050 Alex Clemmey
102 Ethan McElvain
142 Cam Kozeal

I hope we keep a couple of them. McElvain, as the local kid and a legacy, is the best bet. Clark is also local (Franklin, Tenn.), but he is not likely to turn down $4 million or so. We shall see later this summer.
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Re: Next year's roster

Post by HopsLikeHolwerda »

Quick correction, Clark is from Franklin, Indiana.

Max will be a high draft pick and will sign. I don't think there's any doubt about that one. Thomas White is interesting. He's definitely on the MLB radar, but there are rumblings that he will be a hard sign because of his Vandy commitment. This was a similar position as Sonny Gray many years ago. Sonny could have been a 1st rounder out of HS, but actively told MLB teams he was going to college. Thus, he was drafted in a later round out of high school just to see if they could change his mind. We know he came to school. Thomas White might be in that same boat. Same with Jack Leiter. Would have been a 1st/2nd round guy out of high school, but was drafted in the 20th because he told them he was going to Vandy.

Lombard might be in the same boat. He's just scratching the surface of how good he can be. One of the biggest risers in recruiting rankings this past year. He's still a bit raw but has MLB bloodlines. His parents (and him) may think it's best for him to develop in the college ranks as opposed to the MiLB space.

I think McElvain comes to campus, and hearing what I'm hearing in the local scene, I'm very confident in that statement. Money talks, so never say never, but it will take a good amount to sway him away from campus.

No thoughts on Clemmey. Haven't heard much about him to be honest.

The easiest way to read the draft is that a Top 50 draft prospect (which includes HS and College) is probably going to turn pro if drafted in the Top 5 rounds. If they fall in the draft, but are rated highly, then they've probably communicated to scouts that they intend to go to college. HS prospects outside of the Top 100 but within the Top 250, are much more likely to make it to campus, probably about 50-60% or so.

My guesses on the incoming class would be:

a) Clark goes pro
b) White/Lombard - one of the two make it to campus
c) McElvain comes to campus
d) We will lose one other random prospect, that we haven't even mentioned here because a team will fall in love with one aspect of his game and take a flyer on him
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Re: Next year's roster

Post by Ndorefin »

Will our hitting coach return? I wish Baxter no ill will, since he’s a VandyBoy and Corbs wouldn’t release him anyway, but I hope he gets a good offer to go somewhere else. We really need a wholesale cleaning of the staff, including the trainer and our strength/conditioning coach, if we can’t keep our pitchers healthy. Things have to change….I believe we overachieved in every series this year except ut and UF! That hasn’t been up to our standard or potential and I hope Corbs makes some big changes!
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Re: Next year's roster

Post by alathIN »

RJ Austin, Chris Maldonado, and Davis Diaz all had stretches of looking like good hitters. If they can solve whatever slump issues they could all be very good bats. With luck maybe two of them level up over the offseason?
I don't think we are doomed to be bad offensively next season.
To meet Vandyboys level expectations we will need pitching to be elite and hitting near-elite - or vice versa.
I'm not confident of that either way.
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Re: Next year's roster

Post by AuricGoldfinger »

Here's a mock draft that has three Vanderbilt signees in the first round: Clark, Lombard, and White. (And EBJ, too.)
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Re: Next year's roster

Post by katmai »

I think there are over 2,000 players in the portal. Have we heard anything about any Vandy players transferring out? That could have a big impact on the roster next year as well. I saw several former Vandy players playing for other teams in the tournament this year.
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Re: Next year's roster

Post by AuricGoldfinger »

katmai wrote: Mon Jun 12, 2023 12:51 pm I think there are over 2,000 players in the portal. Have we heard anything about any Vandy players transferring out? That could have a big impact on the roster next year as well. I saw several former Vandy players playing for other teams in the tournament this year.
Ivan Arias is the only player I've seen mentioned as being in the portal thus far.
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Re: Next year's roster

Post by AuricGoldfinger »

Here's Aria Gerson's transfer tracker: https://www.tennessean.com/story/sports ... 293773007/
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Re: Next year's roster

Post by Versus75 »

I forgot about Miles Garrett. Aria said he didn’t play collegiate baseball in 2022 or 2023. He must have had good stuff to pitch in 9 games as a freshman.

No idea what happened after that.
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Re: Next year's roster

Post by AuricGoldfinger »

TJ McKenzie in the portal as a grad transfer. I had not expected him to return, so not surprising.
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Re: Next year's roster

Post by commadore »

I guess Aria forgot to mention the "who's coming" part of the article.
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