With football season officially in full swing, the minds of many Commodore faithful are far from the baseball diamond. Still, for many former VandyBoys, September represents the critical final month of a long and grueling season. Among those players are a slew of talented pitchers, some of whom will use the next few weeks as a launching pad for the postseason. Others will hope a strong finish in the minor leagues could bring them closer to an MLB debut in 2025.
In our most recent edition of ‘Dores in the Pros, The Hustler takes a look at some of Vanderbilt’s most coveted pitchers of the past.
Sonny Gray
Gray is one of the longest-tenured and most decorated professional pitchers to pass through Vanderbilt. The Tennessee native was a true ace during his time on West End, leading the team in innings pitched and strikeouts in 2010 and 2011. He was drafted 18th overall in the 2011 MLB Draft by the Oakland Athletics and wasted little time in the minor leagues, debuting less than two years after signing his first contract. Any questions about Gray’s ability to pitch at baseball’s highest level were quelled quickly, as he pitched to a 2.67 ERA with a 1.11 WHIP during his rookie season. He continued to dominate in Oakland for the next four seasons before being dealt to the Yankees in 2017 prior to the trade deadline. He has since spent time with the Reds, Brewers and Cardinals (his current team), shutting down opposing offenses at every stop along the way. Despite his age, Gray has plenty left in the tank. During the 2023 campaign, he earned his third trip to the All-Star Game and finished second in American League Cy Young voting. This year, he’s been almost as impressive, leading St. Louis with a 3.84 ERA and 1.09 WHIP while posting a dominant 5.0 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Carson Fulmer
Fulmer’s Vanderbilt career was full of dominant appearances, but none were more memorable than his start in the final game of the 2014 College World Series. Working on just three days of rest, the right-hander tossed 5.2 innings while allowing only two runs to help Vanderbilt secure its first national championship in school history. One year later, Fulmer was selected with the eighth overall pick in the 2015 MLB Draft by the Chicago White Sox. Though he showed flashes of potential, Fulmer never quite found his footing after debuting for Chicago in 2016, instead spending much of the next three years in Triple-A. Similar struggles plagued the former SEC Pitcher of the Year after he was released in 2020 — after which he spent almost four full seasons bouncing between different rosters. That said, the 2024 season brought new life to Fulmer’s career. He has become a mainstay in the bullpen for the Los Angeles Angels. His 80.1 innings and 79 strikeouts rank fourth and sixth, respectively, on the team, and his 4.15 ERA is representative of a pitcher who is finally starting to put it all together.
Tyler Ferguson
After spending three years as an important part of head coach Tim Corbin’s starting rotation, Ferguson took an unorthodox path to the major leagues. His professional career got off to a fast start after he was selected in the sixth round of the 2015 MLB Draft. Ferguson pitched to a 3.92 ERA with 56 strikeouts in 43.2 innings in his first game with the Rangers’ organization, but he found significantly less success over the next two seasons. He left the minors altogether in 2019 and spent the next four years pitching for a slew of teams — some MLB-affiliated and some not — before finally landing with the Athletics shortly after the conclusion of last season. Following a strong start to 2024 with Oakland’s Triple-A affiliate, the California native was promoted and made his major league debut on May 7. He has become a crucial part of a resurgent Oakland bullpen ever since, pitching to a 3.60 ERA with a 1.10 WHIP and 11.25 K/9 over 40 innings of work.
Kumar Rocker
Rocker has always been considered an ideal pitching prospect, but his journey to professional baseball has been anything but. The right-hander burst onto the NCAA Baseball scene in 2019 after a historic freshman season. His efforts resulted in a selection as Baseball America’s Freshman of the Year, recognition as the College World Series Most Outstanding Player and a national championship trophy. He was equally dominant over the next two seasons and considered one of the top prospects in the 2021 draft class. However, the New York Mets, who selected him 10th overall, opted not to sign him to a contract because of medical concerns. Rocker spent the 2022 season pitching for the Tri-City ValleyCats in the Frontier League, where he impressed once again before re-entering his name into the MLB Draft. All looked well when he was selected with the third overall pick by the Texas Rangers, but elbow soreness sidelined him after just six professional starts. Fortunately, since returning from the injury just over two months ago, Rocker has been one of the best stories in baseball. He allowed just nine hits, three walks and one run over 19.2 innings in Double-A before being promoted to Triple-A. In his Triple-A debut last week, Rocker tossed five shutout innings while compiling ten strikeouts. The Commodore legend finally looks to be back to his old self and should make his major league debut early next season, if not sooner.
Patrick Reilly
Reilly bounced back and forth between the starting rotation and the bullpen during his three years at Vanderbilt, flashing an elite pitch mix but struggling to find consistent success. However, Reilly did find consistent success in striking batters out — and his 12.2 K/9 during his junior season made him a highly desirable prospect heading into the 2023 MLB Draft. Reilly was ultimately selected 140th overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates, who immediately started working with him to develop competitive offspeed pitches to supplement his high-velocity fastball. He struggled over his first nine professional outings in 2023 but looked like a completely different pitcher during the first half of 2024, pitching to a 3.38 ERA with a 1.16 WHIP over 19 starts with Pittsburgh’s High-A affiliate. Impressed with what they saw from the six-foot-three righty, the Baltimore Orioles traded for Reilly prior to the trade deadline. He is currently playing alongside fellow Commodore Enrique Bradfield Jr. for Baltimore’s Double-A affiliate as he continues to work towards his major league debut.
Walker Buehler
Buehler began 2024 on the injured list for the second consecutive season as he continued rehab for Tommy John surgery he received in June of 2022. This was his second such surgery — a potentially career-threatening intervention. Nevertheless, Buehler and the Dodgers were confident he could come close to replicating his All-Star form of 2021 when he posted a 16-4 record with a 2.47 ERA. Buehler made his long-awaited return on May 6 against the Miami Marlins and showed glimpses that he might not be the same pitcher. As MLB now nears the end of its regular season, a larger sample size from Buehler — 5.67 ERA across 12 starts — gives a better sense of what has changed for the former All-Star. Historically, the primary indicator of a pitcher’s recovery is velocity, but Buehler is an exception. His four-seam fastball velocity is nearly identical to 2021 — dropping only 0.2 miles per hour. His usage rate is where the issues begin. He’s only thrown the pitch 29% this season, compared to 44% in 2021, which indicates that he’s still regaining strength in his elbow. Buehler’s fastball was once a dominant pitch, meaning a 15% drop in usage rate is alarming. Nevertheless, Buehler is still an X-factor in the Dodgers rotation moving forward, and they will certainly rely on him as they hope to make another deep October run.
Jack Leiter
The second overall pick in the 2021 MLB Draft showed serious promise this season for the first time at the professional level. Through 16 starts in Triple-A, Leiter has posted a 3.51 ERA. He was even called up to make his Major League debut for the Rangers on April 18, when he gave up seven earned runs across 3.2 innings against the Detroit Tigers. Leiter was immediately sent back down to Triple-A, where he returned to his dominance of minor league competition, posting a 2.57 ERA and a whopping 13.5 K/9 rate through nine starts. Leiter has bounced back and forth between the majors and minors all season long. He’s been a force in the minors but has yet to prove he can compete at the big league level. Nevertheless, this season remains a resounding success for Leiter as he’s shown glimpses of the ace-level ceiling he exhibited during his two-season run with the Commodores.
Kyle Wright
Wright has had some of the worst luck of any pitcher in MLB over the past two seasons. After being drafted fifth overall in the 2017 MLB draft and flying through the Braves’ minor league system, he was viewed by many as a future ace. In 2022, his first full season at the big league level, he posted a Major League-leading 21 wins and a 3.19 ERA. Wright was viewed as half of a two-headed monster (along with Spencer Strider) in the Braves’ 2023 opening rotation. Unfortunately, Wright dealt with significant injuries throughout the 2023 season, culminating in surgery in October to repair a torn right capsule in his throwing shoulder. This not only forced him to miss the remainder of 2023 but also the duration of the 2024 MLB season. In light of this procedure, the Braves traded Wright to the Kansas City Royals in November of 2023. Wright will work towards a full recovery for 2025 with his new team, where he will have the opportunity to join a star-studded Royals ballclub that is gearing up to compete for a World Series.
Grayson Moore
Moore was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the 14th round of the 2023 MLB draft after a three-year stint with the VandyBoys. While Moore didn’t stand out at Vanderbilt — 5.15 career ERA — there was clearly a part of his game that enticed Chicago enough to select a pure reliever in the mid-rounds. The Cubs are viewed by many as one of the premier pitching development organizations in all of baseball — led by former senior vice president of pitching Craig Breslow who is now the chief baseball officer for the Boston Red Sox. It looks like the Cubs have once again worked their magic, as Moore posted a 2.57 ERA in High-A this season. His season was cut short due to injury, but Moore seems destined to make the jump to Double-A next season and has a great shot to pitch in the majors come 2026.
Luke Murphy
Murphy was a weapon out of the bullpen for the VandyBoys during the 2021 campaign — 2.40 ERA and 9 saves in 41 IP — which got him selected by the Angels in the fourth round of that summer’s draft. Murphy has had a turbulent start to his professional career, bouncing back and forth between High-A and Double-A the last three seasons. He has proven time and again that he is an elite reliever at High-A — amassing a 0.86 ERA, with 8 saves in 21 IP this season. His numbers at Double-A tell a completely different story — a 4.07 ERA across 121.2 IP. The jump from Single-A to Double-A has long been viewed as the most significant jump in the minors by many. SEC baseball competition is considered to be similar to that of High-A, so Vanderbilt players are often prepared for the change from college to the minors. Murphy has seen his BB/9 skyrocket in Double-A (1.8 to 4.4), accompanied by a significant drop in K/9 (13.5 to 10.7). These numbers indicate that he is no longer attacking hitters, working instead at the edges of the strike zone. Murphy will certainly get another chance in Double-A at some point next season, but this may be a make-or-break season if he ever wants to reach the bigs.
