No. 15 Vanderbilt Baseball started its 2025 season off by traveling to Arizona to participate in the 2025 MLB Desert Invitational. The VandyBoys faced three opponents in Grand Canyon, then-No. 26 Nebraska and then-No. 22 UC Irvine. The Commodores went 2-1 in the Desert, narrowly escaping both Grand Canyon and UC Irvine while suffering a disappointing loss to Nebraska.
These first few games showed promise and room for improvement in a team that hopes to get to Omaha for the first time in four years.
Three up
Thompson and Bowker impress
With the departure of all three reliable weekend starters — including Carter Holton, Bryce Cunningham and Devin Futrell — from last season, several question marks surrounded Vanderbilt’s weekend lineup. Going into opening weekend, head coach Tim Corbin settled on JD Thompson, Ethan McElvain and Cody Bowker as his starters. Both Thompson and Bowker impressed. If their performance is any indication of what to expect this season, it seems that the team’s starter-related questions have mostly been answered.
Thompson, the No. 65 draft prospect, didn’t necessarily come as a surprise with the Friday start. Nonetheless, his performance was still outstanding. Across 4.2 innings against GCU, he allowed just three hits while tallying six strikeouts and walked just one batter. Bowker, a transfer from Georgetown, was equally impressive in his four innings against UC Irvine. The Maine native allowed three hits and tallied six strikeouts while only walking one batter and allowing no runs. His fastball was dominant with a ton of movement that hitters, even when they knew it was coming, couldn’t touch.
As the season goes on, Bowker and Thompson will likely get stretched out to the point where it wouldn’t be unusual to see them in the fifth and sixth innings reliably. This will also alleviate any unpredictability surrounding the team’s middle relief options.
The first weekend is rarely determinative of the season’s trajectory, but if Thompson and Bowker keep up this production and stay healthy, Vanderbilt will have a strong — dare I say stronger than last year — weekend rotation on its hands.
Riley Nelson: What Vanderbilt’s offense needed
Junior transfer Riley Nelson seems to be the spark the Commodores needed. Going into this season, the biggest question was if Vanderbilt’s offense would be able to hang with the new high-powered, heavy hitters of the SEC. While there is arguably still a lot more to be proven here, Nelson looks like he is the first piece falling into place.
Over the weekend’s three games, the junior went 6-13 at the plate, tallying 5 RBI, 2 extra-base hits and only striking out once. Probably the most notable of those hits was the grand slam in the top of the eighth that put the Commodores back on top against UC Irvine. Nelson is going to make things happen for the Commodores, and his willingness to hit at the two-slot seems to be working really well not only for him but his team. To boot, he is a true first baseman, which this team has been lacking for several years now. It seems like Corbin and Co. struck gold with Nelson. Down the stretch, his consistent contact and power might be what gets Vanderbilt back to Omaha.
Increased power
Right after official practices began in January, at a media availability Tim Corbin said he knew that the team’s hitting velocity had improved.
“I’m not going to say I think [power has increased] because I kind of know so,” Corbin said on Jan. 29.
While the extra-base hits and hitting statistics were not jumping off the page from this weekend, the ball was hit really hard.
In Vanderbilt’s loss against Nebraska, six of the balls Vanderbilt made contact with had exit velocities over 105 miles per hour. All of these hits came from different players no less — Braden Holcomb, Nelson, JD Rogers, Colin Barczi and Jonathan Vastine — and three of them were extra base hits. Compared to last year when only Alan Espinal and Troy Laneve really got velocities above 105 miles per hour, this is a big improvement.
Furthermore, as I have mentioned previously, this team has a lower floor than the average Corbin roster, but a much higher ceiling. This means that they might be hitting hard but will still need a few more at-bats to really get production from the increased velocity. The weather is only going to get warmer, and thus the ball will carry better.
Three down
Middle relief uncertainty
Vanderbilt’s middle relief from the bullpen left a lot more to be desired on opening weekend. Eleven of the 16 runs Vanderbilt allowed in the invitational came off middle relievers. This might be from a lack of experience but doesn’t make it any less concerning.
First-years that were highly touted like Hudson Barton and Matthew Shorey had tough outings. The two combined for an allowed six hits and nine runs. While this is slightly disheartening, it was these guys’ first weekend appearances, showing how much faith the pitching staff has in them. Even players who are now key bullpen guys — like Miller Green — struggled at times as first-years. There is nothing wrong with trying these first-years and them underperforming — in fact, it’s almost expected. What is concerning, however, is that there are not many other options.
Two of the older middle-relief arms, Alex Kranzler and Sawyer Hawks, combined for a total of 4.1 innings and 6 strikeouts. While both of them being healthy and better than ever is encouraging, that still doesn’t alleviate the issue that other arms will be needed on weekends.
As mentioned above, this issue will likely become less pressing as the starters go deeper into the games. Until then though, Vanderbilt will need to find a way to get production out of its young middle relievers.
Early injuries
Injuries have really hurt Vanderbilt for the past two years, and the news last week that two key players will be out for at least a few weeks feels like more of the same. Mike Mancini, a transfer from JMU who was expected to serve as a power role and another infield option, has yet to see the field and had what the staff is calling a “minor surgery” on Jan. 31. As of right now there is no clear timeline on the NCBWA Preseason All-American selection’s return.
Brodie Johnston, the first-year slugger and third baseman, is also out with a hairline fracture in his hand, which he suffered from getting hit by a pitch during inter-team scrimmages. This type of injury usually warrants at least a few weeks’ rest, but can also be the kind to hang around, especially with the demanding physicality and number of games in a baseball season.
While the coaching staff seems generally hopeful that both players will be back soon, the injuries to what were expected to be key players are less than ideal. In fact, it feels ominously like last season’s injury to Chris Maldonado.
Maldonado’s production
Maldonado returned from injury this weekend, appearing in his first game since Feb. 23, 2024. If one thing is clear, it’s that Corbin and Co. are generally high on Maldonado as a contributor. They love his feel for the strike zone and the quality at bats that he produces. This was only enforced by the fact that they had him at the four-spot in the batting order for games against Grand Canyon and Nebraska. The junior had a rough weekend at the plate, however, leaving the questions surrounding his reliability in the lineup.
Maldonado had almost zero production across the two games, going 0-for-8 at the plate and striking out five times. By Sunday’s game against UC Irvine, he was benched. Maybe this was just an uncharacteristically bad weekend for the New Jersey native at the plate and it’s too early to tell how the season will shake out for him. While it is promising that other players like Mac Rose and Rigdon are stepping up to the challenge, this team plays its best baseball when Maldonado is providing offensive production.
Vanderbilt Baseball will have a quick turnaround, playing its fourth game in as many days when it hosts Air Force on Feb. 17 with the first pitch scheduled for 4:30 p.m. CST.
