Since making the decision to return to Vanderbilt baseball for his senior season rather than sign as a 20th-round MLB draft pick, pitcher Connor Fennell has one goal in mind.
"Definitely a national championship," he said Oct. 1. "I think that's the standard."
Fennell had an up-and-down 2026 season as the Commodores' Friday night starter, putting up a 4.96 ERA in 85⅓ innings, striking out 102 and walking 20. He was their only consistent healthy starter for most of the season and recorded six quality starts (outings with six innings pitched and fewer than three earned runs allowed). But he also had starts with four, five and nine runs allowed, and the Commodores missed the NCAA Tournament.
Selected by the Chicago White Sox in the draft, Fennell turned
them down.
"I've wanted to get drafted since I was in high school and I never knew throwing 84 (mph) in New Hampshire, that it would ever be possible," he said. "But I've come a long way, so it was really cool to see that. And I thank the White Sox for doing that and showing me interest, but at the end of the day, this place is like home to me. Another year at this place to get that national championship and get that degree is something that's really hard to turn down."
But Fennell still wants to be a major leaguer. So he took the summer to visit Cressey Sports Performance, a training facility. At Cressey, Fennell cleaned up his lower-body mechanics, which he said has already bumped his velocity up to 92 mph, and he hopes he can get more velocity if he can add more weight. He also added two new pitches, a sweeper and a gyro slider, and worked to repeat his delivery better pitch-to-pitch so that he would no longer tip pitches, something that was an issue at times in 2026.
"This summer, I learned a lot about myself," Fennell said. "Learning what I did wrong and what caused those problems. So just being able to go through something that's hard, being able to deal with it, going through a rough season, it can change someone's mindset a lot, and it was obviously not a great year, in my opinion, for me, to my standard. But it helps. It's part of the process."
Fennell is expected to return to his role at the front of Vanderbilt's rotation in the spring, but who will join him is still in question. Right-hander Austin Nye performed well when healthy but is coming off internal brace surgery in April. Michigan transfer Shane Brinham also has starting experience, and the Commodores brought in several highly rated freshmen and transfers.
Fennell said that, top to bottom, this team has more competitiveness and drive to win than the past two teams he has been part of, down to a competitive bunt scrimmage during a recent practice.
Shortstop Ryker Waite said he wasn't sure of what Fennell's decision would be all summer until the two talked on the phone shortly after the draft.
"You want that guy on your team," Waite said. "He's the ultimate competitor, he's always going to give us a chance to win on Friday nights."
How Ryker Waite improved his game with Team USA
Waite, who is considered a top three-round prospect for the 2027 MLB Draft, played in the Cape Cod League and was the starting second baseman on the USA Collegiate National Team that played in Taiwan during the summer.
After hitting .305 with 13 doubles and seven homers in 2026 for Vanderbilt, Waite has honed in on improving his hit tool.
"Eliminating the strikeouts, I wanted to make that a big focus this summer," Waite said. "Swinging at the right pitches in my 'go' zone . . . Swing at more breaking balls that hang over the middle of the plate, because you can do more damage on those pitches. Seeing fastballs out over the middle of the plate. Just being a better hitter in general."
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on X @aria_gerson.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Why Connor Fennell turned down MLB draft, returned to Vanderbilt baseball
