2026 Vanderbilt Baseball Season Preview

Though there are still land-based ice bergs everywhere I look, it is somehow baseball season this Friday. The Diamond Dores, as seemingly happens every year, open with a three game mini-tournament of sorts in Arlington, Tejas called “The Shriner’s Children’s College Showdown.” I’d say be on the lookout for fez-clad Boomers driving mini cars and/or Karz for Kidz style commercials, but like most of these mini-season-opening-tourney-of-sorts-thingies, it will only be televised on Flo Sports, which you’re

unlikely to purchase.

Am I even going to purchase it? Tough to say. I recently had to replace a water heater in the middle of an ice storm, so I’m not exactly flush with cash, plus, my eyes were somewhat shamefully drawn to the Men’s Doubles Luge Olympics event last night (pictured below), so I might be watching the biathlon or foxy boxing or whatever sport the rules don’t explicitly ban a dog from playing whilst having some sort of ice-knives strapped to its paws.

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The Gold Medal winning Italian team of Emanuel Rieder and Simon Kainzwaldner (pictured).

So, let’s take a look at the state of the team heading into the 2026 season. Should we book hotel rooms in Omaha, prepare to be Regional Hosts in Nashville, squeak into the postseason as a mid-pack SEC #2 or (gasp) #3 seed, or sharpen our torchforks in a manner we haven’t done since Jerry Stackhouse was wearing designer suits and losing The Streak?

The Pre-Season Rankings and Potential Awards Winners

Baseball America: #17.

• Last Season: 43-18 (19-11 SEC); Eliminated in Nashville Regional
• Final 2025 Ranking: No. 17
• Coach (Record at school): Tim Corbin (964-461-1, 24th season)

Vanderbilt’s standing in the sport is not accidental. Sustained success, rigorous standards and institutional continuity have long defined the program, which is why the abrupt ending to 2025 still resonates. The Commodores entered the NCAA Tournament as the No. 1 national seed, then were eliminated swiftly and decisively by Wright State, losing to a No. 4 seed in a result that cut against expectation and reputation. What happened next was familiar. Significant talent departed via the draft, but Tim Corbin again treated turnover as recalibration rather than reset. Vanderbilt supplemented through the portal, retained several core contributors and retooled its coaching staff, signaling an intent to adjust rather than retreat. The roster that emerges is different in shape, but not in ambition.

ESPN: #23.

2025 record: 43-18
2025 finish: Lost in Nashville Regional

First game for 2026: vs. TCU at 4 p.m. (Shriners Children’s College Showdown in Arlington, Texas)

D1Baseball: #23.

*No write-up posted.

Umm… okay. Not great, but not horrific. Basically, the prognosticators have us as a #1/#2 seed cusp type of team where we’ll likely be competing for a back end Regional Host position, or be the #2 seed no Regional Host wants to play. In short, neither they, nor I, see this Diamond Dores squad as the 2007, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2o15, 2019, 2020, or 2021 teams, who were so obviously favorites to take home a trophy, but didn’t win every year, as baseball is a high variance sport. That 2020 team might literally have been our best ever had Covid not cancelled the bulk of the year, but this post isn’t about that, so let’s tuck that rant away for a bit. Oh, and even though we somehow got the #1 Overall National Seed last year, that team does not fit into the pantheon of the other years listed. Got it? Good. Moving on…

As for award winners, again, there’s no Kumar Rocker, Dansby the Mansby, or even Enrique Shockwave on this team, but crafty Ace Connor “The Spice” Fennell was named a pre-season 3rd Team All-American, The Miller Green Preservation Society and Alex “The Kranz” Kranzler were named to a pre-season closer award watch list, and Man Mountain Braden Holcomb and the aforementioned The Spice were on the Pre-Season All-SEC list.

Oddly enough, the one man that might have Gold in his Spikes—sophomore infielder Brodie “The Brode-Man” Johnston was not properly recognized, and might use that chip on his shoulder to have a Pedro Alvarez as a sophomore style campaign (fills up Jobu’s rum; says “please, and thank you”). I also wouldn’t rule out a Rustan “He Calls Himself The Rooster” Rigdon breakout season, or even an Austin “The Science Guy” Nye jump to superstardom and 1st round pick buzz type season.

The Rotation

As I’ll try not to beat the dead horse, no, I obviously don’t think this is a Rocker-Leiter, Price-Minor, Minor-Gray, or Fulmer-Buehler-Beede type monster of a rotation, but I do think both Fennell and Nye can be All-SEC type Ace pitchers, and beyond them, we have a boatload of intriguing young fireballers, and I suspect one of them, if not a handful, will pop this year. That said, I would be shocked if any of them become the team’s #3 starter right away. The guy who can be is the guy who Corbs will give the ball to this Sunday—Ugga transfer “Nasty” Nate Taylor. If Nasty Nate makes opposing hitters give him their cocktail fruit, the outlook on this rotation would rise quite a bit. He’s my guy to watch this weekend—provided you’re paying for Flo Sports, which, again, I have not yet decided if I am.

I’d expect the mid-week starter to be stud freshman LHP Aiden Stillman, and it would not shock me if he finds his way into the weekend rotation by SEC play.

If all 4 of these guys do what they’re capable of, this could be a top, if not the top rotation in the conference.

The Infield

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Vanderbilt has a plethora of infield options, and we’re not exactly sure where all will play. Here’s what I’m certain of: Mike Mancini will play 2nd base; Brodie Johnston will either play 3rd or SS; Rustan Rigdon will either play SS, 2nd, 3rd, or CF; Braden Holcomb will either play 3rd, OF, 1st, or DH; Ryker Waite will either play SS, or 2B, of OF; and either Cornell Grad transfer Max Jensen or Cal State Fullerton Sophomore transfer Carter Johnstone will play 1st… or maybe even Chris Maldonado will.

So yeah… it’s a mess with a lot of options. Johnston, Rigdon, and Mancini are likely written in the lineup in some sort of infield position in Sharpie, and the remaining infield spot may well be a revolving door all season (or at least until someone steps up and makes it impossible not to play them). Actually, I can’t even say that, as Rigdon could play CF while Waite plays 2nd or SS. At least we don’t just have 8 starting second basemen this year, right?

The Outfield

Similar to what you’ve read above, I fully expect the outfield to be a revolving door of opportunity, as well.

I expect Logan Johnstone to be in one of the corner OF spots. Gun to me head, Rigdon plays CF and Holcomb plays the other corner OF spot, but I really don’t know. In short, both of our top OF commits got drafted in the 1st round, so we’re going to have to make do largely with career infielders in those positions.

Catcher

Going into the offseason, I would have expected Colin Barczi to strap on the tools of ignorance in nearly all games (or at least the weekend games, with a backup getting mid-week duty), but then we went and signed Mack Whitcomb from Tennessee Tech, and, well… he might be the better defensive catcher, and his bat is at least as power packed as Barczi’s. It may be a 50-50 timeshare with the other one as DH, or one of them might run away with the jerb by SEC play.

Kea and Reynolds also exist.

Relief Pitcher

Now this might actually be the strength of the team, though The Miller Green Preservation Society will likely not pitch the first weekend (no, it’s not expected to be anything serious). Green and The Kranz will trade off closer opportunities, and may well be given 2-3 IP each time they come in. Beyond them, Luke Guth and Brennan Seiber should be trusted middle to back of the bullpen veteran options. England Bryan can throw faster than the speed of sound, Jakob Shulz might see more innings as a lefty option, Jacob Faulkner is a Graduate Transfer from Princeton who is both sound and furious, and then we’ve got eleventy billion freshmen fireballers—and a few of them are all but guaranteed to pop early.

Overall Season Prediction

I think we sneak into one of the last #1 seeds as a Regional Host, but not a National Seed, provided the 4 man rotation pans out, we hit for more power, and the team eventually figures out who’s best at which position defensively. Those aren’t too many ifs, really. Hail Pinman.