You know your program is healthy when you lose the No. 1 and No. 8 picks in the Major League Baseball draft and can still feel optimistic about your pitching staff. Such is the case for Vanderbilt, which attempts to replace All-Americans David Price and Casey Weathers.
The Commodores return four pitchers who saw action last season. Sophomore Mike Minor, who went 9-1 in 2007 with a 3.09 ERA will take over as Price as the Friday night starter. Juniors Brett Jacobson and Nick Christiani have big-game experience, while Jason Cunningham adds depth to the bullpen.
Jacobson went 6-3 with a 3.15 ERA last year, and could see time as either a starter or as the closer. In 2007, he handled both roles well, appearing in 21 games.
“You don’t rule anything out any year with any guy,” said pitching coach Derek Johnson.
Christiani started 11 games and finished 5-3 with a 4.11 ERA. He has also shown versatility between starting and in relief, but figures to start more often than not in 2008.
After that, Vanderbilt will turn to its youth, which suits coach Tim Corbin just fine.
“It’s there, it’s just inexperience,” said coach Tim Corbin. “We have three kids who have been out there before. We have kids who have been in uniform before, they’ve just been red-shirted and never got to step on the mound.
“They’ve visually seen what’s gone on, but they’ve never stepped out there and pitched against anyone else, so that’s going to be interesting. I don’t feel bad about it, it’s not like the cupboard’s bare, it’s just they haven’t been out there a lot.”
Redshirt freshmen Caleb Cotham, Mark Lamm, Russell Brewer, and Richie Goodenow will all get opportunities to show their capabilities right away. Cotham and Lamm could potentially start, while Brewer and Goodenow are likely middle relievers.
“Once we give them the opportunity to pitch, then we will be able to define the roles a little bit better,” Johnson said.
Behind the leadership of Minor, Jacobson, Christiani and Cunningham, the young pitchers are catching on quickly. Barring injury, the Commodores appear ready to fill Price and Weather’s void by committee, thanks to several years of good recruiting.
And with one of the better offenses in America, you can be sure the inexperienced arms have already picked up quality practice time.
“They’re not playing scared, they’re getting comfortable with themselves, comfortable on the mound against these hitters,” Minor said. “They’re getting our hitters out, so if they can get them out, they can get out anyone else in the country.”
