2026 Fall College Baseball Reset: Vanderbilt

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2026 Fall College Baseball Reset: Vanderbilt

Originally posted on New Baseball Media
By Chris Studley | Last updated Oct 19, 2026 4:44 PM ET

Thanks to a sub-.500 record in SEC play last season, the Vanderbilt Commodores were unable to make the NCAA tournament in 2026. That happened just one year after the school was the top seed in the tourney in 2025. It wasn’t the best year, to say the least, for Vanderbilt. But thanks to promising young pitchers and a strong recruiting class, things could be different in 2027.

The Returnees

Brodie Johnston and Ryker Waite are back for the 2027 season.

The two were among the nucleus for the 2026 Vandy team. Johnston finished second on the club in total hits (78), and tied Mike Mancini for the lead in home runs (15). With that campaign, the now-junior hit 30 total homers in his first two seasons in Nashville.

Waite, meanwhile, posted a .443 on-base percentage and racked up 23 extra-base hits over 58 games as a sophomore. It was Waite’s first tour as a starter in college, as he only received three at-bats in his freshman campaign two years ago.

Rustan Rigdon and Tommy Goodin, two other regular starters, also came back. Rigdon slashed .270/.389/.434 for the Commodores last year, while Goodin hit 12 home runs and 20 total extra-base hits.

Catcher Korbin Reynolds, who played 49 games as a freshman, also came back.

As for the pitching staff, strikeout leader Connor Fennell returned for the 2027 campaign. Fennell, a Dayton transfer, struck out a team-high 102 batters over 85 innings last season for the Commodores.

Fennell didn’t throw particularly hard in his junior season, capping out at around 90 MPH. That does affect his potential pro future. What does work in his favor is a steep difference in profile and velocity between his running fastball and changeup. It’s a good cambio, sitting in the high-70s-to-low-80s with sink.

(via New Baseball Media)

He is the elder statesman for a pitching staff that had a lot of freshmen on it last season. And many of those freshmen did well last season.

Wyatt Nadeau started nine games in 2026 and struck out 62 over 52 innings. Nadeau can live off that fastball, which ran into the upper-90s last season. Plus, a slider and a curveball.

It’s a slider. Just ignore the Statcast label.

Tyler Baird, a fastball/slider pitcher, worked in 23 games and struck out 51 over 45 innings for Vanderbilt last season. Connor Hamilton punched out 40 over 33 innings last season. Mid-90s fastball for Hamilton, plus a slew of offerings.

Aiden Stillman had a funky freshman campaign, as he walked 18 but struck out 21 over 14 innings. But this past summer in the Cape Cod League, Stillman posted an eye-popping 39.2% Whiff%, which shows just how good the stuff is for the left-hander.

Austin Nye, Nate Taylor, England Bryan, and Adria Casoliba also returned for 2027.

The Newcomers

Historically, New Jersey and Massachusetts have been two places where Tim Corbin has done well with respect to recruiting. In a roundabout way, that trend continued in the summer of 2026.

Hunter Ray was one of the top sluggers in Division I. Ray, a New Jersey kid who starred just outside New York City with Fairleigh Dickinson, hit 32 home runs last season. That total tied ex-Georgia catcher for second on the DI list.

Matt Conte, once a highly-touted high school product from Massachusetts, was one of several notable hitters to depart Wake Forest (a program that saw head coach Tom Walter go on leave in October) over the summer. Conte hit 12 home runs and 26 total extra-base hits in 59 contests for the Demon Deacons last spring.

Maryland was another program that saw a massive exodus among its 2026 roster over the summer. Vanderbilt plucked one of the Terrapins’ key players, outfielder Bud Coombs. Coombs batted .360 with nine home runs and 18 extra-base hits in just 30 games as a freshman.

Perhaps most notably, Vanderbilt also grabbed Missouri infielder Blaize Ward. Ward has a track record of producing in the SEC, as the now-sophomore cumulatively slashed .290/.404/.421 in 44 games in 2026.

As for the new pitchers, one of the fresh faces is junior left-hander Dominic Monaco. Monaco struck out 29 over 20 innings last season.

Ex-Michigan pitcher Shane Brinham was thrown into the fire as a freshman for the Wolverines. Brinham pitched in 18 contests, started 10, and pitched very well. The left-hander posted a sub-4.00 ERA and struck out 61 over 65 innings. Low-to-mid-90s fastball with carry, plus a slider were among the pitches in his arsenal.

(via New Baseball Media)

Gavin Lauridsen joined Vanderbilt from USC after he worked in 26 games pitching for a Trojans club that just missed out on a berth in the College World Series. Lauridsen struck out 40 and walked 27 over 45.2 IP.

Vanderbilt’s roster also has 16 freshmen. It’s a very deep class, one that perhaps most notably includes Joseph Contreras. Contreras, the son of former Major Leaguer Jose Contreras, boasted a blistering upper-90s fastball that gave Team USA trouble in the 2026 World Baseball Classic. The freshman pitched for Brazil in the WBC this past March.

Noah Wilson and Bo Holloway were both notable high school showcase players, as was James Tronstein. While Houston was able to sign away Commodores commit Keon Johnson, the school couldn’t with Tronstein. Tronstein came from California powerhouse Harvard-Westlake.

This article first appeared on New Baseball Media and was syndicated with permission.

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