Bulger, Espinal lead experienced catching group

We launch our detailed position previews of the Vanderbilt baseball roster with a look at the Commodores' catching group, led by Jack Bulger and Alan Espinal.

While Vanderbilt may not have one of the nation's elite catchers on its roster, most teams would trade places with the Commodores' catching situation. Vanderbilt has experience at the top (two players with a combined 206 games), a duo of reserves with potential below that, and, as a group, a combination of skills and versatility that are helpful when preparing a lineup for either an SEC weekend, a long tournament run or a particular in-game situation. The group's weakness, besides obvious star power, is that there isn't a left-handed bat in the bunch.

Here's a look at the Commodores' four options.

Espinal (58 career games and a career batting line of .275/.336/.470) was seen as a catch-over-hit player upon arrival. While he's still that, the bat (.275/.359/.495, with 5 HR in 91 ABs last year) started to come around, some of that was built against pitching in mid-week competition.. Strikeouts (32% last year, 33% for his career) are still an issue, but the power and an increasing willingness to walk (11% last year) show Espinal's improving value as a hitter, which continued in the fall and winter.

Defense remains Espinal's calling card. He gets high marks for controlling the running game and managing the pitching staff, but his pitch-blocking mechanics are where Espinal must become more consistent.

That defense, as well as a burgeoning presence as a team leader, are probably why Espinal is the odds-on favorite to lead Vanderbilt in catching starts.

Getting Bulger (150 games, .262/.361/.382) through the 2020 MLB Draft was considered a coup Bulger's freshman year (.274/.369/.414, with 5 HR in 50 games) was encouraging enough that it looked like the Commodores had a future star. But Bulger's batting average and on-base percentages have declined every year and though his slugging increased, that came by just .002 over the previous year. There are some solid fundamentals here--Bulger's walked more than he's struck out every year--but the inability to drive the ball consistently has been an issue.

Defensively, Bulger hasn't been great, but he's been good enough to hold the bulk of the catching job the past two years. For his career, Bulger has nailed 11 of 50 base-stealers, although he allowed eight passed balls a season ago, up from the three of 2022.

Bulger will catch some, and is a decent bet to be in the opening-day lineup given that he's had quality at-bats in spring and fall training. But with Espinal's defensive edge, that may come either in left or DH on opening day, with Bulger potentially catching the Saturday games on weekends to give Espinal a break.

Poteet, a second-year player from the Knoxville area, didn't play last season. As a source said, the sophomore "can really, really hit." Poteet blossomed in the New England Collegiate Baseball League last summer, winning the league's batting title and also taking home MVP honors after batting .347 with 35 hits and 25 RBIs. Poteet doesn't have Espinal's arm strength, but he's accurate and is a capable receiver.

A hard worker who can also play some first (though that may not happen this year), Poteet is good enough that he'll see some this year and should have a shot at full-time duty next year.

The Commodores scored a victory last summer in getting Barczi--ranked by each of Baseball America (the 163rd-best prospect in the draft), MLB Pipeline (217) and ESPN (311) as a draft-able prospect--to campus. Barczi works hard, has power and has a strong arm, and the talent to play now, but isn't as advanced as the other three and will start the year behind that aforementioned trio.

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