Vanderbilt secured their 4th, and to this point most highly touted, transfer in Mack Whitcomb on Saturday. Whitcomb was the OVC Player of The Year as a sophomore at Tennessee Tech in 2025 and had an elite season all-around. Whitcomb will join Vanderbilt for his draft-eligible junior year after spending the last 2 years with the Golden Eagles. He also attended the Baylor School in Chattanooga prior to college.

There was a reason why Whitcomb was his conference’s player of the year. He batted an elite .360 with 12 doubles, 2 triples, and 15 home runs on the year. He also plays solid defense as a primary catcher. He will likely battle with Colin Barczi for the starting catcher spot and fill in as DH if he is unable to win the position. It remains to be seen if he will be cross-trained as a corner outfielder, potentially, if the staff wants him in the field when not catching.

While his defense is certainly solid, what makes this such a big get is Whitcomb’s all-around skill offensively. He has elite contact skills, as shown by his .360 average, while also producing a lot of power.

While recognizing that these numbers were put up against much lower-level competition, the statistics he recorded are dazzling. He had an OPS of 1.134, a walk rate of 14%, and an ISO (isolated power) of .289 last season. Those numbers would have ranked 1st, 2nd, and 1st, respectively, for Vanderbilt last season. Taking a deeper dive into advanced stats, his wOBA (weighted on-base average) was a ridiculous .490, demonstrating how complete of a hitter he was. Vanderbilt’s highest wOBA in the 2025 season was Riley Nelson’s at .434.

Admittedly, there are some questions as to how Whitcomb’s game will translate to a much higher level of competition. He had a good-not-great K rate of 17% at Tennessee Tech this last season, which raises some questions about swing and miss against better pitching.

Frankly, no one can really never know how a player will respond to such a big jump until they see them play against SEC caliber pitchers. But on that note, Vandy fans in particular may have more reason than most to have faith in Whitcomb’s game translating. In the 2 games Tennessee Tech has played against Vanderbilt, Whitcomb has an outstanding offensive record. He went 4-5 with 2 home runs and 4 RBIs against Vandy as a freshman (including a 9th inning oppo bomb on a 99 mph fastball by Greysen Carter), then went 1-2 as a sophomore in a shortened game. Clearly, there should not be any questions if he can handle velocity, it’s the other stuff he has to worry about.

Overall, this is an outstanding pickup for the Commodores. Whitcomb will come in and be a middle-of-the-order bat for a team that desperately needed more reliable hitters. While this, admittedly, is not a perfect fit in terms of defensive needs, it’s not as bad as some could make it out to be. Mac Rose, who has since entered the portal, simply did not cut it on either side of the ball as the backup catcher. Now Vanderbilt will have strong offensive and defensive options no matter who starts at the catcher position. Expect to see Whitcomb become a regular in the lineup, either as a catcher or the DH.

Welcome to Nashville, Mack!