Here are three things we've learned, two questions and a prediction as Vanderbilt heads to Houston for the weekend.

1. Jack Bulger has a hamstring injury that'll probably keep him out a while.

Bulger, who started and hit leadoff in each of Vanderbilt's first eight games, appeared to pull a hamstring rounding first slamming a double vs. Gonzaga on Sunday. Coach Tim Corbin confirmed this on Tuesday, when Bulger didn't appear in the starting lineup:

And that's a shame. Bulger was having his best year as a Commodore, hitting .367/.442/.605 with an OPS among regulars second only to Jayden Davis.

2. That, as well as what appears to be a minor injury to first baseman Chris Maldonado, have created a lineup shift.

Bulger's absence has meant that Troy LaNeve, Vanderbilt's regular right fielder, has started in left the past two games, with Jacob Humphrey starting in left.

In the meantime, Calvin Hewett has started the last two games in center, with RJ Austin shifting to first, due to an undisclosed ailment to Maldonado.

3. So far, this all confirms our suspicion that the lineup had a ton of depth, but maybe not a superstar, and that might turn out just fine.

Vanderbilt hitters are conspicuously absent from the leaderboard in the Southeastern Conference's latest stats. Not a single Commodore is listed among the league's top 15 in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, runs scored or RBIs.

On the other hand, there are nine Commodores with at least 10 at-bats with on-base percentages north of .375, eight of whom are slugging over .400. While there's nothing special about those thresholds in today's offensive environment, it's also indicative of an offensive balance.

On the whole, it's not bad--the Commodores rank fifth in the SEC in runs scored. Although that's certainly helped by the fact that Vanderbilt's 10 games played are the most in the league, it might be fair to say its faced better pitching than some of the league's teams have, too.

1. Does this team have a closer?

Through two games, Ryan Ginther and Brennan Seiber each have a save, accounting for the only two the Commodores have. This is at odds with preseason expectations, when it felt like Air Force transfer Sawyer Hawks, or perhaps standout freshman Ethan McElvain, would close.

Hawks had two awful performances to start the season, but was much better against Evansville on Wednesday when he faced just eight hitters and allowed run in two innings.

As for McElvain, he started the Evansville game and departed after 27 pitches in two scoreless innings.

Best guess: this is a closer-by-committee approach until someone emerges, and McElvain's start/short outing could signal he's headed for a bulk role on weekends.

2. Does this team have an ace?

It's too early to know but here are some thoughts:

- If he stays healthy, Carter Holton could be one. Holton looked good in his first two innings of the FAU start before things fell apart in the third. Last week, Holton went five innings, allowed four runners and two runs while striking out eight over a 73-pitch outing. The improvement could perhaps be attributed to Holton building up strength after sitting out much of the offseason to do just that. But Holton has only thrown 138 2/3 innings in two-plus years and so he's not proven he can be a workhorse.

- It could be Andrew Dutkanych, who's looked the part in six scoreless innings. He's one of the most highly-rated recruits the Commodores have gotten to campus and can throw five pitches. Dutkanych threw an inning in garbage time of the 20-4 win over Indiana State, which makes me wonder if he's ticketed for bigger things soon.

- It could be Devin Futrell. He's not really your typical ace as a relatively soft-tossing Sunday starter, but Futrell knows how to pitch and has allowed just two runs and seven runners over 11 innings covering two starts this season.

Vanderbilt's four starting pitchers at season's end will be Holton, Dutkanych, Futrell and JD Thompson.

Holton and Futrell's roles are easily predictable provided there are no health issues.

Thompson has pitched well (3.86 ERA over two starts/three appearances), allowing 14 runners over 11 2/3 innings. Leaving him in the midweek role would seem to be the typical Tim Corbin "don't-fix-what's-not-broken-here" approach with the Tuesday role and it would be hard to critically question that.

As for Dutkanych: I just think he's too good to be left out of the weekends. Bryce Cunningham (5.14 ERA, seven walks in 7 IP) doesn't seem to be cut out for stints beyond 2-3 innings.

Greysen Carter was tremendous (three innings, no runs) last time out but that came out of the bullpen and maybe that could also be a stick-with-what's-working move, especially if he's tied to Holton on Fridays.

The wild card is McElvain, who could easily start. But the cloudy closing picture, combined with McElvain's seeming versatility, makes me think that Corbin uses him the way he did Carson Fulmer in his first year and a half.

Any way this resolves, rotation concern feels mis-placed given the pieces.

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