The VandySports 100: No. 14, Kyle Wright

Kyle Wright is one of the best right-handed pitchers in Vanderbilt baseball history. He's 14th in our countdown of 100-greatest players we've covered.

Honors and awards: 2015 first-team Freshman All-American (Baseball America; second-team by Perfect Game)

2015 Freshman All-Southeastern Conference

2015 SEC Freshman of the Week (Week 8)

2016 second-team All-SEC

2016 SEC Pitcher of the Week (Week 13)

2017 second-team All-American (Baseball America)

2017 first-team All-SEC

2017 SEC Pitcher of the Week (Week 9)

2017 All-Clemson Regional

In the VU record book: Career strikeouts: eighth (290)

Career ERA: fifth (2.78)

Before VU: Wright starred for his dad, Roger, at Buckhorn (Ala.) High, where Perfect Game ranked him 196th in the Class of 2014. Wright was an all-state third baseman in 2014, and in 2012, all-state as a utility player as well as Huntsville Times MVP. His 2012 team won its area championship and advanced to the third round of the playoffs. He was the MVP of the North-South All-Star Game.

Freshman (2015): Wright made 29 appearances, three coming in starts, for a 51-21 (20-10) team that finished second to Virginia at the College World Series. In SEC regular-season play, Wright was 1-1 with a save, 21 strikeouts and four walks in 14 2/3 innings. Pitched four innings of one-run ball against Virginia in the deciding game of the College World Series, and allowed a run to the Cavaliers in an inning two days before. Threw two scoreless innings with four strikeouts for a save vs. TCU in the CWS, and pitched 2/3 of a scoreless inning against Cal State Fullerton in the same event to get the win in that game. Pitched an inning and a third in the super regional against Illinois for a save in the game that sent VU to the CWS. Pitched a scoreless inning to get a save against Indiana in a winner's bracket game of the NCAA Tournament. Pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings against Florida in the SEC Tournament championship game, which VU lost. Beat Missouri with 2/3 of an inning in an extra-innings win to open the SEC Tournament. Pitched two scoreless innings to get a save against Alabama on the next-to-last day of the regular season. Had a string of eight-straight scoreless appearances spanning March 7 to April 5; picked up wins against MTSU, Wofford and Georgia in the last three outings, with the Wofford appearance being a five-inning start. Threw six scoreless innings in a start to defeat Indiana St. Made his collegiate debut with 4 1/3, one-run innings in a loss to Santa Clara in the season's second game.

Sophomore (2016): Made 17 appearances (16 starts) for a 43-19 (18-12) team that finished fourth in the Nashville Regional. In 10 SEC regular-season games, all starts, Wright was 5-3 with 72 strikeouts, 23 walks and four homes allowed in 66 1/3 innings, with a league-best 1.76 ERA in those games. Allowed three or fewer runs in his first 15 appearances. Gave up nine earned runs (10 total) against Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament. Allowed seven runs (all earned) in 6 2/3 innings vs. Washington in the NCAA Tournament. Struck out six in three scoreless innings to beat Illinois-Chicago. Beat Xavier with five innings of one-run, seven-strikeout ball. Picked up a win over Mississippi St. with five innings in which he allowed one run and struck out five. Shut out Missouri over six innings, striking out 10 in a no-decision. Lost to South Carolina in 7 1/3 innings; he struck out five, walked three and allowed two runs (both earned). Lost at LSU, allowing three earned runs with seven strikeouts in seven innings. Had a no-decision at Kentucky despite seven scoreless innings and seven strikeouts. Beat Georgia, striking out nine over seven innings with one run allowed. Threw seven shutout innings with six strikeouts in a win at Texas A&M. Beat Auburn in a six-inning outing as he allowed two runs and fanned nine.

Junior (2017): Logged 16 appearances, all starts, for a 36-25-1 (15-13-1) squad that fell in the Corvallis Super Regional. In 10 SEC regular-season appearances (all starts), Wright was 4-3 with 80 strikeouts, 21 walks, 43 hits allowed and a 2.20 ERA in 69 2/3 innings. Picked up a win in the Clemson Regional, striking out nine while allowing three runs over seven innings. Gave up seven runs (all earned) over 6 2/3 innings in his final career start, a loss at Oregon St. Struggled in the non-conference portion of the season, giving up 11 earned runs in 20 innings over four appearances, with two losses and two no-decisions. Lost 1-0 to Ole Miss, allowing the only Rebel run in seven innings of work. Beat Texas A&M with five innings of three-earned-run, six-strikeout baseball. Took a no-decision in a win at South Carolina; he didn't give up an earned run over six innings of work. Shut out Florida with a complete-game, three-hit, 13-strikeout, no-walk shutout of Florida. Took a no-decision in a 1-0 loss to Georgia; he didn't allow a run in seven innings. Had a no-decision in a 2-1 loss at Missouri; Wright threw nine innings, allowed one run and fanned 13. Beat Arkansas, hurling seven shutout innings with 11 strikeouts, one walk and two hits. Defeated Alabama, striking out 11 while giving up just one run over seven innings.

Post-VU: The Braves took Wright fifth overall in the 2017 MLB Draft. Wright has spent parts of the 2018 and 2019 seasons with Atlanta, but still maintains his rookie status and is considered a top prospect.

Final thoughts, and why I ranked him where I did: Wright only started for two years, but would have done so on most Vanderbilt teams. The Commodores had established veterans Carson Fulmer, Walker Buehler and Phil Pfeifer (who sometimes closed) in the rotation when Wright was a freshman, and some other good arms, like swingman Jordan Sheffield and John Kilichowski, and also Ben Bowden, Ryan Johnson and Collin Snider out of the bullpen. Even with all that talent, Wright was the guy pitching high-leverage innings and even closing out games with the season on the line in the NCAA Tournament. When coach Tim Corbin lets a freshman do that, especially on a staff with that talent, it's quite a statement.

Among the 23 pitchers on this list, Wright ranked fifth in ERA; three of the pitchers in front of him were relievers who all pitched fewer innings. He ranked seventh in runners allowed per inning, and eighth in strikeout rate. He did pitch in a slightly pitcher-friendly era, but even adjusting for that, his "normalized" ERA rises only from 2.78 to 2.93, a mark that ranks sixth among all pitchers on the list (and again, two relievers are ahead of him).

Wright had some tough luck as a junior, posting a losing record that season because VU scored four runs or less in 11 of his first 12 starts. He also started Vandy's second game of the NCAA Tournament on a Saturday night as the Commodores were still reeling--and many players not sleeping--after Donny Everett's sudden death two days earlier. Take that outing out of Wright's season, and his ERA is 2.70 instead of 3.09 for that season, and his career ERA drops from 2.78 to 2.64, and he moves up from fifth to fourth on VU's all-time ERA chart. His career "component" ERA, which is what your ERA would normally be given the number of runners you allowed, was 2.50.

And a note Wright's 2017 campaign: That shutout of Florida was the only bright spot in that series; the Gators tattooed Commodore pitching for 30 runs in the other two contests.

I could have put Wright a little lower on the list because he only threw 255 1/3 career innings; 10 pitchers on the list threw more. But Wright was so talented that I felt he belonged this high.