The VandySports 100: No. 18, Jeren Kendall

Center fielder Jeren Kendall was one of the best in Vanderbilt baseball history. He's 18th in our countdown of the 100-greatest players we've covered. You can track the full list as we count down to No. 1 here.

Honors and awards: 2015 first-team Freshman All-American (Baseball America, D1, Collegiate Baseball; second-team by Perfect Game)

2015 Freshman All-Southeastern Conference

2015 All-SEC Tournament

2015 SEC Freshman of the Week

2015 All-Nashville Regional

2016 third-team All-American (NCBWA)

2016 second-team All-SEC

2016 National Hitter of the Week

2016 SEC Player of the Week

2016 All-Nashville Regional

2017 third-team All-American (Baseball America)

2017 first-team All-SEC

2017 SEC All-Defensive Team

2017 SEC Player of the Week

2017 National Player of the Week

2017 All-Clemson Regional

In the VU record book: Single-season triples: tied-first, fourth, tied-10th (eight in 2016, six in 2015, five in 2017)

Career triples: second (19)

Career stolen bases: eighth (67)

Before VU: Starred at Holmen High, where he was named the Wisconsin Player of the Year in 2013 and 2014, and its Gatorade Player of the Year in 2014. Earned six letters playing hockey and baseball. Selected in the 30th round by Boston in 2014 draft. Was the No. 67 overall player in his class, according to Perfect Game.

Freshman (2015): Played 60 games, starting 56, for a 51-21 (20-10 SEC) team that finished runner-up at the College World Series. Played 24 SEC regular-season games, starting each, hitting .253/.370/.446, with three homers, 12 RBIs and 12 runs. Primarily played left field; fielded .960 with four errors and four assists. Blasted a two-run, walk-off home run to lead VU to a win over Cal State Fullerton in its College World Series opener (video below). Was 2-for-4 with two runs and three RBIs in a super regional win at Illinois. Homered and drove in three in Vandy's NCAA Tournament-opening win over Lipscomb; hit .333/.467/.750 in the Nashville Regional. Named to the SEC All-Tournament team for hitting .353/.412/.706 in that event with a homer, six RBI and four runs scored. Reached base three times and drove in two in a win over Indiana State. Was 4-for-5 with a homer and four RBIs in a win at MTSU. Singled and stole a career-high three bases in win over Florida. Went 3-for-5 with a game-winning two-run homer in the eighth to beat Kentucky. Selected SEC Freshman of the Week after hitting .462 (6-for-13) with five RBI, including his third home run of the year, following the Missouri series. Belted his second home run of the season with a solo shot at South Carolina, adding a double and two runs scored. Hit .253 with two homers and eight RBI in 20 games for Cotuit in the Cape Cod League.

Sophomore (2016): Started all 62 games for a 43-19 (18-12) team that finished fourth in the Nashville Regional. Was VU's primary left fielder, fielding .990 with one error and four assists. Swiped 20 bases in 24 tries. In SEC regular-season play, Kendall hit .282/.343/.508, with five home runs, 24 RBIs and 25 runs scored. Was 3-for-8 with a double and a walk in two games of the Nashville Regional. Hit .333/.333/.500 in four games of the SEC Tournament. Was 4-for-5 with two homers, five RBIs and three runs scored in the season opener vs. San Diego; was 10-for-15 with three homers, 10 RBIs and seven runs in Vandy's sweep of that three-game series. Was 3-for-4 with two RBIs in a mid-week win over Radford. Was 2-for-4 with four RBIs in a win over Missouri, marking his third-straight two-hit game. Homered, drove in four, scored three and had four hits vs. LSU. Was 3-for-5 with two RBIs vs. Austin Peay.

Junior (2017): Played all 62 games for a 36-25-1 (15-13-1) team that was eliminated in the Corvallis Regional. Was VU's every-day center fielder, amassing a .994 fielding percentage with five assists and one error. Stole 28 bases in 36 tries. In SEC regular-season play, Kendall hit .336/.393/.631, with nine homers, 24 RBIs and 29 runs. Hit .389/.389/.556 in the Clemson Regional. Reached base four times, homered and drove in five in a win over Alabama; was 7-for-12 in that series. Had two hits and a homer in a win over MTSU. Knocked in a run for the third time in five games and stole his third base in four games in loss at Arkansas. Homered twice as part of three-hit game at Kentucky; that made for four runs and five homers in his last six games. Named SEC Player of the Week after going 9-for-20 with two homers, six RBIs and seven runs scored between a three-game series with Texas A&M and a mid-week game with Lipscomb. That included a grand slam and a pair of steals in a game vs. the Aggies. Was 2-for-6 with three runs in a win over Belmont. Had a triple, three hits and three runs at Ole Miss. Reached base four times and matched a career-high with three runs in win over Saint Mary’s. Named National Player of the Week by Collegiate Baseball after going 6-for-18 with three home runs and eight RBIs over five-game stretch between five games with Southeastern Louisiana and CSUN.

Post-VU: The Dodgers took Kendall 23rd overall in the 2017 MLB Draft. Kendall is still with the Dodgers, but has not progressed above High-A. That said, there's some hope for Kendall to turn things around.

Final thoughts, and why I ranked him where I did: Of all the players of the Tim Corbin era, Kendall probably has the best combination of raw power and speed of anyone. Few were more more fun to watch, as 32 homers, 67 steals, 19 triples and an SEC Gold Glove in center field attest.

There were some holes in Kendall's game. He struck out in 24.1 percent of his career plate appearances. If you want to nit-pick, Kendall could have walked a bit more. His high-water mark for on-base percentage in an SEC season was .393. And Kendall played left, and not center, for two of his three years; Bryan Reynolds, who wasn't as athletic as Kendall, beat him out there for two years.

On the other hand, Kendall was a good-to-great offensive player in each of his three seasons. He played well enough when it mattered that he made the all-regional teams in each event in which he played, and had two good SEC Tournaments also. Of course, there was the walk-off homer to beat Fullerton, which had Vandy all but beaten that day, but a rain delay opened the door for Kendall's ninth-inning heroics. That was easily a top-10 moment in Vanderbilt baseball history, and debatably, a top-five one.

One could argue that 18 is a shade high for Kendall and I'd understand why. There were bumps within seasons due to his swing-and-miss nature--for example, Kendall had a run of 14 strikeouts over five games in the midst of his junior season.But the numbers always resolved at season's end, and few players had a three-year track record as good as his. He's debatably the most physically-gifted non-pitcher in Corbin's tenure at VU, and he had a knack for doing things when it mattered. So, I'm sticking him here.