Baseball star Aaron Westlake starred on Vanderbilt's first College World Series participant. He's 32nd on our countdown of the 100-best Vanderbilt athletes we've covered.
Honors and awards: 2009 Freshman All-American (Louisville Slugger, Collegiate Baseball)
2009 SEC All-Freshman team
2009 Southeastern Conference Hitter of the Week
2009 All-Louisville Regional
2010 All-SEC Tournament
2010 All-Louisville Regional
2011 second-team All-American (Baseball America)
2011 first-team All-SEC
2011 All-SEC Tournament
2011 All-Nashville Regional
In the VU record book: Single-game home runs: first (three, vs. Oregon St. in 2011)
Single-season home runs: tied-seventh (18)
Career hits: fourth (268)
Career RBIs: fourth (181)
Career runs: fifth (181)
Career home runs: tied-sixth (42)
Before VU: Starred at Shasta High in Redding, Calif. Ranked as the No. 205 overall prospect in the Class of 2007 by Perfect Game. First-team all-state as a senior. First team all-league from 2005-07 and first-team all-section from 2004-07. Captain as a junior and senior, and also captained the basketball team as a senior.
Redshirt freshman (2008): Played 15 games, starting four, for a 41-22 (15-14 SEC) team that finished third in the Tempe Regional. Played seven SEC games, starting two, hitting .267/.267/.333 in 15 at-bats. Missed the last two months due to a blood clot. Played all three games of the South Carolina series, going 2 for 5. Had two hits, two runs and an RBI vs. MTSU. Had two hits and three RBIs vs. Arkansas.
Freshman (2009): Started 62 of the team's 64 games while playing in 63. VU went 37-27 (12-17) and finished second in the Louisville Regional. In league games, hit .327/.384/.531, with six homers, 28 RBIs and 21 runs scored. Was the team's primary DH, but also spent time at catcher and first. Won the SEC batting title and ranked fourth in the league with 90 hits. Hit .368 in 19 at-bats with two homers, three doubles, four RBIs and five runs in five games at the Louisville Regional. Was 3-for-4 with a double, two RBIS and a run in a win over Arkansas in the SEC Tournament. Had two-run homer vs. South Carolina in that event also. Hit three-run homer vs. Tennessee in the regular season. Was 7-for-11 with two homers, five RBIs and five runs in the Georgia series, earning SEC Player of the Week. Had three hits, including home run, plus a walk and run scored against South Carolina. Had a grand slam and five RBIs vs. Mississippi St. Went 4-for-5 with two doubles, two RBIs and two runs vs. Auburn. Reached base three out of four times with two hits, two RBI and two runs scored against Belmont. Belted first collegiate home run with two-run shot vs. Illinois-Chicago. Went 4-for-4 in another game with UIC, with an RBI and run scored against UIC. Drove in four runs with two hits and a double vs. Lipscomb. Was 10-for-13 with six runs and three doubles against Vermont.
Sophomore (2010): Played in 65 of 66 games, starting them all, for a 46-20 (16-12) team that was eliminated in Game 3 of the Tallahassee Super Regional. Hit .289/.367/.482, with six home runs, 23 RBIs and 26 runs scored in SEC games. Fielded .985 at first, with 26 assists. Hit .308 (4-for-13) with three RBI, two doubles and two runs scored in the Tallahassee Super Regional. Hit .300 with seven RBIs, two homers and eight runs in the Louisville Regional, earning all-tournament honors. Made the SEC All-Tournament Team after hitting .556 (5-for-9) with a home run, two RBI, and three runs scored in three games. Homered in four straight games against Arkansas, including the SEC Tournament. Hit .357 (5-for-14) with four RBI and two runs scored in three-game series with LSU. Drove in three and scored two, going 2-for-5 vs. Georgia. Went 4-for-11 with three RBI and two runs scored in three-game series with Tennessee. Went 3-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored against Middle Tennessee. Went 3-for-5 with an RBI and run scored in midweek game against Lipscomb. Hit solo walk-off home run in Sunday game against Auburn to clinch the series. Was 2-for-3 with two walks and two runs scored in win over South Carolina. Went a combined 5-for-13 (.385) with four RBI, two doubles, a home run and two runs scored in three-game Florida series. Went a combined 5-for-13 with a run scored in the series at Alabama. Was 3-for-5 with four RBIS and two runs vs. Western Kentucky. Went 4-for-9 with five RBI, two home runs and five runs scored in weekend series with Ohio. Went 2-for-4 with four RBI including home run and double against Oklahoma State at Dodger Stadium. Went 6-for-12 with two RBI, two doubles and three runs scored against Niagara.
Junior (2011): Started all 66 games for VU's first College World Series team, which went 54-12 (22-8) and shared the league's regular-season title. In SEC regular-season games, hit .319/.455/.690, with 11 home runs, 29 RBIs and 27 runs scored. Fielded .988 at first, with 37 assists. Homered three times--all two-run shots--in Game 2 of the Nashville Super Regional vs. Oregon State, sending VU to Omaha. Had five RBIs in a win over Florida in the regular season. Scored four runs in Game 1 of the LSU series. Was 4-for-10 with a double, a homer and RBIs in all three games of the Auburn series. Had six hits in the Mississippi State series, including a double, a triple and a homer. Went 2-for-5 vs. Kennesaw St., making his sixth-straight multi-hit game. Was 3-for-3 with a homer, two doubles and two runs scored vs. Brown. Went 3-for-3 with a double and his first home run of the year against Stanford.
Post-VU: Detroit took Westlake in Round 3 of the 2011 MLB Draft. Westlake played until 2014, but never got past AA.
Final thoughts, and why I ranked him where I did: A blood clot ruined Westlake's first year on campus, but the three that followed were stellar. Westlake was always a good-to-great middle-of-the-order bat, logging double-digit home runs and on-base percentages north of .400 those three seasons.
Westlake will always be remembered most for the epic three-homer game against Oregon State (video below), but he was great in the postseason on the whole, making the all-regional team in all three regionals in which he participated. He was All-SEC Tournament twice, too.
With apologies to the underrated Conrad Gregor (who I think has a very competitive argument), I think Westlake would win in a landslide if the topic of "best first baseman in the Tim Corbin era" were put to a vote. I doubt few will have a problem with my ranking him this high, and there's an argument I could have slotted him higher.
