Baseball outfielder Pat DeMarco is No. 72 on our countdown of greatest Vanderbilt athletes we've covered.
Honors and awards: 2018 first team Freshman All-American
2019 SEC All-Tournament team
In the VU record book: DeMarco does not appear on any single-season, single-game or career charts.
Before VU: DeMarco, a New York native, moved to Georgia in order to play more baseball and was the state Player of the Year at Winder-Barrow High. Perfect Game ranked him the No. 130 player in the Class of 2017.
Freshman (2018): Started all 62 games as VU's primary center fielder on a 35-27 (16-14 SEC) team that fell one game short of the College World Series. Hit .263/.325/.482 in SEC regular-season play. Fielded .991 with five assists, and .983 with two assists in league regular-season games. Finished the season strong, with five homers in his last 12 games. Blasted two home runs, a double, a triple and a single against Mississippi State in the Nashville Super Regional. Stole 12 bases in 14 tries. Led the team with 48 runs and 116 total bases. Was 7-for-11 with six runs in the South Carolina series. Was 8-for-13 with five runs scored in the Duke series to open his college career.
Sophomore (2019): Played in (and started) 53 games on a 59-12 (23-7) team that won the SEC, the SEC tournament and the national title. Missed 17 games, including 13 league contests, with a mid-season leg injury. Was VU's primary center fielder and fielded 1.000 on the year, with one assists. Hit .261/.320/.435 in league regular-season games. Ended the season on an eight-game hitting streak, going 9-for-30 with seven RBIs. Blasted a solo home run and knocked in two runs in Game 3 of the College World Series to help VU beat Michigan. Had an RBI double against Louisville in the ninth to help send VU to the title series. Blasted a three-run homer against Duke in the deciding game of the Nashville Super Regional. Had a three-run homer to help VU beat Ole Miss in the title game of the SEC tournament. Contributed a grand slam and seven RBIs in a win over Davidson.
Post-VU: Drafted by the Yankees in Round 17, DeMarco signed with New York for $297,000 and forfeited his junior and senior seasons. He struggled in 28 games in short-season "A" ball last year.
Final thoughts, and why I ranked him where I did: DeMarco's career was one of the shortest ones on the list, but it was packed with significance. He blasted home runs in three post-season elimination games (MSU, Duke, Michigan) and had one of the two big hits in ninth inning of the 2019 CWS game to eliminate Louisville. He also had the big home run to spark VU's comeback win over Ole Miss in the SEC tournament title game.
There are two things to hold against DeMarco's ranking. One was the brevity of his career (including the missed games). But having just two seasons at VU was also a factor of his birthdate (he was a draft-eligible sophomore) and also the fact he was good enough to forego his final two seasons.The paradox of being a good or great player is that you generally don't stick around as long to pile up collegiate stats and accomplishments, and I think in an alternate universe, where DeMarco returns for 2020 in a virus-free environment, he probably would have been an All-SEC player.
The second was that he was never a superstar. But, he was an excellent player who did a bit of everything--hit for some power, ran well, defended well--and unlike most players who need time to develop, was all of that from the moment he hit campus.
People may argue that DeMarco's too high on this list for those reasons. But sports is about winning and winning championships, and I can't think of many Commodores who delivered more consistently in those spots than Pat DeMarco.
