Baseball star Cesar Nicolas, who helped make the Commodores nationally relevant, checks in at No. 92 in the VandySports 100.
Honors and awards: 2004 SEBaseball.com third-team All-Southeastern Conference
2004 SEC All-Tournament
2004 Charlottesville Regional Most Outstanding Player
SEC Player of the Week (April 22, 2003)
In the VU record book: Single-season runs batted in: tied-sixth (70, 2004)
Before VU: Nicolas, recruited by coach Roy Mewbourne, starred at Miami powerhouse Westminster Christian on three state title teams. Hit .347 with three home runs, seven doubles and six steals as a senior, and was named second-team All-Dade County. Hit .400 with a pair of home runs as a junior. Also lettered two years in football and basketball.
Freshman (2001): Played 13 games, starting once. Had first collegiate hit and RBI vs. Bradley on Feb. 25. Fielded .889 for the season.
Sophomore (2002): Started all 51 games, with 46 of those coming at third base and five, at DH. Hit .248/.357/.352 in 28 SEC games, with two home runs and 14 RBIs. Hit a walk-off home run to win the season opener at Tennessee Tech in the first game at Hawkins Field. Four days after his father died, Nicolas blasted a solo home run in VU's win over Connecticut. Fielded .891 for the year.
Junior (2003): Started 52 of 54 games, all coming at first base. Hit .303/.394/.468 in SEC games and fielded .992. Tied for the team lead in home runs (seven) and RBIs (33). Hit a walk-off single to beat LSU. Fielded .996 for the season.
Senior (2004): Nicolas started all 64 games, and got the majority of starts at first base, for VU's 45-19 squad, which saw its season end in the Austin Super Regional. That team shattered the previous school record for wins (37) and made the school's first NCAA tournament appearance since 1980. Nicolas hit .318/.433/.545 in SEC regular-season games and ranked fourth in the SEC in RBIs in all games. Hit .455 in the Charlottesville Regional, of which he was named Most Outstanding Player. Fielded .988 for the year.
Post-VU: Drafted in the fifth round by Arizona, and played 503 professional games between 2005-12, hitting .276/.392/.459, but never made the Majors. Nicolas is now coaching in the Seattle organization, and was named manager of the Double-A Arkansas Travelers last year.
Final thoughts, and why I ranked him where I did: Nicolas was a large, feared, right-handed, middle-of-the-order bat on the team that arguably did the most to change the trajectory of Vanderbilt's baseball program. His value is limited by the fact most of that time came at first (and some, at DH) but Nicolas also had excellent hitting numbers in league regular-season play two years in a row, and, he came up huge in the most significant post-season series in the history of the program to that point.
Between his production and the significance of what Nicolas did to raise the program's profile, he easily deserves a spot on the list.
* "RC/ARC-27" are how many runs a player "created" per 27 outs, according to a Bill James formula. The first is a player's raw total for that season, and the second is the same number adjusted to an average run-scoring environment from 2003-19.
