For the next installation of the Vandyboys roster preview we will go over the bullpen. After being a major weakness last year, Vandy’s staff believes that the bullpen will be a strength due to the progression of young players. While I am not confident enough to assert I agree with this assessment, it has certainly improved from last year. As with most of Vanderbilt’s roster, whether this success that the staff is hoping for will come to fruition depends entirely upon individual players living up to their potential. If they do, there is enough talent for this to be a solid group, but if not, the depth becomes scarily nonexistent.

*Note: Several of Hudson Barton, Luke Guth, Matthew Shorey, or Connor Fennell will play big roles in relief, for information on them, see the starting pitching preview. There are also several freshmen who will not be covered due to lack of knowledge and likelihood to redshirt.*

Probably the strongest bullpen arm, and someone who will almost certainly play a massive role this season is LHP Miller Green. Green impressed in his freshman season, only allowing one run in his first 16 innings pitched. While the moment did get too big for him on occasion in SEC play (versus Miss. St. and Tennessee), he showed that he has the tools to be an elite reliever. Overall, Green had a very solid 3.16 ERA in 31.1 innings pitched to go along with 34 strikeouts and only 8 walks. Due to this strong performance and impressive play during fall ball, Green was named to D1 Baseball’s Preseason All-American 3rd Team as a relief pitcher.

Green only has 2 pitches but they are both very strong. He has a fastball that sits 90-92 that he showed a great ability to place along with an absolutely hellacious slider that is almost impossible for left-handed hitters to hit. When going against right-handed hitters Green changes the slider into more of a curveball, but it is also quite effective. In fall ball it appeared that Green may have added a bit of velocity to his fastball, but I have not seen it consistently enough to say that this is 100% true. Green will likely be Vanderbilt’s first guy out of the bullpen in high leverage situations, look for him to be even better than we saw last year.

As Green will likely be Vanderbilt’s 1A out of the pen, RHP Brennan Seiber is probably their 1B. Seiber came to Vanderbilt as an unknown prospect after being injured his junior and senior years of high school but impressed just about everyone who saw him out of the gate. Seiber only allowed 6 runs over his first 23 innings of action, including several appearances against SEC teams, but then really struggled in the final stretch of SEC play and in the postseason. Seiber’s velocity and command seemed to take a dip towards the end of the season, begging the question of if he was suffering from an injury that contributed to his stark change in form. He rebounded in the Cape Cod League, though, recording an ERA of 3 over 18 innings pitched. Seiber has a true three pitch mix with a fastball, changeup, and curveball, but his go to is definitely the fastball. Sitting in the low 90s, it has a ton of late movement and induces a lot of weak contact. Seiber had the bad habit of leaving a fastball in the middle of the zone, leading to a good number of home runs and extra base hits being hit off of him. If he can cut down on those mistakes, he can be an elite bullpen arm.

The next pitcher likely to have a big role is LHP Ryan Ginther, it remains to be seen whether he will be used as a reliever or closer (he has experience in both roles) but he projects as a solid arm either way. Ginther is by far the most experienced member of the bullpen, having had a large bullpen role for each of the last 3 years as well as some starting experience. Last year Ginther looked prime for a breakout after a strong 2023 season but had his role changed around a lot and struggled down the stretch. After Sawyer Hawks went down with an injury, Ginther was moved into the closer role where he was strong for the first half of the season but was poor late in SEC play. Ginther has had clutch performances against some of the best lineups in the SEC, so we know the ability is there, he just has to be consistent. It remains to be seen what role Tim Corbin and Scott Brown will use him in (if it were me I would use him as a reliever, as he can pitch for long stretches and seems to perform best in slightly less high-pressure situations), but he will certainly be a big part of Vanderbilt’s bullpen this season.

After these three, the bullpen becomes much more unknown and all about projection, returning to form, or are freshmen. Having only 3 pitchers out of the bullpen that are “known” commodities is not where you want to be going into a season, but the remaining group does have the potential to be very strong and back them up successfully.

To begin this slightly more “unknown” group, we’ll start with players coming back from injury. The most notable arm who fits in this category is RHP Sawyer Hawks. Hawks was a very highly thought of transfer in the 2023 cycle and arguably the top reliever in the portal. He was the closer for Air Force and it seemed like Coach Corbin and Brown wanted to use him in the same role for Vanderbilt this season. Unfortunately, Hawks struggled mightily to start the season before going down with a shoulder injury well before conference play started. It is unknown whether or not Hawks was trying to fight through that injury and it contributed to his poor form, but given his dip in velocity and command towards the back end of his time pitching it is likely that it did. Hawks has all the tools to be a great reliever, he has a strong fastball that sits around 91-93 (in the fall we saw it up to 94-95) as well as a curveball and changeup. One of Hawks’ other issues last year was the fact that he seemingly could not throw a strike with any pitch other than a fastball. In the fall he showed much better touch with his offspeed pitches, throwing them much more often and much more effectively. If we see the Sawyer Hawks from the fall and 2023 season, then Vandy will likely have found its closer for the year. If not, though, its bullpen will have taken a massive hit and someone else will have to be moved into that role (which they likely will not have had any experience with).

Next is RHP Tommy O’Rourke, who came to Vanderbilt this offseason from Stanford as a graduate transfer. O’Rourke is an interesting case, as he was solid in his time with the Cardinal, but has been injured and has not thrown a pitch in either of the last two seasons. We really do not know what we are getting in O’Rourke and only have brief fall appearances to base his projected role off of. As of right now I think he will be used as a set-up man, as this was his role at Stanford as well as how he was being used the two times I saw him in fall ball. O’Rourke looked impressive in that time, with a fastball around 94-95 to go along with a solid offspeed pitch. He could be a valuable addition to the bullpen and pick up the slack if one of the 3 primary relievers already discussed is having an off day. The key with him will be making sure that he is comfortable after having not pitched in so long as well as ensuring that he can stay healthy.

Moving on, we’ll go to players that have struggled but have some projectability. To start that group we have LHP Levi Heusman. Huesman is yet another pitcher who has all the talent in the world but simply has yet to put it all together. The second best pitcher in the 2022 high school class to not go to the draft (behind former Commodore Andrew Dutkanych), Huesman has great stuff and was viewed as a surefire MLB prospect out of high school. He has a strong fastball that sits around 91-93 and tops out at 95 to go along with a killer slider. His issue, quite simply, has been his control and command. He walked nearly a batter per inning in both his freshman and sophomore years and would frequently get behind the count, forcing him to throw strikes. Quite simply, if Huesman can improve his command and control to even a half-decent level, then he could be a crucial bullpen arm that makes a big difference for the Vandyboys. If it does not improve, though, he is not likely to see much time on the mound at all.

After Huesman, there is RHP Alex Kranzler. Kranzler is a similar pitcher to Huesman, as he also has a two pitch mix of a fastball and slider, although Kranzler has a higher floor given his better control. Kranzler had a roller coaster of a first year in Nashville. It started with giving up at least one run in 4 of his first 5 outings, including a grand slam against Gonzaga that lost Vanderbilt the game. After that, though, he responded with 5 straight appearances without giving up a run, before struggling once again towards the end of the conference season and in the regional. In one of the more head scratching stats you’ll see, Kranzler only allowed 1 hit and 0 runs against SEC teams in 5 IP, but against non-SEC opponents (mostly G5) he had an ERA of 6. When all was said and done he had an okay 4.43 ERA, but he must be much more consistent if he wants to become a feature piece of the bullpen. Kranzler has the talent necessary to be a strong bullpen piece, his 24 strikeouts in 20 IP shows this, but he cannot have a BB/9 rate of almost 5, nor can he allow for over ⅓ of his hits to go for home runs. If he can make a sophomore jump (not an uncommon phenomenon for Vanderbilt pitchers) and figure out a way to induce weaker contact while not giving up free bases, then Kranzler could be a potential closer or high leverage set-up man.

This brings us to the last of our unknowns, the freshmen. As of right now, 3 freshmen project to have roles coming out of the bullpen, but the one being featured today is RHP England Bryan (see the starting pitching preview for information on Hudson Barton and Matthew Shorey, the other two freshman pitchers likely to see time out of the bullpen). Bryan was a late addition to the most recent Vanderbilt class, flipping from Kentucky in mid-April of 2024. Bryan has electric stuff, as his fastball can touch 99 mph and he has a strong slider to go along with it, there is a developing changeup that shows some promise as well. Bryan looked strong in fall ball, getting a ton of opportunities along with Barton and Shorey. His fastball and slider are legit, as he can overpower with the fastball and get some swing and miss or weak contact with the slider. He needs to work on improving his control, as he walked a few too many batters in his time on the mound. It remains to be seen how significant of a role Bryan will have, but the staff is high on him and he has the stuff to be a high level contributor right away.

This group has a ton of potential and is laden with elite high school recruits or well regarded transfers, but there are just too many question marks for anyone to really feel good about it going into the season. Last year showed how important a strong, deep bullpen really is and Vanderbilt desperately needs to be able to hold onto the leads that their starters build in an ultra-competitive SEC. We’ll learn very quickly whether this group will be able to exorcise the demons of last year or if they will succumb to them yet again.