Vastine, Davis lead talented middle infield

Shortstop returnee Jonathan Vastine and Samford transfer Jayden Davis lead a talented middle infield that also has some depth. We break down Vanderbilt's second base and shortstop positions in today's portion of our comprehensive season preview.

Vanderbilt returns preseason second-team All-Southeastern Conference shortstop Jonathan Vastine and adds to that a talented freshman (Cam Kozeal) as well as last year's Southern Conference Freshman of the Year (Jayden Davis) in what could be one of the league's best up-the-middle combinations.

While Vastine has shortstop locked in entering the season, it appears that Davis and Kozeal will go into the final week batting for the starting job at second. That's a situation that could either loosely settle into some time of time-share or the loser could see DH at-bats.

Should something go wrong, Davis Diaz (we'll cover him in our corner infield preview) or Kozeal could slide to short for Vastine. At second, RJ Austin (to be covered in our outfield preview) could move back from the outfield to return to his home last year--and that might even happen to start the season, as he's probably Vanderbilt's best defender at second. But otherwise, expect to see the aforementioned three get most, if not all, of the playing time here.

Vastine, who hit .287/.355/.448 last season, started the first three weeks of 2023 on a tear before cooling off, but still hit and fielded well enough to start all 62 games. Despite his stature, Vastine makes hard contact (a team-leading 18 doubles) and when in a groove, can be an exceptionally-tough out.

Whether it was over-aggressiveness (he struck out 25% of his plate appearances last year and walked 10% of the time) or just not trusting what was working for him, that side of Vastine never really popped again until the end of the season, when Vastine hit in eight of his last nine games, racking up 13 hits (including five for extra bases) in that span.

At short, Vastine fielded a respectable .971, making just six errors with 121 assists. He's fast, rangy and has a terrific arm and is certainly capable of holding up what's more or less been an unbroken, 20-year tradition at the position under coach Tim Corbin.

Is the best yet to come for Vastine? That seems to be the case; words and phrases dropped by a source familiar with his offseason dropped phrases like, "people don't realize how fast and quick he is," "can be the best shortstop in the SEC" and "has all the tools in the world to be great." D1 Baseball seems to concur, ranking Vastine the No. 31 college prospect for the 2024 MLB Draft.

Davis, a Cookeville native who grew up wanting to be a Commodore, spent his first season at Samford, starring immediately by hitting .358/.452/.541 last year while hitting seven homers in league play and earning Freshman All-American honors according to Collegiate Baseball. Davis showed remarkable consistency as a hitter with a 37-game hitting streak from March 17 to May 25, during which he had 20 multi-hit games.

What's held Davis back is defense. He fielded .957 with seven errors at Samford last year and struggled with that in the fall. And while there's no doubt Davis's bat is what would have him in the lineup, Corbin has rarely tolerated sub-par defense anywhere (let alone up the middle) and Davis has improved enough in that regard to be in position to win the job.

With a week to go, Davis appears to have a slight edge to be the starter at second, with a good chance to DH if that doesn't happen. He's also capable of playing outfield, though we probably won't see him there this year.

Kozeal, Nebraska's Gatorade Player of the Year, ranked as a top draft prospect last summer (153rd by Baseball America, 143 at MLB.com and 102nd according to ESPN), but instead spurned professional money (he wasn't drafted) to attend school. Kozeal's carrying tool is his bat--he hit .433 with 20 extra-base hits, according to BA--though he struggled last summer at the Futures Collegiate League, hitting .221/.260/.279 as he was young for that league.

Kozeal draws some comparisons to former Commodore Tate Kolwyck in that they are both second basemen, both formerly high-school quarterbacks and both lauded for their competitiveness, work ethic and being good teammates. Kozeal's bat is good enough to justify an every-day job right now Davis has a year of experience that Kozeal does not. Either way, Kozeal is going to see plenty of playing time at Vanderbilt whether that starts opening weekend or slightly further down the line.

Catcher

Middle infield

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