2023 College Baseball Showdown Preview: TCU vs. No. 10 Vanderbilt

The 2023 College Baseball Showdown at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas will feature the No. 15 ranked TCU Horned Frogs, who face No. 10 Vanderbilt for their first game of the season on Friday at 3 p.m. TCU has several starting position players returning from a 2022 roster that went 38-22 and won the Big 12 regular season title under first-year head coach Kirk Saarloos. Vanderbilt went 39-23 last season, finishing fourth in the SEC East.

The Commodores featured one of the best pitching staffs in the SEC last season, ranking second with a 3.96 ERA while adding three complete games and a .222 opposing batting average. Vanderbilt slashed .286/.384/.465 on the offensive end, ranking middle-to-top in the conference across all three percentage categories. The Commodores finished eighth in runs (425) and hits (600) as well as ninth in home runs (77) in the SEC during the 2022 season. Vanderbilt tied for fifth in the SEC in errors last season, committing 52 total.

Among Vanderbilt’s top returning hitters are outfielders Enrique Bradfield Jr. and Calvin Hewett. Bradfield Jr. posted a .317/.415/.498 slash line with eight homers and 36 RBIs while terrorizing teams on the basepaths, where the junior stole 46 bases on 46 attempts. Hewett appeared in limited games last season, but held a .329/.437/.494 slash line with four homers and 18 RBIs. Left-hander Carter Holton is one of the leading Commodore arms back for the 2023 campaign and returns after posting a 3.14 ERA in 15 starts last season. Holton tossed two complete games, striking out 97 batters and walking 29 over 80 and one-third innings.

Left-hander Devin Futrell also returns on the mound after recording a 3.41 ERA across 14 starts during the 2022 campaign, where the 6-foot-5 hurler struck out 64 batters and walked only 13 over 63 and one-third innings. Right-hander Thomas Schultz is back after anchoring the bullpen for the Commodores last season, where he held a 2.88 ERA in 23 appearances with 33 strikeouts and eight saves over 34 and one-third innings pitched. Right-hander Jack Anderson is a potential breakout candidate for Vanderbilt, returning after tossing 10 shutout innings across 12 appearances with 18 strikeouts in 2022. Opposing batters mustered only a .097 average against Anderson, who walked only six batters.

Vanderbilt lost its top two hitters from last season in Dominic Keegan (.371/.458/.646) and Spencer Jones (.370/.460/.643), who were both selected in the 2022 MLB Draft. The Commodores also lost starting pitcher Chris McElvain, who was drafted after leading Vanderbilt in starts (16), innings (86.1) and strikeouts (100) during the 2022 season.