This will be an extremely long post, so bear with me, but I find all this interesting. I had an off day from the old "home from college summer job", and was quite bored, so I decided to look into baseball recruiting heavily which is something I've only ever done with football or basketball. There's been a lot of debate over which of our highly-touted freshmen will make it to campus, and who will stay in the draft. Without any inside information on individual players, we can look back at previous classes to see if we can find some trends. Perfect game only started ranking players, at least for Vanderbilt, starting in 2006, but I think 2008 will be the best year to start.
2008
We had 6 top 100 players and 5 made it to campus
P Sonny Gray #14
IF Anthony Hewitt #29 Drafted 1st round
OF Matt Marquis #46
P Jack Armstrong #54
IF Joe Loftus #76
IF Jason Esposito #95
2009
Only 1 and he made it to campus
P Sam Selman #47
2010
Only 2, both made it to campus
P Kevin Ziomek #46
1B Conrad Gregor #75
2011
4 in the top 100, 2 made it to campus
P Tyler Beede #16
P Kevin Comer #54 1st round
P Phil Pfiefer #60
OF Shawon Dunston #69 11th round
2012
4 in the top 100, 3 made it to campus
P Carson Fulmer #57
OF Rhett Weisman #58
P Walker Buehler #67
1B Matt Olson #100 1st round (now in the home run derby)
2013
Only 1 and he made it to campus
P Jordan Sheffield #38
2014
6 top 100 players, only one made it to campus (a few mlb names here)
P Touki Touissant #5 1st round
P Justus Sheffield #23 1st round
P Dylan Cease #30 6th round
P Cody Reed #40 2nd round
OF Jeren Kendall #67
IF Isan Diaz #80 2nd round
2015
8 top 100 players, 4 came to campus
P Donny Everett #13
P Triston Mckenzie #25 1st round
SS Alonzo Jones #40
3B Bryce Denton #53 2nd round
P Nolan Watson #64 1st round
1B Julian Infante #65
P Chandler Day #72
OF Darryl Wilson #80 4th round
Also the legend Reggie Pruitt, ranked 119th, outfielder, stayed in the draft after going in the 24th round
2016
4 top 100 guys, only 1 made it to campus
P Ian Anderson #4 1st round
P Braxton Garrett #7 1st round
OF Thomas Jones #23 3rd round
P Drake Fellows #70
2017
5 top 100 guys, all of them made it to campus
P Jake Eder #43
3B Jason Gonzalez #58
C Phillip Clarke #64
P Hugh Fisher #77
IF Austin Martin #92
2018
11 top 100 players, 5 made it to campus
P Ethan Hankins #2 1st round
P Ryan Weathers #7 1st round
P Kumar Rocker #8
C Will Banfield #10 2nd round
SS Xavier Edwards #19 1st round
P Austin Becker #31
3B Nick Northcut #41 11th round
1B John Malcolm #51
OF Ryder Green #53 3rd round
P Ethan Smith #55
P Brett Hansen #98
2019
7 top 100 guys, 4 made it to campus
P Jack Leiter #15
P Kendall Williams #17 2nd round
OF Trejyn Fletcher #19 2nd round
SS Anthony Volpe #25 1st round
P Spencer Jones #31
SS Tyler McKenzie #67
P Michael Doolin #98
2020
6 top 100 guys, 4 made it to campus
OF Robert Hassell #8 1st round
OF Pete Crow-Armstrong #15 1st round
C Jack Bulger #35
OF Enrique Bradfield #51
IF Jack O Dowd #96
OF Grayson Moore #99
Also Christian Little was I think top 10 guy in the 2021 class before he reclassified.
A few trends to notice:
1. When there's a position player rated in the top 50 or so, they're typically very hard to get to campus.
2. On the other hand, Tim Corbin tends to bring in almost every arm outside the top 50 unless the draft loves them much more than PG, like in the case of Nolan Watson.
3. Tim is also very good at getting at least one pitcher that's even top 30 or top 20 per class, like with Rocker, Leiter, Little, Beede, Gray, and the place the program is in now compared to a few years ago helps with that.
2008
We had 6 top 100 players and 5 made it to campus
P Sonny Gray #14
IF Anthony Hewitt #29 Drafted 1st round
OF Matt Marquis #46
P Jack Armstrong #54
IF Joe Loftus #76
IF Jason Esposito #95
2009
Only 1 and he made it to campus
P Sam Selman #47
2010
Only 2, both made it to campus
P Kevin Ziomek #46
1B Conrad Gregor #75
2011
4 in the top 100, 2 made it to campus
P Tyler Beede #16
P Kevin Comer #54 1st round
P Phil Pfiefer #60
OF Shawon Dunston #69 11th round
2012
4 in the top 100, 3 made it to campus
P Carson Fulmer #57
OF Rhett Weisman #58
P Walker Buehler #67
1B Matt Olson #100 1st round (now in the home run derby)
2013
Only 1 and he made it to campus
P Jordan Sheffield #38
2014
6 top 100 players, only one made it to campus (a few mlb names here)
P Touki Touissant #5 1st round
P Justus Sheffield #23 1st round
P Dylan Cease #30 6th round
P Cody Reed #40 2nd round
OF Jeren Kendall #67
IF Isan Diaz #80 2nd round
2015
8 top 100 players, 4 came to campus
P Donny Everett #13
P Triston Mckenzie #25 1st round
SS Alonzo Jones #40
3B Bryce Denton #53 2nd round
P Nolan Watson #64 1st round
1B Julian Infante #65
P Chandler Day #72
OF Darryl Wilson #80 4th round
Also the legend Reggie Pruitt, ranked 119th, outfielder, stayed in the draft after going in the 24th round
2016
4 top 100 guys, only 1 made it to campus
P Ian Anderson #4 1st round
P Braxton Garrett #7 1st round
OF Thomas Jones #23 3rd round
P Drake Fellows #70
2017
5 top 100 guys, all of them made it to campus
P Jake Eder #43
3B Jason Gonzalez #58
C Phillip Clarke #64
P Hugh Fisher #77
IF Austin Martin #92
2018
11 top 100 players, 5 made it to campus
P Ethan Hankins #2 1st round
P Ryan Weathers #7 1st round
P Kumar Rocker #8
C Will Banfield #10 2nd round
SS Xavier Edwards #19 1st round
P Austin Becker #31
3B Nick Northcut #41 11th round
1B John Malcolm #51
OF Ryder Green #53 3rd round
P Ethan Smith #55
P Brett Hansen #98
2019
7 top 100 guys, 4 made it to campus
P Jack Leiter #15
P Kendall Williams #17 2nd round
OF Trejyn Fletcher #19 2nd round
SS Anthony Volpe #25 1st round
P Spencer Jones #31
SS Tyler McKenzie #67
P Michael Doolin #98
2020
6 top 100 guys, 4 made it to campus
OF Robert Hassell #8 1st round
OF Pete Crow-Armstrong #15 1st round
C Jack Bulger #35
OF Enrique Bradfield #51
IF Jack O Dowd #96
OF Grayson Moore #99
Also Christian Little was I think top 10 guy in the 2021 class before he reclassified.
A few trends to notice:
1. When there's a position player rated in the top 50 or so, they're typically very hard to get to campus.
2. On the other hand, Tim Corbin tends to bring in almost every arm outside the top 50 unless the draft loves them much more than PG, like in the case of Nolan Watson.
3. Tim is also very good at getting at least one pitcher that's even top 30 or top 20 per class, like with Rocker, Leiter, Little, Beede, Gray, and the place the program is in now compared to a few years ago helps with that.
