Trevor Fitts

[messageboardsuperhero]

I know everyone is pretty much in football mode right now and this may have already been posted, but Trevor Fitts threw a 3-hit complete game shutout in the California league last week. I guess working with Cohen's friend out there has really helped Fitts, because he's been damn near untouchable his last few outings. He's supposedly been making huge strides all summer. Anyone who might have been sleeping on Fitts for a weekend rotation spot after signing Paul Young (myself included) should probably rethink that.

Also, Daniel Garner is who has been catching him out there, and Fitts said on twitter that Garner actually called his last game. Hopefully his defense and ability to handle pitchers is starting to catch up with his bat.

[CadaverDawg]

Great info man, thanks for that. Glad to hear that he is doing well, and even more happy to hear that he is developing a connection with Garner.

[War Machine Dawg]

I'm going to brag on myself here: I've been saying all along Fitts would be a weekend starter. He's going to be a big piece of the puzzle for us next season.

[MsStateBaseball]

We shall see who is the most consistant in the fall. And don't forget, another mini tryout is the first month of season. Stratton didn't even start until later in the year. Competition is good which is all you want in tryouts bc it makes everyone better.

[maroonmania]

FEAR THE BEARD!!!!!

[Todd4State]

We have a very good problem- we have a lot of guys that could be very capable starters- Woodruff, Lindgren who finished his Cape season strong, Young, Fitts, and also Dakota Hudson. That takes some pressure off of a guy like Woodruff that is recovering.

[CadaverDawg]

We are either going to have a few guys like Lindgren, Woody, and Fitts step up and provide great starting pitching....
Or we could end up being an even better version of last year's type of staff out of the pen.

We have to find 3-4 starters out of this list......

Woodruff
Lindgren
Fitts
Young
Hudson
Bracewell
Cox
P Brown
Shelly
Holder
Mitchell
Gentry

I like our chances. Check that, I LOVE our chances.

[messageboardsuperhero]

Options are good to have, and we've got a lot of them.

I saw someone say that we might become Pitcher U in the SEC. Well, that might still be Vandy since they always have great top tier arms, but I'd put our pitcher development system up against anyone's. Nobody gets more out of what they have than Butch Thompson.

[Todd4State]

Options are good to have, and we've got a lot of them.

I saw someone say that we might become Pitcher U in the SEC. Well, that might still be Vandy since they always have great top tier arms, but I'd put our pitcher development system up against anyone's. Nobody gets more out of what they have than Butch Thompson.


Vanderbilt's great pitching guru- Derek Johnson- is now with the Cubs. He left about a year ago, so they haven't seen very many, if any side effects yet. Tennessee is about to get a lot better too- Dave Serrano is a great pitching coach as well. That will hurt Vandy some with their in state guys.

[Todd4State]

One thing I don't see anyone talking about is we are going to have someone pretty good starting for us in midweek games as well. Those get overlooked a lot, but if we can have the edge on the mound or level the playing field if someone like UAB decides to pitch their ace midweek, we'll be ready for it.

[WeWonItAll(Most)]

I told my friend while I was watching Fitts pitch that he would be a damn good pitcher for us if he could just make one or two more strides in the right direction. Hopefully this is a sign he's made them!

[messageboardsuperhero]

Vanderbilt's great pitching guru- Derek Johnson- is now with the Cubs. He left about a year ago, so they haven't seen very many, if any side effects yet. Tennessee is about to get a lot better too- Dave Serrano is a great pitching coach as well. That will hurt Vandy some with their in state guys.

I remember thinking when UT hired Serrano last year that it was only a matter of time before he got them going in the right direction. He didn't have much to work with this year, but he'll get UT turned around.

And I agree. Serrano being at UT doesn't make Vandy the only show in Tennessee anymore. Hopefully it won't hurt us too much as well when we go after Tennessee players.

[State82]

We are either going to have a few guys like Lindgren, Woody, and Fitts step up and provide great starting pitching....
Or we could end up being an even better version of last year's type of staff out of the pen.

We have to find 3-4 starters out of this list......

Woodruff
Lindgren
Fitts
Young
Hudson
Bracewell
Cox
P Brown
Shelly
Holder
Mitchell
Gentry

I like our chances. Check that, I LOVE our chances.

That is a pretty stout list to pick from right there. I'm already pumped for next February!

[Lefthandersrule]

Luv seeing our pitchers get better after each season instead of plateauing and not getting better.

Just remember the jump Stratton made from his Sophomore year to his Junior year! And we have a bunch of rising Juniors this year!

[Goat Holder]

I think anyone that thinks the rotation is set right now is crazy. I know everything assumes Lindgren, Woodruff, Young but I surely don't. Bracewell, Fitts and Cox could take a starting position as well. Or a freshman. Honestly, though, I think you can probably pencil Lindgren in, but he's the only sure thing IMO.

[Goat Holder]

Or we could end up being an even better version of last year's type of staff out of the pen.

I see what you're getting at, and I know the media made a big hoopla out of it, but this speaks more to the coaches that anything else. It wasn't that they created an awesome strategy, it's that they managed to go that far with the bad situation we had. Lack of starting pitching is what cost us the national championship, no doubt about it. Our situation was FAR from ideal, and I hope we're never in that position again. Just shows how much better we can get when we DO get those solid starters. Graveman is literally all we had last year.

[Goat Holder]

9 of Vanderbilt's 35 man roster players are from Tennessee. Of those, 6 are from the Nashville Metro area. I doubt Tennessee cuts too much into their recruiting. Vandy seems to be going nation-wide.

I'm not sold on Serrano yet. Much tougher to win in the SEC than at Irvine and Fullerton. It is talent galore out there, all you have to be is a decent coach.

[bulldogcountry1]

I think anyone that thinks the rotation is set right now is crazy. I know everything assumes Lindgren, Woodruff, Young but I surely don't. Bracewell, Fitts and Cox could take a starting position as well. Or a freshman. Honestly, though, I think you can probably pencil Lindgren in, but he's the only sure thing IMO.

I don't even consider Lindgren a sure thing at this point. He's got to come in healthy and mentally tougher to nail down a weekend spot. He's got the stuff, for sure, but several of them do. It's nice to have options, though. Someone will break out and have an AA year because that's been the trend.

[CadaverDawg]

I see what you're getting at, and I know the media made a big hoopla out of it, but this speaks more to the coaches that anything else. It wasn't that they created an awesome strategy, it's that they managed to go that far with the bad situation we had. Lack of starting pitching is what cost us the national championship, no doubt about it. Our situation was FAR from ideal, and I hope we're never in that position again. Just shows how much better we can get when we DO get those solid starters. Graveman is literally all we had last year.

Well obviously nobody thinks Butch and John drew it up that way last year. But what I'm saying is that if nobody emerges as a 6-7-8 innings per start type of guy right away.....we have so many quality arms that we could do a similar type of thing this year UNTIL someone steps up as we approach SEC play.

[MSUDawg4Life]

Pitching will obviously be just as deep if not deeper than last year's pitching. I'm more concerned about hitting. Replacing Frazier and Renfroe is a far bigger challenge in my opinion.

[Todd4State]

9 of Vanderbilt's 35 man roster players are from Tennessee. Of those, 6 are from the Nashville Metro area. I doubt Tennessee cuts too much into their recruiting. Vandy seems to be going nation-wide.

I'm not sold on Serrano yet. Much tougher to win in the SEC than at Irvine and Fullerton. It is talent galore out there, all you have to be is a decent coach.

Yes, but the guys from Tennessee that they are getting are among the top prospects in the state. Sort of like Ole Miss circa 2005. Serrano is about to start year three at Tennessee- and we all saw what happened during Cohen's first two years and also what happened after that. I'm not sure that Tennessee will have the success that we have had, but I do think they will be a Regional contender this year and in another 2-3 years I think they will be a SR/CWS contender potentially.

[maroonmania]

I don't even consider Lindgren a sure thing at this point. He's got to come in healthy and mentally tougher to nail down a weekend spot. He's got the stuff, for sure, but several of them do. It's nice to have options, though. Someone will break out and have an AA year because that's been the trend.

Yep, no way you can automatically pencil in Lindgren after the way he crashed and burned toward the end of last season. I mean last year our coaches leaned on starting Fitts rather than going with Lindgren during the NCAA tournament. Guess the blasting he took from Vandy in the SEC tourney Saturday game was the last time we saw him on the mound. I personally see EVERY spot in our rotation for next season totally wide open at the moment.

[CadaverDawg]

Yep, no way you can automatically pencil in Lindgren after the way he crashed and burned toward the end of last season. I mean last year our coaches leaned on starting Fitts rather than going with Lindgren during the NCAA tournament. Guess the blasting he took from Vandy in the SEC tourney Saturday game was the last time we saw him on the mound. I personally see EVERY spot in our rotation for next season totally wide open at the moment.

This bolded sentence^^ could potentially help us in a major way. Nothing makes everybody better like a full staff competition for 3-4 starting spots. We may see several elevate their games from this group in an attempt to steal a starting role. Hopefully they all embrace it and it makes everyone better