Anchor Drop, June 6, 2023: 81 Days to Kickoff

Good morning.

Optional Musical Accompaniment

We are now 81 days away from Vanderbilt football’s season opener against Hawaii. 81 for the Commodores is wide receiver Hutch Baird. The redshirt sophomore from Concord, Ohio, did not play last season after transferring from Johns Hopkins. (Also: he’s a dead ringer for Lane Kiffin. No, really.)

Vanderbilt golfer Gordon Sargent and alum Luke List qualified for the U.S. Open on Monday. The U.S. Open will be played later this month (spoiler: the final round is always on Father’s Day; source: this is what my dad did every Father’s Day) at the Los Angeles Country Club.

Over at the Tennessean, Gentry Estes tries to diagnose what’s wrong with Vanderbilt baseball and it frankly seems kind of obvious:

Vanderbilt is no longer that program capable of overwhelming any foe with waves of elite, big-league-type talent.

The Commodores haven’t nose-dived in that department, but a subtle downward trend is clear when looking at SEC rivals like LSU or Florida or Arkansas or maybe even South Carolina or Tennessee. No one could say the Commodores enjoy the same gap in talent as, say, just four years ago.

And I think that’s pretty much correct. Consider that, from 2011-2021, Vanderbilt had 36 players drafted in the first five rounds of the MLB Draft. Last year, just two players went in the first five rounds, and just two players — Enrique Bradfield Jr. and Hunter Owen — show up in MLB’s top 200 prospects list this year. One of those missed time to injury and the other felt like a disappointment. (Gentry didn’t get into it in his article, but part of the problem is that Vanderbilt has been less successful at getting guys through the draft over the last couple of years. That kind of thing tends to run in cycles — sometimes, you manage to get a Kumar Rocker through the draft, and some years you lose a Ryan Clifford.)

I missed this yesterday, but football landed a couple of new commits over the weekend: edge rusher Simeon Boulware from Dacula, Georgia, and offensive lineman Josh Raymond from Lake Mary, Florida:

Sports on TV

All times Central.

• 6:20 PM: MLB: Mets at Braves (TBS)
• 8:30 PM: MLB: Mariners at Padres or Cubs at Angels (MLB Network)

Scoreboard

NCAA Baseball: Florida 6, Texas Tech 0 ... LSU 13, Oregon State 7 ... TCU 12, Arkansas 4 ... Southern Miss 11, Penn 7 ... Duke 12, Coastal Carolina 3 ... Kentucky 4, Indiana 2 ... Stanford 7, Texas A&M 1.

MLB: Rays 4, Red Sox 1 ... Phillies 8, Tigers 3 ... Marlins 9, Royals 6 ... Pirates 5, A’s 4 ... Astros 11, Blue Jays 4 ... Reds 2, Brewers 0 ... Rangers 4, Cardinals 3 ... Padres 5, Cubs 0.

NHL: Golden Knights 7, Panthers 2 (Golden Knights lead, 2-0.)