Is Vanderbilt baseball's pitching staff too young to win in postseason? Here's what history says

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In 19 years at the helm of Vanderbilt baseball, Tim Corbin never has given more than 50% of pitching starts to true freshmen.

That changed this season, with left-handers Carter Holton and Devin Futrell and right-hander Bryce Cunningham combining for 56% of the Commodores' starts.

The previous record, not including postseason starts, was 42% in 2003, Corbin's first team, which did not qualify for an NCAA regional.

Not only did freshmen make a high number of starts this season, but they also started half of Vanderbilt's SEC games. In 2018, the year that had previously allowed the most starts overall by true freshmen under Corbin, 38% of starts overall and just one-third of SEC starts went to freshmen.

Now that the postseason has arrived, the Commodores (35-19, 14-16 SEC) are in the position of needing to lean on those freshmen to make a run in the SEC and NCAA tournaments.

While Vanderbilt does have some postseason experience in its rotation — Christian Little started two games in the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, last year, and Chris McElvain was a top setup man throughout the 2021 run — the bulk of last season's production came from starters Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter and closer Luke Murphy, all of whom are no longer with the program.

Successful postseason teams typically have experienced pitching staffs, so Vanderbilt will have to buck that trend if it hopes to advance. The Commodores begin play in the SEC Tournament on Tuesday against Ole Miss (4:30 p.m., SEC Network).

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Alone in the SEC

Most teams use three or four starters in the postseason. Vanderbilt was the only team in the conference this year that counted three freshmen among the four pitchers who made the most regular-season starts.

But the Commodores don't have the only young rotation. In fact, the most analogous situation might be at Tennessee, which has used freshmen Chase Burns and Drew Beam in the rotation for the majority of the season, along with sophomores Chase Dollander, Blade Tidwell and Zander Sechrist.

The Vols have been a much better team in the regular season than Vanderbilt, but only Tidwell and Sechrist were part of the team that made it to Omaha last year, and Sechrist did not appear in a postseason game. Tennessee's rotation will be carrying the same lack of postseason experience.

Past success stories

In 2016, Texas Tech made it to the College World Series using a starting rotation composed primarily of freshmen.

True freshmen started seven of the Red Raiders' 10 postseason games that season, including all three super regional games and all three of their games in Omaha.

While the pitching performed relatively well in the postseason, that team, like Vanderbilt this year, saw much of its success predicated on how well the offense performed.

In 2010, Florida had a freshman ace in Hudson Randall and another freshman, Brian Johnson, in the rotation. The No. 3 national seed, the Gators swept the regional and super regional, with Randall and Johnson starting three of the five games. The Gators made it to Omaha, but they lost both games there. Randall was tagged for four runs in 2⅔ in the elimination game, taking the loss.

Vanderbilt itself had one of the most notable performances from a freshman in the postseason, with Rocker's no-hitter in a super regional elimination game in 2019. Rocker was eventually named College World Series Most Outstanding Player. But Rocker also was flanked by more experienced pitchers like Drake Fellows, Patrick Raby and Mason Hickman, all of whom had postseason experience.

Winning with a younger staff isn't impossible in the postseason, but it will be an uphill climb that requires pitchers stepping up to new levels.

Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on Twitter @aria_gerson.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Is Vanderbilt baseball's pitching staff too young to win in postseason?