Vanderbilt Baseball Could See Their Top Commit Skip College Altogether

The Vanderbilt Commodores star recruit is going to have a tough decision to make based on recent MLB mock drafts.

Jun 23, 2014; Omaha, NE, USA; View of the helmets and the NCAA logo before Vanderbilt Commodores and Virginia Cavaliers face off in game one of the College World Series Finals at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha. | Steven Branscombe-Imagn Images

The Vanderbilt Commodores baseball team is looking to get back on track in 2025 after a disappointing 2024 campaign.

With a few key players returning to the lineup, expectations are once again on the rise.

They find themselves ranked inside the top 25 of the preseason polls, coming in at No. 16, with a real chance to make a deep run in Omaha.

This is a talented roster with two left-handed pitchers, JD Thompson and Miller Green, being named to the D1Baseball Preseason All-America Team. Both landed on the third team, making Vanderbilt one of only seven programs in the nation that had multiple people land on one of the three All-America squads.

Heading into their junior and sophomore seasons respectively, they could be anchoring the starting rotation together for two more years.

If they return to the team in 2026, they have a chance to create a dominant trio along with star prep pitcher Seth Hernandez.

The Corona High School product out of California is a star recruit and is considered the best prep pitcher in the country. However, there is a chance he never makes it to campus to pitch for the Commodores.

Over at Bleacher Report, Joel Reuter has made predictions for the first round of the 2025 MLB draft.

He believes Hernandez will come off the board at No. 6, heading to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

“One of three Corona High School players who could wind up hearing his name called in the first round, Hernandez enters the spring as the top prep arm in the country. With an extremely projectable 6'4", 190-pound frame and electric present stuff that includes a fastball that has touched 98 mph and a plus changeup, the Vanderbilt commit checks all the boxes to be a future ace,” he wrote.

The other Corona High School products are shortstop/right-handed pitcher Billy Carlson and shortstop Brady Ebel.

Reuter mocked them to the Boston Red Sox and Milwaukee Brewers respectively at No. 15 and No. 20.

Alas, it is Hernandez who people will be paying the most attention to, and he will have an incredibly difficult decision to make.

Will he pitch collegiately, joining the storied Vanderbilt program that has developed several MLB star, or will he forgo that, beginning his professional career mere months after finishing up his high school campaign?

Money will certainly play a factor, as it could take an over-slot amount for him to skip college and join whichever team it is that selects him.