Brodie Johnston’s Hot Start Continues as the Vanderbilt Offense Shows More Promise – Sports Illustrated

NASHVILLE – It was a hitter’s count for Vanderbilt third baseman Brodie Johnston. Three balls and one strike in an 11-2 game and a guy on first base. It’s a situation many hitters would want to be in where the run-ahead rule is in effect.
As if it was on cue, Johnston stared down Eastern Michigan pitcher Aidan Norris and made perfect contact with the ball on his swing and launched the ball over the back fence behind the stands in left center field, effectively ending the game with an emphatic 13-2 victory for Vanderbilt.
For Johnston, it was his second home run of the game and already his fifth home run of the season just four games in. A season ago, he hit 15 home runs. While keeping up a pace of 1.25 home runs per game is nearly impossible to do for a long period of time, Johnston is undeniably off to an incredible start to the season.
His approach at the plate is noticeably different. He’s more calm and grounded when he steps into the batter’s box. Some of that is a credit to the practice he has put in, but a lot of it is also a credit to Vanderbilt’s new hitting coach Jason Esposito.
“We’ve tweaked with my swing and we’ve got it. I think it’s the best it’s ever been right now,” Johnston said on how Esposito how helped his game. “I mean, I’m seeing the ball well, my swing feels repeatable too. So, it's stuff we’ve been working on, grinding every day actually and it’s really starting to pay off now.”
From Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin’s perspective as he watches Johnston go to bat each time, he sees how centered and ready he looks when he goes up to the plate. Of course, it helps Johnston has been getting into good counts in his at-bats, but that is a testament to his plate discipline so far this season. He has not been swinging at anything far off the plate or down low toward his ankles.
“Just comfortable. He’s comfortable at the plate. He’s seeing the ball well. I just think he’s kind of in a rhythm. He was in Texas and he was here,” Corbin said. “I think the best thing is just staying in good counts. The balls that are off the zone, he’s not offering even until he’s into his legs. He’s got a good balance at the plate. He’s a good hitter, but that’s what I see. I just see a very balanced kid at the plate.”
Bigger picture, perhaps the biggest question about this Vanderbilt team over the offseason was centered around the offense. Would it be improved, and if so how improved? Is it more power-focused? And how much impact does Esposito have on how the offense looks?
It is a long season and it is likely at some point a trend will start to show in what the offense truly is. Vanderbilt has had two high-scoring games, scoring 13 runs against Texas Tech and Eastern Michigan, but only put up one run against Oklahoma State on Sunday.
The true colors of the offense is probably going to end up somewhere in between the result of those three games, but it seems that the hiring of Esposito has no doubt had at least some sort of impact on this Commodores’ batting lineup since he was brought in during the offseason.
“Espo’s [Esposito] done a great job in a short amount of time here, really. And he’s just done an amazing job just getting in there with us every single day and kind of just getting us better every single day. And I think that shows when we’re out here on the field,” Vanderbilt center fielder Braden Holcomb said. 
The question to follow throughout the whole season is going to be what the true identity of the offense is. Four games into the season is too short of time to make a firm judgement. But there are certainly bits and pieces that show there is promise with this season’s lineup.
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Graham Baakko is a writer for Vanderbilt Commodores On SI, primarily covering football, basketball and baseball. Graham is a recent graduate from the University of Alabama, where he wrote for The Crimson White, WVUA-FM, WVUA 23 as he covered a variety of Crimson Tide sports. He also covered South Carolina athletics as a sportswriting intern for GamecockCentral.
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