Aidan Stillman Could Hold Vanderbilt Baseball's Season in His Arm – Sports Illustrated

NASHVILLE—-Could Aiden Stillman have been walking away from the moment that just made all of Vanderbilt baseball’s aspirations into a realistic outcome when he stepped off the mound and took a number of high fives before entering the Vanderbilt dugout in the fourth inning of Saturday’s game? 
Could Stillman’s Saturday start against Texas–in which he went 3.2 scoreless innings, gave up two hits, struck out six and walked just two–be the outing that sparks a breakout second half of his freshman season? 
For Vanderbilt baseball to be what it intends to be, it needs that to be the case for Stillman. 
Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin didn't imagine that Stillman would be a weekend starter this early, but his choices have dwindled. He needs to start Stillman in one of his three weekend slots, and he needs Stillman to continue to earn what he’s given him. 
“He’s gonna get another shot again, we just have to,” Corbin said on Tuesday. “I think these guys start to build more confidence when they understand the role they’re in. If you don’t understand the role, it’s kind of hard to get to the ballpark and say ‘what am I gonna do?’” 
After Stillman started what eventually became a combined scoreless outing–which was Vanderbilt’s first in SEC play this season–he now knows what he’s going to do once a weekend. He’s going to get the ball. He’s going to have a chance to put Vanderbilt in a position to win once a weekend. 
Vanderbilt doesn’t need Stillman to be its savior, but it needs him to be good enough to give it a chance. The difference between Corbin’s team making the NCAA Tournament and missing out on it could be whether it consistently has to score close to 10 runs every Saturday in order to win or not. 
Stillman has a direct correlation to that. 
Can he grow up quickly? Can he make the rest of his outings look more like his showing against Texas than his disaster of a start at Texas A&M? Can he build up for longer outings down the stretch? 
Stillman answering any of those questions favorably isn’t a given at this stage, but Vanderbilt has already exhausted its other options that could fill his role. It’s also got some optimism that he’ll be one of a number of young pitchers that figures it out down the stretch. 
“I just think Nadeau and Stillman are going to get better. If we have enough time during the course of the year, I think those guys are going to get a whole lot better,” Corbin said. “We’re using two guys we didn’t even forecast using at the beginning of the year. So, they’re getting better in motion. It just takes time. And their ramp up is against really good hitting teams.”
Stillman has been thrown to the wolves after missing significant time in the offseason and a number of potential early-season outings, but he was welcomed to the SEC with a start against Texas A&M in College Station. 
Corbin and company weren’t quite sure if they’d get Stillman through the MLB Draft and identified early that he could give it something if he did. Saturday was perhaps the first time in which Stillman lived up to his recruiting profile. 
How’d he do it? By giving himself some margin for error by landing his breaking pitches more consistently than he had previously. Stillman’s fastball is a plus pitch, but his inability to land his other pitches in the zone has hurt him at times. He knows it. 
“It’s different than high school ball,” Stillman said. “People can hit heaters now, so getting that, so they just have something to think about and then executing it when I need to is important.”
Stillman will have to demonstrate that he can do that with some level of consistency, but he’s  finally provided some proof of concept that he’s able to do so. Perhaps that’s why it appears as if this could be the time in which he finds a consistent role within Vanderbilt’s weekend rotation. 
If he can, this Vanderbilt team is significantly more dangerous down the stretch of the regular season, in Hoover and if it reaches the NCAA Tournament. There appears to be some optimism within Vanderbilt’s program that Stillman’s emergence could be the case.
“He’s pretty true to the core of who he is and what he needs to work on. He communicates with Brown well when it comes to adjustments,” Corbin said. “And I just feel like he’s going to be a future starter inside this program.”
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Joey Dwyer is the lead writer on Vanderbilt Commodores On SI. He found his first love in college sports at nearby Lipscomb University and decided to make a career of telling its best stories. He got his start doing a Notre Dame basketball podcast from his basement as a 14-year-old during COVID and has since aimed to make that 14-year-old proud. Dwyer has covered Vanderbilt sports for three years and previously worked for 247 Sports and Rivals. He contributes to Seth Davis' Hoops HQ, Basket Under Review and Mainstreet Nashville.
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