Miller Green Changes Dynamic For Vanderbilt Baseball After Conquering Stage Fright on Monday Night – Sports Illustrated

NASHVILLE—The sun was setting and Miller Green was tasked with taking a step of faith onto the stage and into the center of it. Green was about to grab the mic at Vanderbilt’s spring Come As You Are event to share a message in regard to his faith. 
Green isn’t shy about sharing his faith, but he says he had stage fright as all eyes turned to him. The Vanderbilt reliever is used to crowds, but this was out of his element–so much so that he was doing the box breathing techniques that Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin taught him and his teammates. 
The fit with Green being a speaker–alongside Vanderbilt first baseman Max Jensen–was natural, though. The Vanderbilt reliever has been among the most vocal Christians on Corbin’s roster and watched as his girlfriend–Vanderbilt soccer player Hannah McLaughlin–spoke at the fall rendition of the event. 
When he was done, Green’s nerves had dissipated and he was convinced he’d made the right decision by sharing his faith to the group of Vanderbilt students that had gathered. 
“That was awesome,” Green said. “That was a lot of fun. That was a blessing, me speaking there. 
Me and [Jensen], we spoke in that, and that was awesome. A lot of people were there and it was just cool to see the Lord work over there.”
Green succeeded by walking outside of his comfort zone on Monday night, but on Tuesday he was back in it–finally. Green was on the mound at Hawkins Field for the first time this season. That setting was also one in which Green made an impact. 
The Vanderbilt reliever hadn’t pitched yet in 2026 as a result of an undisclosed injury, but he made his return to the mound in Vanderbilt’s midweek win over Eastern Kentucky. While he did it, Green lended credence to the idea that his return is significant for this Vanderbilt team. The Vanderbilt reliever put Eastern Kentucky down in order in his lone inning and was a piece of a combined shutout. 
“That was great to see him in there tonight and throwing strikes,” Corbin said. “It didn't look like he really skipped a beat in terms of the command with the breaking ball and the fastball. I thought it was pretty good, especially for the first time out there.”
Corbin said in a preseason release that Green has become one of the most reliable relievers within Vanderbilt’s program, but he missed the left hander often prior to Vanderbilt’s Tuesday win. Corbin says Green embraced a team role and a leadership role while he was out while being as positive as he possibly could have, but Green couldn’t travel. He couldn’t change the outcome of games, either. 
The Vanderbilt junior clearly wasn’t conforming to that reality. He says the process wasn’t grueling for him, but that he hadn’t been through an injury of that magnitude in a number of years. Now he’s back, though, and doesn’t have to have his season defined by it anymore. 
Corbin says Green took an "aggressive" approach to returning, and Vanderbilt needed him to. Green admits that Vanderbilt has a shortage of left-handed arms in its bullpen. It’s not as if Vanderbilt rushed Green back, but he hadn’t undergone much of a ramp-up process before taking the mound on Tuesday night. He wasn’t throwing to hitters until Tuesday night, but he was thrown to the fire. 
Corbin can’t afford to be all that picky with Green’s usage, though. He’s going to need the look that the left hander gives him. Now that he has that look in his bullpen again, it’s like a weight has been lifted off of his shoulders. 
“Oh, good God, holy cow, thank you. I think someone had a voodoo doll at the beginning of the year and was just sticking pins in every single piece of it,” Corbin said in regard to Green’s return and the state of his bullpen before Tuesday night. “I hope we [got rid of the voodoo doll]. I don’t know who’s got it, maybe my wife does, I don’t know. No, she wouldn’t do that. It’s a bad joke.” 
The joke that was played on Corbin early in the season could be described more adequately as cruel than bad. Corbin admitted on Tuesday that the left-handed portion of Vanderbilt’s bullpen was “vacant” until Green and freshman standout Aiden Stillman’s return to the mound on Tuesday. 
That’s no longer the case, though, and Corbin has a real reliable left-handed option again if Green’s Tuesday outing indicates anything. Vanderbilt’s veteran lefty is finally back, and everyone around Vanderbilt’s program is rejoicing. 
“It was good, it was really good,” Green said in regard to his return. “It felt good. It was fun. It was exciting, so I was just happy we got it out of here with the win.”
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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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