Why Tim Corbin Gets Emotional At The Potential Of Chris Maldonado Nearing The End Of His Vanderbilt Baseball Career – Sports Illustrated

NASHVILLE—-Chris Maldonado took the final walk slowly as he laid his green Vanderbilt cap back onto the top of his head and worked his way towards the dugout. It was Maldonado’s moment, a moment he’ll never forget and one that he was intentional about soaking in.
In a place that had so often spotlighted others while Maldonado had stood on the dugout railing cheering, he was the one in the limelight. Finally, Maldonado was getting his flowers for all that he’s given to this place over the past four years.
Maldonado’s senior weekend festivities included a video that played of him on the board at Hawkins Field, but more notably this moment outside the dugout. Maldonado stood out there between innings and waved his hat at just about every section of Hawkins Field while Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin watched from the inside corner.
It takes a lot to get Corbin choked up in the moments following games, but seeing Maldonado soak in his final moments as a player at Hawkins Field was enough to do it.
“That’s very emotional, I love that kid,” Corbin said. “He's a good, steady kid. I say this and I don't say this emotionally, but if any of us had a daughter and your daughter was going to pick out someone that you'd say, this might be the most steady steadiest male you've been around. He's what coaching is all about.”
Maldonado’s Vanderbilt journey has taken him from stardom as a freshman, to a prolonged absence due to injury as a sophomore, to an adverse junior season in which he was in and out of the lineup to a senior season in which he’s worked to find his way back.
Vanderbilt’s every day third baseman is Brodie Johnston. There’s 10 players on Vanderbilt’s roster who have taken over 100 at-bats on the season, there are nine who have played in over 40 games. None of them are Maldonado. He knows that he’s getting closer to the place he used to be, the place he wants to be again. 
Maldonado isn’t quite there, but Saturday provided him with a moment that allowed him to think through all that has amounted as a result of his Vanderbilt career. 
“It was definitely a cool experience to be here for four years and to be able to get to this point where I'm recognized as a senior means a lot to me,” Maldonado said. “I know my whole entire family's here, so it means a lot to them, and it means a lot to me that they came and supported me for this moment in my life, and it's really special for me.”
The rationale that Maldonado can draw from his life’s circumstances is that he’s developed significantly in his identity outside of baseball. Without that realization, Maldonado may not have soaked Saturday in like he did as a result of his chase for numbers.
Maldonado was fully present, though, and wasn’t going to do himself a disservice by letting his moment pass him by. Perhaps his senior season hasn’t unfolded exactly like he wanted it to, but that hasn’t changed Corbin’s perception of him.
“You want to stay in the game because of guys like him,” Corbin said. “There's no drama.He gets it if he's not playing. He almost feels your pain because you know you're feeling his, and he says, ‘I got this, I got this. Don't worry about me. 
I'm fine.’ He's just such an old soul, and it might be because he's the fourth child in a family where he was very observant of the kids in front of him. They all played sports in that family, but he's an unbelievable kid.”
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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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