Noticed on ESPN...

[vufan1]

... that Kyle Peterson thinks VU's pitching staff is no better than 6th best in the SEC AND that VU's lineup is no better than 6th best in the SEC (didn't make his top 5 for either). I think that should be up in the VandyBoys locker room for a little motivation.

[commadore]

I saw that the other day and figured this joker must be a total boob-headed idiot. If you have seen any of our games so far, I be hard pressed to find 2 better teams, let alone 5.

[geeznotagain]

I believe it was Florida, Arkansas, UK, A&M, and Ole Miss (not necessarily in that order) that he ranked ahead of Vandy.

[BWestbrook]

We shall see but I doubt he would bet on it

[Levon]

I know a lot of people on this board likely disagree, but I think Peterson is a pretty fair analyst, and in February his rankings make a lot of sense. VU's pitching & offense is depending on a lot of freshmen and you never know in the pre- or early season how that will turn out. Only four returning regulars from last year, Infante was the only one to put up big numbers and we still don't know who the best catcher is going to be (replacing basically a 4-year starter). The pitching last year wasn't great and the best (Wright) is gone. Raby is gonna be tough, but from Day, Fellows, King & Gillis you just don't really know what to expect this season. Like it or not, those other 5 teams probably do project better than Vanderbilt at this time of the season. Should it still be locker room material? I would hope so.

[memphisVUalum]

I logged in here after watching someone nicknamed “KP” (must be the same guy) give his top 5 SEC offensive lineups on SEC Network just now. His top 5 offensive lineup picks:
1. Arkansas
2. Kentucky
3. Texas A&M
4. LSU
5. Florida

I heard nothing about where Vanderbilt stacks up and I only turned it on in time for the best offensive lineup, not pitching. It’s possible he doesn’t rate VU even as high as 6th. But as Auburn has shown in basketball, analyst opinions mean little. The scoreboard is what matters. I wish we could have swept Duke, as an indicator of how elite our team is. Florida and those other teams often sweep teams like that early but we also sometimes start with a much harder game than they do.

[Commodoredave]

I know a lot of people on this board likely disagree, but I think Peterson is a pretty fair analyst, and in February his rankings make a lot of sense. VU's pitching & offense is depending on a lot of freshmen and you never know in the pre- or early season how that will turn out. Only four returning regulars from last year, Infante was the only one to put up big numbers and we still don't know who the best catcher is going to be (replacing basically a 4-year starter). The pitching last year wasn't great and the best (Wright) is gone. Raby is gonna be tough, but from Day, Fellows, King & Gillis you just don't really know what to expect this season. Like it or not, those other 5 teams probably do project better than Vanderbilt at this time of the season. Should it still be locker room material? I would hope so.

Exactly. Before you tell me we are in the top 5, I would need to analyze the ones he says are there. Clearly, Florida is loaded, but I don't know a whole lot about the others.
Objectively, a case could be made that he is right. As you say, we have to rely so much on freshmen to crack either top 5, and despite a great start, there is much left to prove. We lost two great pieces in the lineup with Toffey and Kendall. Demarco is off to a great start, and Gonzales is a big prospect, but you can't project them at that level, yet. Delay was an underrated player as well.
Pitching wise, we lose the #5 overall pick. The bullpen was not good last year, so again, we have to get major contributions from those who aren't proven.

[Good2BGold]

I know a lot of people on this board likely disagree, but I think Peterson is a pretty fair analyst, and in February his rankings make a lot of sense. VU's pitching & offense is depending on a lot of freshmen and you never know in the pre- or early season how that will turn out. Only four returning regulars from last year, Infante was the only one to put up big numbers and we still don't know who the best catcher is going to be (replacing basically a 4-year starter). The pitching last year wasn't great and the best (Wright) is gone. Raby is gonna be tough, but from Day, Fellows, King & Gillis you just don't really know what to expect this season. Like it or not, those other 5 teams probably do project better than Vanderbilt at this time of the season. Should it still be locker room material? I would hope so.

I agree Kyle Peterson is a fair analyst, and in the past, he has seemed to have even been a little biased in our favor. He's a Stanford man and probably feels some affinity for VU as a school excelling on the diamond while maintaining high academic standards. I didn't seen the piece the OP referenced, but I'm guessing Peterson put us sixth based on how much uncertainty we had going into the season. Raby is our only proven, SEC-caliber starter. Everyone else is a question mark. So far, so good, but we've yet to face the kind of competition we'll see once the conference schedule begins.

[geeznotagain]

I know a lot of people on this board likely disagree, but I think Peterson is a pretty fair analyst, and in February his rankings make a lot of sense. VU's pitching & offense is depending on a lot of freshmen and you never know in the pre- or early season how that will turn out. Only four returning regulars from last year, Infante was the only one to put up big numbers and we still don't know who the best catcher is going to be (replacing basically a 4-year starter). The pitching last year wasn't great and the best (Wright) is gone. Raby is gonna be tough, but from Day, Fellows, King & Gillis you just don't really know what to expect this season. Like it or not, those other 5 teams probably do project better than Vanderbilt at this time of the season. Should it still be locker room material? I would hope so.

I agree Kyle Peterson is a fair analyst, and in the past, he has seemed to have even been a little biased in our favor. He's a Stanford man and probably feels some affinity for VU as a school excelling on the diamond while maintaining high academic standards. I didn't seen the piece the OP referenced, but I'm guessing Peterson put us sixth based on how much uncertainty we had going into the season. Raby is our only proven, SEC-caliber starter. Everyone else is a question mark. So far, so good, but we've yet to face the kind of competition we'll see once the conference schedule begins.

I don't think we know that we are as high as 6th; all we know is that we're not in the top 5. The piece I saw (and I didn't watch it in its entirety) identified the "best" 5. I didn't catch any of his piece on the top 5 offense or top 5 pitching/defense

[vufan1]

I know it's early and somewhat depends on the competition faced so far, but looking at SEC stats through Sat's games...

VU is 3rd in batting avg (0.346)
VU is 3rd in ERA (1.57)
VU is 1st in Fielding (0.992)

other notable stats...
VU is 5th in slugging (0.529)
VU is 2nd in on base percentage (0.457)
VU is 1st in runs scored (74)
VU is 2nd in hits (89)
VU is 1st in stolen bases (18). Next highest has 10. That is 18 SB on only 19 attempts.
VU is 1st in double plays turned (10).

Martin and Demarco are both top 5 in batting avg. Paul leads the SEC in RBI. Kaiser is 2nd in runs scored. Jones is 1st in stolen bases.

[charlestonalum]

early stats but encouraging - frosh are playing like veterans so far, and if this continues we will be a top 6 SEC program. I think fall ball obviously seasoned our freshman players - that and the talent and coaching explain a lot.

[Doresince89]

I don't take anything from preseason/early rankings. They look at last year's numbers and apply them now. I have not looked at the other teams' schedules but I doubt they have all played a top 25 team so far. All the stats are from games against teams that are used to learn about your players (cupcakes). I will say if we continue to play this well, the SEC will be a monster if we are the 6th best team

[AuricGoldfinger]

One things for certain--we'll know a lot more after the next two weeks. The schedule takes a brutal turn for the difficult.

[vujoe]

I would rather be ranked late in the season versus pre season.