Tim Corbin adjusted Vanderbilt baseball recruiting after LSU's title. How that's gone as series begins

Tim Corbin thought a lot about LSU in the offseason.

The 2023 Tigers made waves by bringing in the No. 1 recruiting class and the No. 1 transfer class in the country. They paired eventual two-time SEC Player of the Year Dylan Crews, already on the team, with eventual Golden Spikes Award winner Paul Skenes and Freshman All-American Tommy White through the transfer portal. That collection of talent won LSU a national championship.

"The difference makers ... those guys show up on campus and when they show up on campus, there's a reason why their teams get to where they do," Corbin said before the season started. " ... Last year for LSU was Skenes and Crews."

Seeing the Tigers' 2023 run made Corbin renew his focus on recruiting by helping to facilitate a team-wide NIL deal and landing three top recruits in Ethan McElvain, Camden Kozeal and Braden Holcomb.

As the two prepare to meet for a series starting Thursday, LSU (20-10, 2-7 SEC) has failed to recapture the magic of a year ago, while Vanderbilt (23-6, 6-3) has had an up-and-down start. But how well has Corbin's plan worked? Here's how the two teams stack up in terms of talent:

Freshmen results are mixed for Vanderbilt, LSU

The Tigers landed top-five recruiting classes in three straight years, including the No. 1 ranked class in 2022.

Vanderbilt had recruiting classes ranked one spot ahead of the Tigers' in both 2020 and 2021, but its 2022 class was outside the top five by all major scouting services.

After Corbin put an emphasis on landing his top 2023 signees who had the opportunity to turn pro, the Commodores' class ranked above the Tigers' in two of the three major recruiting class rankings − Perfect Game, Baseball America and D1Baseball.

Both teams have turned to those recruiting classes right away. For Vanderbilt, that's mostly been on the pitching side. Four freshmen have combined for 60 innings, nearly one-quarter of the team's total. Kozeal has also started most games at DH, while three others have seen occasional starts.

Results for Vanderbilt's freshmen have been mixed. Kozeal has performed well, with a .317 batting average and eight extra-base hits. Miller Green (0.69 ERA), McElvain (3.32), Brennan Seiber (3.12) and Alex Kranzler (3.38) have all performed well out of the bullpen. But Braden Holcomb, Matt Ossenfort and Colin Barczi are a combined 4-for-33 with 17 strikeouts.

At LSU, freshmen have made more of an impact on the position-player side. Steven Milam, Jake Brown and Ashton Larson have all seen significant time, and the lowest batting average among that group is Brown at .297. But the three have combined for just nine extra-base hits and one home run in 188 plate appearances.

On the mound, LSU has gotten the biggest contribution from Kade Anderson, who has a 2.21 ERA as the primary midweek starter. Cam Johnson, the team's highest-rated recruit, has struggled to the tune of a 10.80 ERA.

Transfer portal additions for Vanderbilt, LSU baseball

LSU hit it big on two transfer pitchers, Luke Holman from Alabama and Gage Jump from UCLA, who have taken over the top two spots in its rotation. The Commodores opted against bringing in any starting pitchers from the transfer portal, instead relying on the development of their juniors. So far, that's worked out as Vanderbilt has seen strong production from Carter Holton (3.32 ERA) and Bryce Cunningham (2.87 ERA) atop the rotation.

Both teams brought in two position-player transfers. For LSU, those two were Mac Bingham from Arizona and Michael Braswell from South Carolina, both of whom have been everyday starters. Bingham is hitting .313 with 11 extra-base hits and Braswell is hitting .301 with eight extra-base hits.

Vanderbilt brought in Jayden Davis from Samford and Jacob Humphrey from UMass-Lowell. Davis has been the starting second baseman and his hitting .283 with nine extra-base hits. Humphrey has been one of the team's top bench players. He is hitting just .250 with four extra-base hits, but he is 10-for-10 on stolen bases and plays above-average defense at all three outfield positions.

Vanderbilt and LSU each hauled in two of the top relief pitchers on the transfer market. LSU got Justin Loer from Xavier and Kade Woods from Alabama, while Vanderbilt got Sawyer Hawks from Air Force and Levi Huesman from Coastal Carolina. Those additions have not gone according to plan, though.

Loer has a 5.02 ERA in 11 appearances. Woods has pitched only one inning all season. Huesman has pitched three times with a 5.40 ERA and Hawks had a 10.50 ERA in five appearances and is now out indefinitely with an injury.

LSU also brought in a junior college transfer, Fidel Ulloa, who has a 3.97 ERA in 10 appearances.

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MLB draft rankings for Vanderbilt, LSU

D1Baseball's top 100 college prospects list for the 2024 MLB Draft released Wednesday includes six players from Vanderbilt and five from LSU. Each team has one player in the top 20: Cunningham is at 16 and White at 18. The Tigers' next-highest rated player is Holman at 23 and Vanderbilt's next-highest is Holton at 44.

It was updated before the season began, but in D1Baseball's list of the top 100 college prospects for the 2025 MLB Draft, Vanderbilt only had one player listed (RJ Austin at 24) and LSU had two (Chase Shores at nine and Brady Neal at 77).

Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on Twitter @aria_gerson.