Randy Smith: Brodie Johnston Thriving At Vandy

Unless Tennessee is playing baseball this time of year, I very seldom watch an entire college baseball game on television. However, on Saturday I watched Vanderbilt and Florida play as the Vandy Boys completed a three game sweep of the Gators. I watched every minute. Why? Because Brodie Johnston, the starting third baseman for the Commodores played at Boyd-Buchanan with my grandson Coleman last year.

There is no doubt that Brodie is one of the best position players I've ever seen. And believe me, I've seen a lot of them . He played shortstop for the Bucs and committed to Vandy during his sophomore season. I'm obviously not the only one who thinks Brodie is something special. He was voted as the Freshman of the Year in the pre-season All-SEC poll. In one game this spring, Brodie hit a pair of home runs and had seven rbi's in Vandy's win over Xavier and one of those home runs was a walk-off grand slam. He's currently batting .275 and leads the Commodores with six home runs so far. He's mired in a pretty big slump right now and he also leads his team in strikeouts with thirty, which is one reason why his batting average isn't any higher.

His coach, Tim Corbin hasn't lost faith in his freshman star. " It's education in motion," said Corbin. " When you put someone in the three hole in the SEC, they become a very notarized player. He's one of those they're paying attention to because of his bat."

There were a lot of people who thought Brodie would be drafted pretty high in the MLB Draft coming out of high school but he stuck with his commitment to Vandy. The Ooltewah resident played several sports at Boyd-Buchanan but gave up everything but baseball in his junior season. " We were able to see Brodie at our Winter Camp his sophomore year of high school. He has baseball maturity you don't see in many first year players, " according to Corbin.

Brodie has plenty of pop in his bat. In his last two years at Boyd-Buchanan, he hit 19 home runs which is very likely a school record. The 6'2" 200 pound Johnston comes from an athletic gene pool. His mother, Bridgette played softball at Chattanooga State, while his dad, Michael, played semi-pro football with the Chattanooga Steam and the Tennessee Pioneers. He's the typical five-star player. He can hit for average, hit with power, he has speed, he's a great fielder and has arm strength. He has a great future in baseball but his present isn't bad at all either.