Vanderbilt baseball: Michael Doolin out for season again, Tim Corbin on contract extension

Aria Gerson
Nashville Tennessean

In a blow to the Vanderbilt baseball pitching depth, coach Tim Corbin announced on Wednesday that right-hander Michael Doolin will miss the 2022 season after undergoing a second elbow surgery. Doolin had Tommy John surgery prior to the 2021 season.

Academically, Doolin is a junior but he has made just five appearances since enrolling in the fall of 2019. All of those came out of the bullpen in the COVID-shortened 2020 season.

Sam Hliboki, who had Tommy John surgery in May, might return this season, Corbin said. But the timeline complicates things. That surgery typically has a recovery time of at least one year. Hliboki has begun throwing but according to Corbin, he will not be ready to pitch until May or June. Attempting to return that late in the season may not be worth it for Hliboki, who is draft-eligible this year.

Vanderbilt has plenty of pitching depth still. Corbin hasn't established roles for his pitchers yet but named seven who have been stretching out as starters: Patrick Reilly, Christian Little, Thomas Schultz, Nick Maldonado, Chris McElvain, Carter Holton and Hunter Owen.

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Reilly, Little and Schultz all gained starting experience in 2021, with Reilly and Little  expected to be weekend starters. McElvain pitched mostly out of the bullpen last season but gained starting experience in the Cape Cod League. Maldonado and Owen were relievers last year who could move into the rotation. Maldonado, who was a preseason All-American as a closer, can go multiple innings and has a strike-throwing ability that would nicely complement Reilly and Little. Holton, a freshman, looked good in his fall outings.

Any of those players could also spend time in the bullpen in addition to returning relievers Miles Garrett, Donye Evans and Nelson Berkwich and another top-rated freshman pitching class.

Shortstop Carter Young, who was limited in the fall after undergoing offseason shoulder surgery, is back to full participation, Corbin said.

Corbin on contract extension

A new extension for Corbin was announced in December. The 60-year-old Corbin confirmed that he still plans to continue coaching into the near future and said that if he were to ever lose passion for the job, he would retire.

"(The extension is) certainly a compliment from Vanderbilt to us and it creates consistency within the program which I like for the kids. ... We're just very lucky and thankful that Vanderbilt, I feel very young but I know what my numbers say on my birth certificate and I think for Vanderbilt to look at that and say, 'This guy still has the energy and the wherewithal to be around for a while is certainly a compliment.'

"I think the thing that I would always do is I will always know that time, I will, I have pretty good awareness about myself, if I ever felt like I couldn't satisfy the needs of the program and the university I would step away but I feel like I'm one of those guys that I feel like I'm just beginning, I love what I'm doing and I feel like I've reinvented myself at different points but my energy levels have always remained the same."

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