Vanderbilt’s Holcomb, Fennell Earn All-SEC Honors Ahead of 2026 Season
Preseason SEC Business
The Southeastern Conference announced preseason All-SEC honors and predicted conference finishes today. The Vanderbilt Commodores had two players on the list in Braden Holcomb and Connor Fennell.
Braden Holcomb is coming off a sophomore year where he hit .275 with nine home runs, 34 RBIs, and 32 runs scored. In SEC play, Holcomb led the Commodores in home runs and slugging against SEC opponents and was second on the team in batting average and RBI.
Connor Fennell has received Preseason All-American honors from D1Baseball already this year and is returning off an efficient 2025 season where he struck out 84 batters to 11 walks. He also led the SEC in opponent batting average with .178.
Fennell finished last season with a 6-0 record with a 2.53 ERA in seven starts in 17 appearances. He also recorded two saves and earned Third Team All-America honors from the NCBWA and a Second Team All-Region nod from the ABCA last spring.
The Commodores were also picked to finish No. 8 in the SEC. Coming off a season that saw the Dores win the SEC Tournament Championship but lose in the Regional as an overall No. 1 seed, the Commodores look to have the opportunity to prove people wrong this season. The team has made it clear that last season has no bearing on this season, and it is a brand new year.
View on Threads
During a media call on Tuesday, Coach Corbin was asked if the team felt overlooked this preseason, especially after last season ended. He is not of that mindset.
“No, I mean, that really never crosses my mind. I don’t look at it that way. I think, you know, the national media is for the fans, and it’s for outside people that follow college baseball, and it’s important to have that. But, um, you know, what’s out there in terms of the media and how people feel about certain teams,” Corbin said.
He went on to explain how it has no bearing on what the team does on a daily basis, and it’s all on him and the coaches to help them understand what is important.
“I mean, that’s not relative to anything that you do on a day to day basis. And I, you know, I know kids look at a lot of things, and they probably scroll a lot and see a lot of different things, but I think the job of all of us as teachers and coaches is just get them together and understand really what’s important, and what’s important is growing the team and just getting better at what you do and move from there. But that’s really all I think about.”
The Commodores will get ramped up in Arlington, Texas, on February 13 against the TCU Horned Frogs at 3:00 PM CT. The Shriners Children’s College Showdown can be seen on FloSports.
