VA/DC Scout Blog

Vandenburg has an athletic frame that has present strength but still room to project more strength onto it in the future. He is a catcher by trade but is speedy and athletic enough that he often times won't catch. At Patriot, he plays right field where he has the speed and a good arm for the position. He is athletic enough that its hard not to imagine him being able to play third base as well if needed. Offensively, hits from the right side from a relaxed athletic stance, strides on line, short smooth load back. Very short and quick to contact, a ton of strength at that contact point, driving up through the ball with some natural loft. Fast bat, uses all fields, gap to gap hitter with power present. Has shown in the past he can turn on the ball. The swing in the video is off of Walsh, he stayed on a ball and drove it up the right-center alley, legging out a triple pretty easily. He has a knack for the barrel and has been successful against high level pitching, easily one of the top uncommitted bats in the 2022 class.

VA/DC Scout Blog

Vandenburg is 5-10 with a strong athletic frame, he still has projection and room to fill out his frame, but unlike most freshman, he has definitely been in a weight room and has some physical maturity already. Nominally a catcher, he played rightfield in this game where he is fine, has some arm strength and is athletic enough to run balls down out there. Clearly can move around to other positions as needed to get his bat in the lineup. At the plate, hits from the right side from a balanced athletic stance. Strides on line, short smooth load back, hips are explosive and he has good balance during his swing. Very short to ball and keeps hands inside, fast bat with a lot of strength at contact. Very barrel-aware, hit ball hard in all three at-bats against Agnos. First swing in the video is a moonshot home run that he hit to left, ball went at least 340 feet, very simple swing, just gets hands inside and lets his lower half and barrel work. Second swing in the video is a hit-and-run where he got his hands on top of a high pitch and lined a base hit up the middle. Very advanced bat already. Maturity and a relaxed quiet confidence were evident at the plate, this was a big rivalry game against a top arm on the road and he seemed at ease in the moment hitting in the middle of the lineup.