Everybody is talking about pitching. Kumar Rocker, Jack Leiter, Will Bednar, Luke Murphy, Landon Sims. There are plenty of outstanding hurlers worth the attention. But here’s the thing: All are tired, and none will pitch the majority of the innings going forward when Vanderbilt and Mississippi State open their best-of-3 College World Series finals Monday night.

Think about the hitters. And here’s one guy who could spell boom or bust for the CWS title chances of both the Commodores and the Bulldogs.

Vanderbilt — Enrique Bradfield, Jr.

Bradfield is a throwback to the ballplayers of another era. He gets on base — his .462 on-base percentage leads Vandy’s regulars, and his 44 walks to 39 strikeout ratio demonstrates his ability to work pitchers. And once he does, he turns singles into doubles, gappers into runs, and catchers into freaked-out overthinkers.

Bradfield is 46-for-52 on the season in stolen base attempts. How incredible is that? Well, Bradfield stole more bases than 7 other SEC teams. The second-leading base stealer in the SEC had just 22 steals.

In pressure situations, teams can’t sit back and wait for 3-run homers. Late-season baseball becomes small ball, and harkens back to guys like Lou Brock, Rickey Henderson and, well, Enrique Bradfield, Jr.

Consider how both teams got here. In the 9th inning of their semifinal clincher, MSU watched Texas get a runner to first base but fail to bring him around. State then turned a hit by pitch, a stolen base and a single into a walk-off winner. Meanwhile, there was Vandy, pulling out a 3-1 win over an NC State team that previously beat them 1-0.

The CWS finals won’t be about gappers and long balls. It’ll be about working walks, stealing bases, hitting and running, doing anything possible to get a lead turned over to the bullpen. That’s Bradfield’s game. Of Vandy’s 9 NCAA Tournament games, in the 5 games where Vandy was held to 4 or fewer runs, Bradfield went 2-for-19. In the other 4 games, Bradfield went 7-for-18. He’s the guy who makes the ‘Dores go.

Oh, and he’s pretty good in a back-to-the-wall situation …

Mississippi State — Logan Tanner

Conversely, MSU is a good but not great base stealing team. MSU manufactures runs by stringing together a couple of hits. But one guy who tends to be in the middle of their biggest innings is Logan Tanner. Tanner is MSU’s top home run threat (14), but the Bulldogs weren’t one of the SEC’s biggest home run clubs. Tanner is 4th on the team in RBIs and his .279 batting average is good, but not great.

But whenever MSU roars to life and etches a memorable inning, Tanner tends to be involved somewhere. Take Saturday’s win over Texas: Tanner’s 6th-inning double finally pulled the Bulldogs into a tie. They never trailed again.

https://twitter.com/HailStateBB/status/1408951290101735427

When State had to beat Notre Dame to win the Super Regional, Tanner had a pair of hits, including the crucial 3-run homer that broke the game open.

Finally, it’s not a hitting impact, but Tanner will also have a massive impact on the game defensively, as he’s MSU’s regular catcher and will be tasked with keeping and eye on Bradfield and the other VU runners. Opposing base stealers are 29-for-40 on the season against Tanner. He’ll need to have a good series at the plate and behind it to keep MSU primed for another late-inning rally.