Vanderbilt reportedly swipes Guardians coach (and alum) for new role with program

In 2011, Jason Esposito put together an incredible season when he hit for a .355 average with six home runs and 55 RBI for a Vanderbilt team that made the College World Series for the first time in program history. 

14 years later, Esposito is reportedly headed back to his Collegiate roots — albeit at the expense of the Guardians. On Thursday, D1baseball’s Kendall Rogers reported that Esposito was leaving his role as the Guardians’ assistant hitting coach to become the hitting coach at Vanderbilt.

Vanderbilt reportedly swipes Guardians coach (and alum) for new role with program

After putting together that strong season at Vanderbilt, Esposito was drafted by the Orioles in the second round of the 2011 MLB Draft, and advanced to Double-A before retiring after the 2015 season. He joined the Guardians in 2018 and got his first break when he helped manage the team’s alternate site in 2020 before becoming the Columbus Clippers’ hitting coach at Triple-A in 2021 and ‘22. 

Esposito played for three years total at Vanderbilt under current coach Tim Corbin, and went form hitting .287 as a freshman in 2009 to having his breakout season in 2011.

He spent the 2023 and 2024 seasons as the Guardians’ run production coordinator before becoming the assistant hitting coach last November. 

He’ll now join a Vanderbilt program that's in flux. While the Commodores are one of the nation’s highest-regarded college baseball programs, they haven’t made it to a Super Regional since 2021. They’re coming off a season where they were the tournament’s No. 1 seed but were eliminated in the regional final via a loss to Wright State. 

Esposito will have his work cut out for him in Nashville, as the Commodores finished last year 12th in the SEC in home runs and second to last in batting average despite having a plethora of talent in Brodie Johnston, Braden Holcomb and Rustan Rigdo.

He’ll also be Vanderbilt’s third hitting coach in as many years. They had former MLBer Mike Baxter serve as the team’s hitting coach from 2018-2024 before he was fired after the 2024 season and replaced with Jayson King. King only lasted one season on the roster before leaving to pursue other opportunities. 

While Esposito wasn’t the Guardians’ hitting coach, he worked directly under hitting coach Grant Fink this year and served as the run prevention coordinator for Fink and previous hitting coach Chris Valika. 

While the Guardians offense has been middle of the pack over the past three seasons, they’ve consistently been able to squeeze as much as they can out of the talent they’re given, and now Esposito will get a chance to work with a talented roster.