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Last Updated: August 3, 2010
For half a decade, former New Jersey City University baseball standout Jonathan Thomas, `04 continued his baseball career on the professional ranks. Now, he turns his attention to building a winner at his alma mater as the 10th head baseball coach in the 64-year history of the program. Thomas, one of the greats in Gothic Knight history, begins his second season as NJCU skipper in 2011, after originally being appointed head coach on May 6, 2009.
Thomas originally served as NJCU’s assistant coach and hitting instructor in 2008, while also contributing to the program as its first base coach and working with the outfielders.
A five-year professional player from 2004-09, Thomas is former member of the Kansas City Royals organization and veteran of the independent leagues.
During his tenure, one (1) player has been named to the All-NJAC squad and two (2) have earned Academic All-NJAC honors. Meanwhile, NJCU has had three (3) players selected to the New Jersey Collegiate Baseball Association (NJCBA) All-State team and two (2) to the NJCBA All-Rookie Team. Additionally, NJCU has received one (1) NJAC Player of the Week, one (1) NJAC Pitcher of the Week and one (1) NJAC Rookie Pitcher of the Week accolades. In his first season at the helm of the Gothic Knights, he led NJCU to a 13-24 mark in perhaps the most difficult Division III baseball conference in the nation.
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CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:
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- Head Coach, New Jersey City University, 2010-present
- Assistant Coach/Hitting Instructor, New Jersey City University, 2008
- Played five seasons on the professional ranks from 2004-09
- Signed a professional free agent minor league baseball contract with the Kansas City Royals in 2004; was at the time the first NJCU player to sign a deal with a major league club since 1984
- Played two seasons with the Newark Bears of the Atlantic League from 2005-06
- Played two season in The Frontier League with the Traverse City Beach Bums and Chillicothe Paints from 2007-08
- Played one season (2009) with the Yuma Scorpions of the Arizona Winter League
- A former walk-on turned standout who starred for four-years at NJCU as a catcher, designated hitter and left fielder from 2001-04
- Two-time Second-Team All-New Jersey Athletic Conference (2002, 2004)
- Second-Team Division II/III New Jersey Collegiate Baseball Association All-State Team (2004)
- Selected the Division III National Hitter of the Week by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association in March 2004; the first NJCU player to ever be honored
- One-time NJAC Player of the Week
- Two-year team captain
- Graduated from NJCU ranking in the Top five in school history in four major categories. Still ranks fourth in school history in career batting average (.384) and runs (97) and sixth with 149 hits and a .463 on-base percentage
- Three-time, First-Team and Second-Team All-Prep selection at St. Benedict’s Prep High School
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Thomas began his professional career on June 24, 2004 when he signed a professional free agent minor league baseball contract with the Kansas City Royals, becoming at that time the first NJCU player to sign a deal with a major league baseball club since Matt Baker was drafted by the Texas Rangers in 1984.
That summer, he saw action with the Arizona Royals-1 club in the 8-team 
Arizona Rookie League. Despite hitting over .300 in spring training in 2005, he was released by the organization, before signing with the Newark Bears of the independent Atlantic League on September 22, 2005. In his two games with the Bears late that season, Thomas batted .571 (4-7) with three RBIs, two steals, one run, and owned a .667 on-base percentage and .571 slugging rate.Thomas played parts of the 2005 and 2006 seasons with the Bears.
In 2007, he played in The Frontier League of Independent Professional Baseball. After originally signing a contract in mid-May 2007 with the Traverse City Beach Bums (Traverse City, MI) and batting .279 in 35 games, he was traded on June 30 to the Chillicothe Paints (Chillicothe, OH).
In 93 games, primarily as a left-handed designated hitter between the two clubs, he batted a combined .265 (83-313) with 54 runs, 43 RBIs, 15 doubles, three triples and four homeruns, while walking 54 times. Thomas had a .386 on-base percentage and .371 slugging rate, and stole 19 times in 25 chances. Overall, he led the club in walks, and ranked second in steals, fifth in RBIs and runs, sixth in hits and eighth in homeruns. He had the fifth highest batting average on the team.
Thomas played the 2008 season with Chillicothe, before concluding his professional career with the Yuma Scorpions of the Arizona Winter League in March 2009.
Thomas, a May 2005 graduate of the University with a bachelor of arts in English, was a four-year standout as a catcher, designated hitter, and left fielder,
Thomas, a two-year team co-captain who began his career at NJCU as a walk-on in 2000, was named Second-Team All-New Jersey Athletic Conference in 2004 for the second time in his career, after also earning All-NJAC Second-Team accolades in 2002 as a sophomore. He was also named to the 2004 Division II/III Second-Team All-State team by the New Jersey Collegiate Baseball Association.
Thomas finished his career as one of the top all-around offensive players in school history. Hard work, goal-setting, and dedication reaped its rewards, because Thomas left NJCU ranking in the Top five in school history in four major categories, among the Top 10 in 10 areas, and on the Top 20 charts in 14 statistical fields. He finished his career batting .384 (149-for-388) with 97 runs, 61 RBIs, 24 doubles, seven triples, two homeruns, 47 walks, and 43 steals in 48 attempts (.896 success rate).
His lifetime .384 batting average is currently fourth in school history. He ranks fourth in school history in runs, missing by just three of becoming the third player at NJCU to score 100 runs and register 100 hits. His 149 hits are sixth in school history. He has a lifetime on-base percentage of .463, which also is sixth in the more than 60-year history of the NJCU program.
In March 2004, Thomas was named the Division III National Hitter of the Week by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, the first time an NJCU player had ever been honored. He was also the NJAC Player of the Week.
His memorable week set the tone for a tremendous senior campaign, in which he batted .442 with 57 hits in 129 at-bats, and swiped 24 bases in 26 attempts (.923). He also scored 37 runs, and notched six doubles, two triples, 22 walks and 19 RBIs. His final on-base percentage was .532. He finished the year ranked 22nd in the nation in batting average, and 19th in stolen bases.
Considering the school record for batting in a season is .511, his .442 clip was the third highest single-season average in school history, while his 24 steals tied him for fifth in one year at NJCU. He was also an assistant in the NJCU Office of Sports Information during the 2003-04 campaign.
A June 1999 graduate of St Benedict’s Prep School in Newark, he played four years of varsity baseball for Coach Tony Frey, a former scout for the Royals. Thomas was a three-time, First-Team and Second-Team All-Prep selection while playing for the Gray Bees.
A Newark, NJ native, the 29-year-old Thomas is often known by the nickname ‘J.T.’. The son of Corliss and Calvin Thomas, he currently resides in Bayonne, NJ.
