New Jersey City University Athletics

 

 

 

 

Former New Jersey City University baseball standout Jonathan Thomas, a former free agent member of the Kansas City Royals organization, and a current professional player in the independent leagues, has a new offseason job. The future NJCU Hall of Fame candidate has been named as an assistant coach and hitting instructor, joining the staff of first-year head coach Eric Alvarez.

Thomas, a May 2005 graduate of the University with a bachelor of arts in English, and  a former teammate with Alvarez on the Gothic Knights, where he was a four-year standout  as a catcher, designated hitter, and left fielder, will also serve as the team’s first base coach, while working with the outfielders.

When the collegiate baseball season ends he will continue with his professional baseball career, which will enter its fifth season in 2008.

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 batted .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 .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 picked off 19 steals 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.

After opening his career in the Kansas City Royals farm system in 2004, Thomas played parts of the 2005 and 2006 seasons with the Newark Bears of the independent Atlantic League.

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 limited action with the Arizona Royals-1 club in the 8-team Arizona Rookie League, collecting one professional hit in roughly a dozen at bats. After hitting over .300 in spring training in 2005, he was released by the organization, signing with the Newark Bears on September 22, 2005.

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 third 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 22^nd in the nation in batting average, and 19^th 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, now a scout for the Royals. Thomas was a three-time, First-Team and Second-Team All-Prep selection while playing for the Gray Bees.

Born October 23, 1981 in Newark, NJ, Jonathan Christopher Thomas is often known by the nickname ‘J.T.’. Thomas, the son of Corliss and Calvin Thomas, is single, and still resides in Newark.