Jonathan Thomas, a four-year standout at
catcher, designated hitter, and left fielder for the New Jersey City
University baseball team, has signed a professional free agent minor
league baseball contract with the Kansas City Royals.
Thomas signed his free-agent deal on June 24 in Belmar, NJ, and
leaves on June 26 for Arizona, where he will play for the Arizona
Royals-1club in the eight-team Arizona Rookie League. The 56-game
regular season schedule runs from June 22 through August 30.
Thomas is 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. The last Gothic Knight to sign with any professional team was
Bill Bethea, who played for
the AA-Independent Ozark Mountain Ducks in 1999. Baker and Bethea
were both pitchers.
"It's the dream of a lifetime," Thomas said of his signing. "I'm
being paid to play a game I've played all my life and it's a dream
come true. I still feel like I'm dreaming."
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 NJCU history. He leaves 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 third 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 fifth in school history. He has a lifetime
on-base percentage of .463, which also is fifth in the 55-year
history of the NJCU program.
Among his other statistical accomplishments, he is eighth in stolen
bases (seventh in attempts), ninth in slugging (.497), 10th in
doubles, games played (113) and total bases (193), 12th in games
started (99), at-bats, 15th in RBIs, and tied for 16th in walks
(47).
The first week of his senior year may have been the best offensive
week of any player in school history, as he batted .739 (17-for-23)
with 12 runs, five extra base hits and six steals in seven games,
while walking seven times to record a colossal .800 on-base
percentage (24-30). Fittingly, he was named the Division III
National Hitter of the Week, the first time an NJCU player had ever
been accorded the honor. 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 ranking 22nd in the nation
in batting average, and 19th in stolen bases.
Considering the NJCU school record for batting in a season is .511,
his .442 clip was the second highest single-season average in school
history, while his 24 steals tied him for fifth in one year at NJCU.
On the single-season charts his on-base rate and hit totals rank
fifth and his runs are sixth. |
|