OU Quarterback, Cody Thomas, Expected To Make First Start For Baseball Team (UPDATED)
Posted on: March 19, 2014
Image via espn.com
As many of you know, Oklahoma’s Cody Thomas has been pulling double duty this spring. When he’s not battling it out on the football field for the backup quarterback job to Trevor Knight, he’s on the baseball diamond as a reserve outfielder.
Thus far his playing time for both respective squads has been pretty limited, but word started to leak out Wednesday afternoon that Thomas was expected to receive his first career start for OU Baseball. The Sooners are facing Arkansas Little Rock for a mid-week contest.
The OU Baseball Twitter account typically posts the starting lineup prior to first pitch, but at the time of this post that had yet to occur. However, when they do you can expect Thomas to be included. We don’t know yet whether or not that will be as an outfielder or possibly at the designated hitter spot, but OU fans can look forward to seeing their first real extensive action of the dual-sport athlete.
The game will be broadcast on Fox Sports Oklahoma with first pitch scheduled for shortly after 6:00 p.m. (CST).
– UPDATE: Thomas went 1-for-3 in the game, recording his first career hit as a Sooner (a single to right field). He also walked once and scored a run.
27 Comments
Hope to God he doesn’t tweak something on the field. All for the kid but we need him to excel in football.
He really is the only option as a back up. I know we’ve got Hansen but he’s so young.
IMO, this makes the Baker Mayfield story even more intriguing. He legitimately could have seen the field this year…wow, how things change.
Yeah, Hansen will probably need a year or two IMO. I think Thomas will be okay but still makes you nervous. Mayfield being eligible would be a great luxury…Thanks TTU
Mayfield won’t be eligible this year, will he? Reports I’ve heard suggest Mayfield throws very well on the run and has a much stronger arm than previously thought.
The good news is that it’s much harder to be seriously injured in baseball than it is in football. It can happen, but it’s not nearly as frequent.
I don’t think he would have come to OU if he hadn’t been allowed to play baseball, so it’s the price the coaches paid. I’m happy for the kid (and I”m sure you are too).
I’m very happy for Cody and I hope he contributes in both sports, I just have flashbacks to my day when the baseball coach wanted me to pinch run and the track coach told him I was going to turn an ankle on a base. Wish now I had stood up to the track coach….LOL. Can’t help but be concerned because it is very likely we will need Cody this season at some point.
I knew you were happy for him too, and I didn’t mean for my comment to suggest otherwise.
You’re right, we will need him at some point this season, and there is always a possibility of an injury. While I know Stoops is “okay” with him playing baseball, you can tell (when he’s asked about it) that he’s also in communication with Coach Hughes about the importance of Thomas’ health.
When I was in high school, playing two sports was frowned upon (because of injury). Nowadays, it’s encouraged. Both of my boys have been encouraged (by their coaches) to play more than one sport. Different world.
It’s really tough because so many sports overlap. I had it easy because I went from football to weight lifting team to track. A lot of the football players played basketball so they always missed some time especially when playoffs were involved. And now days you throw in all the summer league and rec stuff and it’s almost non-stop. If your an athlete, you just got to suck it up and go.
My son plays three sports. It’s tough on him. His best sport is Football. As long as he wants to play three I encourage him. He’s like one of a handful of kids in three sports. Very demanding but he’s so busy that he cant get in trouble.
Encourage all you can Sonny. The only regrets I have are the things I didn’t do. Now days, sports are the best thing kids can do to keep them away from the worlds problems.
Amen brother. I’m a firm believer in playing multiple sports. Basketball didn’t hurt Steven Parker or Mead and Meier. Only a few get to play past HS. Might as well do all you can do while you have a chance. I don’t worry about the kids who specialize and are in off season all year. He will still be a good football player when Spring ball rolls around.
Got that right Sonny. Let the kids take on all they can handle and at the end of the day, if they had a good time and turn out to be good people, your job is done and you can be proud!
Absolutely!
In today’s world, I would much rather my kids be exhausted at the end of the day because they were working hard at practice, than to have them staring at a phone or TV and doing nothing.
At OU, my hubby tore his meniscus, his ankle tendon and had three shoulder surgeries. He now makes me doing the heavy lifting, and blames his “former life” for this.
Oh, I know first-hand that injuries occur in baseball (I like to think I had a promising career before my ACL was blown out). However, the frequency and severity of injuries in baseball are much fewer and less severe than the occurrences in football.
If I were a head coach, and landed a highly recruited baseball player, and he wanted to play football too, I’d have a big problem with it, not so much the other way around.
P.S. I can’t get away with using the “former life” excuse with my girlfriend, maybe I need tips from your husband. 🙂
If he does it’ll will be Smitty’s fault
HAHA, poor Smitty. We seem to blame him for every injury now days.:-)
Sounds like Brandon jones to me (man was he a stud receiver). Cody Thomas is likely just as athletic an outfielder one would think, maybe just not as fast.
Very cool if it happens. I’ve followed the baseball team a little closer this year, and have seen that he’s had some playing time, so this would be a step up.
He hasn’t done so well at the plate, but his appearances have been pretty limited, so really nothing to read into at this point.
I know Trevor is our guy at quarterback, but what does Cody look like on the practice field when he is running the same plays as Trevor? I know he was a football recruit but if he is better at baseball then….either way Boomer Sooner!!!!
I don’t know that you could say which he’s better at right now. Based on what we’ve heard, I’d say he’s a better pure thrower than Knight but not quite on the same level as a runner (though far from a statue back there as well).
Since he’s here for both sports does his scholarship count as one for both baseball and football. Or does it just count against one of those?
It counts against the football side.
Thanks
No problem.
Dang … how lucky it is to be blessed with all that talent.