Cody Thomas already has a reputation at Oklahoma as a backup quarterback. This weekend though, he started carving out his Sooner legacy as a baseball player.
Thomas entered as a two sport athlete, getting 12 at bats his freshman year while splitting his time between coach Pete Hughes’ squad and spring football. A year later he made the decision to leave the baseball program and dedicate himself fully to the looming quarterback derby.
He finished 2015 firmly entrenched as the backup to Heisman Trophy hopeful Baker Mayfield, but decided to go the opposite direction after football season.
This year it’s baseball that gets all of Thomas’ focus.
When he returned from winter break and started working out with the team he joined a group in the outfield that was fighting for playing time.
“We have nine outfielders,” Hughes said at baseball’s media day earlier this month. “I don’t know what our starting outfield’s gonna be.”
Thomas cleared up some of that confusion quickly - and powerfully.
“He hit five home runs in two and a half weeks,” Hughes said when asked what Thomas did to separate himself. “That’s it. Our next guy had three, our next guy had one, but he just showed up and balls were going over the hill over there. It was really impressive.”
That practice production didn’t translate immediately. On opening night Hughes tabbed the Colleyville, Texas native to bat behind shortstop Sheldon Neuse, the team’s most capable hitter. Neuse got on base four times and drove in the season’s first run. Thomas struck out three times.
But Thomas steadily improved. On Saturday, he picked up two more strikeouts, but he also added two hits, two RBIs and a pair of fly ball outs that landed just a few feet short of the outfield fence. The consensus in the dugout was that he must have been trying just a bit too hard after his blistering intrasquad performances.
“I think this first weekend I was maybe a little antsy,” Thomas said, “trying to do a little too much because I had done some things in intrasquad.”
In Wednesday’s win over Abilene Christian the right fielder took another step forward. Despite falling into an 0-2 count in each at bat, Thomas managed to draw three walks and go 1-for-2. And the one hit was an absolute rocket that cleared the right field fence for his first career home run.
The breakthrough performance reflects the progress the team made as a whole throughout the homestand, looking progressively more relaxed and watching it translate into crooked numbers on the scoreboard. In Thomas’ opinion, the growing confidence - at least his own - is at least partially thanks to a growing number of at bats. Thomas already has 11 plate appearances - one shy of his career total before this season.
“I mean, practice is one thing, but getting in the game and doing it for real is a whole other deal,” Thomas said. “So I’ve gotten five games under my belt, I think now so I’m starting to feel a lot more comfortable. But it’s still a growing process for sure.”
As the dust settled from Oklahoma’s first homestand, Thomas emerged with a .308 batting average, four RBIs and a home run. And it looks like he’ll play a key role for the Sooners in 2016.
“He’s just a presence out there,” Hughes said. “Every time he swings it I think he’s going to hit it out.”
