Brad holds the AA Single-season scoreless innings streak.
6/2/2004 - BRAD THOMPSON: Making his mark
Former Spartan shining in minors
By TODD DEWEY
VIEW STAFF WRITER
Brad Thompson barely pitched during his days at Cimarron-Memorial High School, but he recently set, at the very least, the modern-day minor league baseball record for consecutive scoreless innings pitched.
Thompson, who pitches for the Tennessee Smokies of the Southern League, the AA affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, hurled 57 1/3 straight scoreless innings, dating back to August, before the streak came to an end recently in an 11-2 win over West Tennessee.
Thompson, a 16th-round draft pick of the Cardinals out of Dixie State College (Utah) in 2002, took a shutout into the sixth inning before finally surrendering a run on a double and a clean single.
Initially, it was believed Thompson set the all-time minor league record, as the National Association of Pro Baseball pegged the previous record at 56 innings by Irvin Wilhelm in 1907, but further research revealed Wilhelm's streak may have extended to 59 innings and beyond.
Orel Hershiser of the Los Angeles Dodgers set the Major League mark, with 59 straight scoreless innings in 1988.
"There was a bit of controversy, because minor league baseball had a hard time finding the records. They were digging up old articles from around 100 years ago, because there really isn't a minor league record book," said Tom Hart, a spokesman for the Smokies. "Obviously, it's a modern day record. No one has done what he's done for the past 50 years.
"Just the fact you have to go back almost a century to see what he's done speaks volumes about the season he's had."
Thompson, who pitched for Peoria in low A and Palm Beach in high A last season, as a reliever, was just happy to start the year in AA this season.
"I never expected to jump out to a start like this. It's pretty overwhelming," he said. "It's kind of amazing to sit back and think about how many opportunities people have to score. It's very typical for someone to just hit a pitch out of the yard. I can't believe that didn't happen in 57 innings. It's definitely something I'm proud of, for sure."
Thompson, who started the year as the fifth starter for the Smokies, emerged unscathed from a couple of close calls during the streak. Two starts before the streak came to an end, the Smokies threw out two runners at the plate, one on an outfield assist.
When the streak came to a close, Thompson's ERA fell to 0.18, to go along with a 7-0 record. He scattered 28 hits in 50 innings and walked just six batters during the streak, with 38 strikeouts.
After starting the year as just the 25th-best prospect for the Cardinals, the 22-year-old was recently ranked the top prospect in all of baseball by Baseball America.
"His success was not that big a surprise, but the way he dominated AA baseball his first year in the league is a big shock," Hart said. "Guys just don't come in AA their first year and dominate like he's done."
Thompson played mostly third base in two years on Cimarron-Memorial's varsity team, before helping pitch the Spartans to the American Legion state title in 2000.
Dixie was the only school to offer him a scholarship and he pitched out of the bullpen there as a freshman and then went 11-2 as a starter his sophomore year.
"I didn't hit good enough to be an infielder, so the switch was easy for me," he said.
Thompson, a classic ground-ball pitcher, said the Cardinals have helped hone his skills tremendously since he joined the organization.
"They worked with me a lot on my mechanics, and I've learned so much stuff just being around those guys in spring training," he said. "The biggest thing right now is my control. I can control the ball in the zone and it moves around a lot. I get a lot of ground balls and let my defense work behind me.
"I've always been that way. I've never really been overpowering."
Thompson is armed with a fastball, which he throws in the low 90s, and a slider, and he's been working on his change-up.
"(The Cardinals) told me they want me to get that third pitch and be strong with the change-up," he said. "I've still got to develop the change-up and keep making quality starts."
Thompson, who stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 190 pounds, has put on 20 pounds since high school, with the help of Dr. Robert Braden, a local strength and conditioning specialist, and said he did a lot of extra work this past offseason to prepare for a starting role, which he relishes.
"It's nice to have that one day to pitch and four days to get ready, instead of having to keep throwing every single day," he said.
Thompson has made his mark in a very strong league, one from which Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera made the jump to the Florida Marlins last year and helped lead them to the World Series title.
Hart said it will be hard for the Cardinals to keep Thompson from moving up the ranks if he continues to dominate.
"I don't suspect he'll be with us a whole lot longer, especially with the numbers he's had, whether it be to AAA in the next few months or the big leagues," Hart said. "The stuff he throws now will have the same effect at the major league level. He can go up there and be a quality pitcher."
Hart said Thompson could still benefit from more seasoning, though.
"He's made a ton of progress, but the guy's still a baby, in terms of experience," he said.
Thompson, whose younger sister Ashleigh is a junior at Cimarron-Memorial and whose parents, Ray and Patty, follow all his games on the Internet, is taking his success in stride.
"I'm just happy to be at this level right now," he said. "Being in AA right now, in my second year of pro ball, I'm kind of ahead of schedule already.
"I'm still very young and I feel pretty strong about my chances (to make the bigs). I've put up some good numbers so far and hopefully, in a couple years, I'd love to be there."
Thompson's scoreless streak is expected to pay one immediate dividend -- a lifetime supply of Krispy Kreme doughnuts, for putting so many "doughnuts" on the scoreboard.
"We've had some fun about (the streak). Everybody joked around about the doughnuts and stuff. My teammates wanted some Krispy Kreme doughnuts, so we've had a good time with it and it didn't feel like a lot of pressure," Thompson said. "I was excited to hear about that, but I might come to spring training bigger next year."
