For the past four years, baseball Head Coach Marek Drabinski has cobbled together a vast number of lineup combinations. The one name Drabinski has penciled in almost every time is Devin Thomas '07. Of the 147 games the Bears have played since the beginning of 2004, Thomas has been behind the plate for 144. He has seen action in every one of them.
This week, Thomas was named Ivy League Player of the Week after going 10-for-15, with 12 RBIs and three home runs as the Bears took three of four games from Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania. On the year, he is tied for the team lead in hitting with a .337 average and 32 RBIs are also tops on the team. For that performance and his Iron Man-like status behind the dish, Thomas was selected as The Herald's Athlete of the Week.
Herald: How did it feel to go 7-for-7 in two games against Columbia?
Thomas: I just got some pitches to hit at the plate. I put some good swings on them, but I don't think about my numbers going in. But when you get to your fifth or sixth at-bat, it might hit you. In other games, I just haven't gotten a lot of pitches to hit.
What was the best part of this weekend?
Definitely going 3-1. It's nice to do well, but when your personal success helps your team, that's the biggest satisfaction. It's good to be tied for first place with Harvard in our division.
What has been the most surprising part of the season?
There were a lot of question marks coming into this season. We lost a lot of guys last year and we had a lot of younger guys coming to fill roles. You never quite know what you are going to get with young guys but they responded well.
Has the cold weather been affecting your team's play?
It's been tough. Our game on Sunday against Penn got canceled because it was 32 degrees with a wind chill of 22 (degrees). It's unsafe and uncomfortable to be out there when it's that cold because it's tough to loosen up and some guys would get hurt.
Do you think MLB should start the season later to avoid the cold weather that has been canceling games?
(Major League Baseball) pretty much starts around the same date every year. I think it's been abnormally cold for this time of year. It's been cold everywhere. Hopefully, it's just a cold spell.
What is the toughest part of being a catcher?
In the Ivy League, we play 23 games in three weeks and I usually catch all of them. It's very physical day in and day out. We often play four games in a weekend and we never have a break. It can wear you down mentally and physically.
As a catcher, is it confusing to watch a game on television from the pitcher's vantage point?
It's not hard to watch a game but there is nothing like playing in a game. When I watch a game, it can seem so slow, but when your playing there is a lot of mental preparation, a lot of dialogue and a lot more going on than what you see.
How do you determine which pitches to call?
Our head coach, Marek Drabinski, was a catcher in college. He calls the pitches a lot and then I relay them to (the) pitcher. But when I call a game I pick up on the little tells of each hitter. They more or less give you a clue to which pitch is best for them, depending on the way they stand, the way they swing, the way the ball comes off the bat, the way the ball fouls off the bat, where they hit the ball on the field. The biggest difference between freshman year and senior year is that calling pitches seems more of a second nature and less forced now.
Which MLB team is your favorite?
I'm a Braves fan. It's (difficult to win 14) consecutive division titles (as the Braves did from 1991-2005), but I think last year there was bad management. They didn't want to put a lot of money into the team.
How are the divisions split up in Ivy League baseball?
There are two divisions. Dartmouth, Yale, Harvard and Brown are in the Red Rolfe division while Columbia, Penn, Cornell and Princeton are in the Lou Gehrig Division. We play each team in our division four times while we play twice against teams in the other division. The two teams in each division with the best records move on to play for the Ivy League championship in a best of three series. Over the past 10-12 years Harvard and Princeton have won all of the Ivy League Championships.
When was the last time you got hit by a pitch?
I actually got hit this weekend in the back when I went 7-for-7. During my ninth plate appearance, they didn't want me to get another hit. The pitcher had pretty good control all game and hit me in the middle of the back. It didn't get black and blue. Sometimes you can see laces (imprinted on your back), but not this time.
