Ex-MLB reliever Justin Thomas makes his home in Dalton
After taking the mound for four Major League Baseball teams in his playing days, Dalton’s Justin Thomas now toes the rubber while coaching a 10U softball team.
From the start of the National League in 1876 through July 1, 2024, there have been just 20,676 Major League Baseball players, according to baseball-almanac.com.
That’s less than the population of Wooster and would only fill about two-thirds of Cleveland’s Progressive Field.
Retired former teammates Justin Thomas and Stephen Vogt are among that elite fraternity of MLB alums. They’re now managers in 2024, albeit at much different levels.
Thomas is the head coach of a Dalton 10U girls softball team in the small Wayne County village where he and his wife Theresa live, along with daughters Ella and Ruby.
Vogt is gaining more fans and respect by the day as the first-year manager of the Cleveland Guardians, who entered July with a 52-30 record.
Thomas’ Dalton team that includes his daughter Ruby playing a key role as an 8-year-old compiled an 11-1 regular-season record in the Wayne County Fastpitch League to earn the No. 3 seed out of 23 teams. Dalton reached the quarterfinals in the postseason tournament.
“It’s amazing just to see how the girls develop,” said Thomas, who pitched in parts of three MLB seasons as a left-handed reliever for the Mariners (2008), Pirates (2010), Red Sox (2012) and Yankees (2012). “I coached T-ball for two years and then coached 8U last year.
“I take it pretty seriously in regards to the amount of opportunities we give the kids to get extra work in. I’m just really trying to grow the interest and the developmental opportunities for the kids.”
Reaching “The Show”
Thomas is one of the top players in the 2000s to come out of the Toledo area, playing at Cardinal Stritch for two years and then Clay High School. An outstanding pitcher with a fastball topping out close to 90 mph in high school and 95 mph in the majors, Thomas played collegiately at Youngstown State and was a three-year pitcher for the Penguins, helping them to a Horizon League title and the NCAA Tournament in 2004.
In 2005 Thomas was the Horizon League Pitcher of the Year after going 7-5 with a 3.42 ERA in 84 1/3 innings. Ranking second at YSU with 250 career strikeouts, Thomas was drafted after that outstanding junior year in the fourth round by the Mariners and signed soon after.
From 2005-08 Thomas progressed through the Mariners’ farm system. After the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers finished their season on Aug. 31, 2008, Thomas was planning to play winter ball in Venezuela. He’ll never forget being called into Tacoma manager Daren Brown’s office.
“(Brown) asked me, ‘How would you like to get some more work in at a higher level?’” Thomas said. “I knew that meant I was going to the Major Leagues. I was on a flight the next morning to meet the Mariners in Arlington, Texas, went straight to the ballpark and pitched that night.”
Seattle had a big lead, and Thomas was sent into the game in the ninth.
“I had a 1-2-3 inning and got Marlon Byrd to strike out to end the game,” he said. “That was pretty neat.”
Big League memories
Thomas’ final MLB stat line looks like this: 0-2 record, 6.93 ERA, 31 games all in relief, 24 2-3 innings pitched, 14 strikeouts, 10 walks. The 6-foot-3, 220-pound player wishes he had a longer career in the big leagues but is understandably proud of what he accomplished.
“It was a great experience,” Thomas said. “I had a couple of opportunities, but I just wasn’t able to stick up there as long as I had hoped. It did open the door for me to go on to play over in Asia for three seasons, which was an awesome experience for my family. Looking back, I feel like I had a good career. I maximized my potential and worked hard.”
During his time with the Yankees in 2012, Thomas played with a star-studded cast that included third baseman Alex Rodriguez, shortstop Derek Jeter and outfielder Ichiro Suzuki. Pitchers included perennial All-Stars Mariano River and CC Sabathia.
“Jeter and I are both Michigan fans, and I remember on a couple Saturdays watching as much of the Michigan football game as we could in the training room,” Thomas said. “He was just a good dude. We were in the playoff hunt, and he was super welcoming, as were a lot of the other guys.”
Thomas and Vogt were teammates in Venezuela in winter 2012-13. Among just a few Americans on their team, they stayed in the same hotel, ate meals together, hung out and even played video games. They rekindled their friendship during spring training as teammates in the A’s organization in 2013, but after pitching about half the season in Triple-A, Thomas opted to sign a deal to play with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan.
“(Vogt) is somebody that I kind of gravitated toward,” said Thomas, who still keeps in touch with Vogt. “He was a great leader on the field and a great teammate. Obviously, I figured he would do very well in the manager role with the Guardians. Our oldest daughters are the same age, and they met way back then.”
Renewed purpose
Theresa Thomas, who met Justin while they attended Youngstown State together, said coaching youth softball has helped fill a void for her husband.
“Justin had missed being around the game ever since ball was over,” said Theresa (Evans), a Massillon graduate who’s an elementary school teacher in Rittman. Her brother Dane Hammer is a Dalton graduate. “It was like a grieving process and all he knew his whole life. He didn’t know what his next path was going to be.
“He finished college and has a successful career in medical sales, but baseball and now softball is his passion. He truly cares about every single one of the girls he coaches and wants to make them better. It’s been so amazing to see that it makes me want to cry.”
Ella Thomas, a rising seventh-grader, is a competitive dancer and cheerleader while third-grade sister Ruby is the family’s young ballplayer.
It’s safe to say most people who saw the Dalton 10U team this summer had no idea their coach played with the likes of Jeter or David Ortiz or pitched against Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton.
Assistant coach Bobby Peppard, whose daughter Skylar is on the Dalton team, knows how fortunate the community is to have the former big leaguer.
“Justin is a stand-up kind of guy,” Peppard said. “He makes sure the girls are doing the fundamentals right but also having fun. We couldn’t ask for a better guy.”
Thomas is helping to form Madness 8U, 10U and 12U travel softball teams for 2025 out of Hit24 in Wadsworth. For more information follow the Hit24 Facebook page or visit its website at www.hit24.com.