Clete Thomas

Clete Thomas
Detroit Tigers — No. 34
Right fielder
Born: November 14, 1983 (1983-11-14) (age 28) Jacksonville, Florida
Bats: Left	Throws: Right
MLB debut
March 31, 2008 for the Detroit Tigers
Career statistics (through 2009 season)
Batting average	.253
Home runs	8
Runs batted in	48
Stolen bases	5
Teams
Detroit Tigers (2008–2009)

Michael Clete Thomas (born November 14, 1983, in Jacksonville, Florida) is a Major League Baseball outfielder in the Detroit Tigers organization.

Career

Thomas began his career at Mosley High School in Lynn Haven, Florida where he was a part of the state championship team in 2002.^[1]

Thomas attended Auburn University, where he played right field and batted .328 on the 2005 team which lost to Florida State in the NCAA regional tournament. Then finishing his junior year, Thomas entered the draft and was selected by the Detroit Tigers in the sixth round on June 8 and signed on June 21, 2005. Initially assigned to the Oneonta Tigers in the New York-Penn League, Thomas was promoted to the West Michigan Whitecaps on July 13, and proceeded to appear in 51 games, hitting .284.^[2][3][4]

Thomas spent the 2006 season with the Lakeland Tigers, where he appeared in 132 games and hit .257 with 40 RBIs and 34 stolen bases. In 2007 he was promoted to Erie, where he hit .280 with 53 RBIs and 18 stolen bases. Thomas, along with fellow outfielder Matt Joyce, was considered a likely future major leaguer. Commenting on the two, then-Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski remarked that "We think they're both prospects...We're not counting on them for this year, but they've got a chance to play at the Triple-A level (this season), depending on how they do this spring."^[4][5]

Detroit Tigers

A non-roster invitee to 2008 spring training, Thomas made the team after starting center fielder Curtis Granderson broke a finger and went on the disabled list.^[6] On Opening Day 2008, Thomas entered the game as a defensive replacement and made his first major league putout against Joey Gathright of the Kansas City Royals. Thomas later hit a double in the bottom of the 11th inning off Royals closer Joakim Soria for his first major league hit.^[7][8]

Thomas split time in the 2008 Major League Baseball season between the Tigers and the AAA-affiliate Toledo Mud Hens. On April 23, Thomas was optioned to the Tigers' AAA-affiliate Toledo Mud Hens when Curtis Granderson was activated from the disabled list.^[9] Thomas was recalled from Toledo May 29 to replace struggling Matt Joyce.^[10] On June 4, Thomas sprained his ankle and went on the disabled list. He was replaced by Brent Clevlen. Thomas returned to the active roster on June 18, 2008.^[11]

On May 5, 2009, Thomas was called back up to the Detroit Tigers in a game against the Minnesota Twins.^[12] In the game, Thomas went three for four with a single, double, and triple, making him a home run shy of hitting for the cycle. On June 7, 2009, against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Thomas hit a the first grand slam of his career off Angels reliever Jason Bulger to break a 5–5 eighth-inning tie.

On June 12, 2009, Detroit optioned Thomas back to Toledo and called up Don Kelly. Said manager Jim Leyland: "I think he has a shot to be an everyday player, but he has to shorten up his swing...he will be back."^{[citation needed]}

On July 9, 2009, Thomas was recalled from Toledo, and Don Kelly was sent back to Toledo.^[13]

Thomas has two walk-off hits in 2009. On August 3, 2009, Thomas hit his first career walk-off home run against Baltimore Orioles pitcher Danys Báez and on August 20, 2009, Thomas hit a walk-off single to beat the Seattle Mariners 7–6.

For the start of the 2011 season, Thomas will be in Triple-A, losing the starting right fielder job to Brennan Boesch and Casper Wells.

Clete's entrance song is Song of the South by Alabama.

References

1. ^ Milner, Brad (June 28, 2008). "Turning 12 Part III: Living the dream". The News Herald. http://www.newsherald.com/sports/sauls-4702-thomas-baseball.html. Retrieved 2009-06-17. 
2. ^ "Draft may be Caps' cure; Lower-level leagues won't be providing help". Grand Rapids Press: p. D8. June 21, 2005. 
3. ^ "'Caps rally at home; Frazier's 2-run double in 8th lifts West Michigan". Grand Rapids Press: p. D3. July 14, 2005. 
4. ^ ^{a b} "Clete Thomas Statistics (Minor Leagues)". Baseball-Reference.com. http://minors.baseball-reference.com/players.cgi?pid=14437. Retrieved 2008-04-22. 
5. ^ Morosi, Jon Paul (November 9, 2007). "Dombrowski has inklings of deals but no inkings". Detroit Free Press. 
6. ^ "Tigers tell Thomas to suit up; Outfielder probable for opening-day roster". Grand Rapids Press: p. D5. March 28, 2008. 
7. ^ March 31, 2008 Kansas City Royals at Detroit Tigers Play by Play and Box Score - Baseball-Reference.com
8. ^ Morosi, Jon Paul (March 31, 2008). "Inge, rookie Thomas give Royals pain". Detroit Free Press. 
9. ^ Grandy's back! Tigers' Curtis Granderson to play, lead off tonight | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press
10. ^ Tigers send Matt Joyce to Toledo; Clete Thomas to take his spot | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press
11. ^ McCauley, Janie (June 18, 2008). "Polanco leads Tigers past Giants". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on 2008-06-22. http://web.archive.org/web/20080622134645/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/06/16/sports/s220649D98.DTL. Retrieved 2008-06-18. 
12. ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4142812
13. ^ McDill, Kent (June 11, 2009). "Tigers send down Clete Thomas, call up Don Kelly". Detroit Free Press. http://www.freep.com/article/20090611/SPORTS02/90611098/1050/SPORTS02/Tigers+send+down+Clete+Thomas++call+up+Don+Kelly. Retrieved 2009-06-12. ^{[dead link]}

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)

Persondata
Name	Thomas, Clete
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	November 14, 1983
Place of birth	Jacksonville, Florida
Date of death
Place of death