Thompson’s streak draws attention

Tuesday, May 11, 2004 | 9:32 a.m.

THE RECORDS

As pitcher Brad Thompson continues to dominate at Double-A Tennessee, he's resisting the urge to dream about where this season's sterling streak of 37 1/3 scoreless innings might take him.

"I haven't even thought about it," said Thompson, a St. Louis Cardinals prospect, on Monday as the Smokies arrived in Jackson, Tenn., for a series against the Diamond Jaxx. "I'm way ahead of any schedule now, anyway. I haven't thought about a timetable."

He might be inclined to, if St. Louis senior vice president and general manager Walt Jocketty and Bruce Manno, the director of the Cardinals' player development, continue to visit Southern League ballparks to watch him throw.

The Cardinals drafted Thompson, a Cimarron-Memorial High graduate who began pitching full-time at Dixie State College, in the 16th round of the 2002 draft. Jocketty and Manno apparently knew what they were doing.

Bobby Hunter of Carolina set the Southern League record for scoreless innings tossed by a pitcher, at 43 1/3, in 1993. Urban Shocker, of Toronto in the International League, established the minor league mark of 54 innings in 1916.

Orel Hershiser of the Los Angeles Dodgers reeled off a major legue-record 59 consecutive innings without yielding a run in 1988.

"I'm not worrying about any streak or anything, and my teammates aren't worried about it, either," said Thompson, 22. "It's not even a big deal. We're just trying to win some ballgames, and every day is the same."

A self-described groundball pitcher, Thompson (5-0) is a 6-foot-1, 190-pound right-hander whose 0.00 earned-run average is the talk of the minor leagues.

He has allowed a paltry 19 hits, having struck out 30 batters and walked only three. Thompson has not been scored upon since Aug. 21, a 46-inning stretch of brilliance that goes back to his promotion to high Single-A Palm Beach County.

"Shoot, I'm just throwin' the same ol' stuff every day, not changing anything," Thompson said. "I've been pretty fortunate so far. I'm just stickin' with my same game plan every day, pounding the strike zone.

"I'm mixing my sinker and slider, throwing in a changeup and putting them where I want to. I definitely feel like I have a lot of confidence, that I can put the ball where I want, and my defense is tremendous right now."

Indeed, Smokies outfielders threw two Chattanooga Lookouts out at the plate Saturday night to preserve Thompson's spotless stretch.

"I definitely didn't expect to get off to a start like this," he said.

An abundance of pitching at Cimarron relegated Thompson to the infield. That changed in the summer, though, after his junior and senior years, when Cimarron American Legion coach Kevin Kohler allowed Thompson to pitch.

Thompson said he accepted a scholarship to Dixie after "someone" told him he would be redshirted at the Community College of Southern Nevada. CCSN coach Tim Chambers said that "someone" wasn't him.

"Someone told him he'd redshirt, but we never told him that," Chambers said. "We wanted him badly. We thought he could help us, thought he'd be a great pitcher. And he turned out to be a great pitcher.

"In high school, he wasn't one of their premier guys. In the summer, he was a world beater. He has one of the best breaking balls we've ever seen. We tried to get him, it just didn't work out. He's a good kid."

In his second season at Dixie, Thompson went 13-2. Scouts began paying attention, and Thompson said he was "lucky" to get picked up by the Cardinals.

Jocketty and Manno both spoke with Thompson after he kept sizzling Saturday.

"They told me to keep up the good work," Thompson said. "(Jocketty) just said, 'We like what you're doing. Keep it up.' I'm not too worried about moving (up), because I know we have a lot of guys in the organization."