Published: July 10, 2009 11:04 pm      

Thomas has developed the touch

BLUEFIELD — When Corey Thomas’s bat makes contact, the ball is more likely than most to find its way into an open patch of grass. The Bluefield Orioles infielder has an almost metaphysical answer when asked why.

“I could say it’s happened because I’m going up to the batter’s box with a different state of mind,” Thomas said on Tuesday.

“I’m just tellin’ myself, ‘Stay relaxed and don’t try to do too much. Just touch the ball.’ I just want to touch the ball, because when I touch the ball, the ball really jumps off my bat.”

Baseball America assessed over the winter that Thomas, at 6-foot-2, 201 pounds, had “the best raw power” in Baltimore’s 2008 draft.

Thomas was batting .327 as of Wednesday night, second only to Joel Polanco, and was tied for the team lead in two categories, with two home runs and three doubles. He has struck out 16 times but drawn six bases on balls in his 52 at-bats.

His batting, he said, has “had its ups and downs, but right now it’s looking pretty good. I’m hot right now.

“The coaching staff has helped me immensely. I mean, anything I need help with, I feel like I can go to them, and they’ll help me right then and there. Or if they can’t do it right then and there, they’ll set a time and a date and tell me to be there, and I’ll be there.”

Thomas was drafted by the Orioles in the 13th round last year, out of Middletown High School in Tampa, Fla.

“I just looked at it as an opportunity to better myself in the world,” he said, “an opportunity to do something that a lot of people want to do, but won’t get a chance to do.”

Then, at the start of 2008 spring training in Sarasota, Fla., one of his spikes caught in the turf, resulting in a freak injury that damaged the meniscus tissue in his right knee.

“The first day I actually set foot on the field as an Oriole, that’s when the injury occurred,” he said. “I was just taking routine ground balls, got a little in-between hopper — and my leg went the wrong ways.”

“What went through my mind was, it was just going to be a setback, that’s all. I couldn’t get the ball rolling right away. I’d have to wait.”

Away from the playing field for the first time in years, he kept a positive outlook.

He said, “It was kind of hard, but at the same time, it was a learning process. For me, from the outside, looking in, just seeing how things go, looking at the game from a different perspective than I had looked at it for a long time.”

He wasn’t far from the action, however. “We had games. I would always attend the games, and watch how my other teammates approached everything. ... It enabled me to get ready for the game mentally, as well as physically.”

He said the knee is “feeling good right now.” The Baltimore organization “helped me a lot. They did, basically, everything possible to get me back to where I need to be,” he said.

Thomas said that when he was ruled fit this spring to return to action, “I was excited, man, I was anxious, all that good stuff.”

He got into two games in 2008 for the Gulf Coast League Orioles, with a paltry seven at-bats, four of which ended with strikeouts.

Sitting in the Bluefield dugout before Tuesday’s practice, he said, “I’m pretty much in good shape, but as far as game shape, that’s different. I’m just coming around to get into game shape.”

He said he’s found professional baseball to be “not too different, but the degree of difficulty is higher. The game is a lot faster than what I’m used to. You’ve got to think a lot more than other times.”

Part of that comes from his multiple infield assignments. In high school, he was a pitcher and shortstop. The Orioles drafted him as a third baseman, but he’s also played five of Bluefield’s first 15 games as the starting first baseman.

The Appy League pitching he’s faced is “good for the most part,” he said. “The way I look at it, it’s ‘see the ball, hit the ball.’ They’ve got a job; they’re supposed to get me out. I’ve got a job; I’m supposed to get a hit. It’s that simple.”

The Orioles rebounded from an 0-3 start to contend for the East Division lead. Thomas provided his take on the start of the season.

“I think all of us were just a little shocked when we got up here,” he said. “We didn’t know what to expect out of everybody. But everybody’s kind of gotten settled in, now. We’re starting to know who can do what. And that’s just what it is.”

About the division lead, he said, “Yeah, it feels good, but at the same time, we can’t be content. We just have to come out and play good baseball — every day.”

Asked about moving up in the Baltimore farm system, Thomas said, “It’s just a matter of hard work. That’s really not in my hands right now. All I can do is go out and play as hard as I can, every day. And just hope that’s for the best.”

— Contact Tom Bone at

tbone@bdtonline.com