Baylor Baseball Hires Mitch Thompson as New Head Coach

By Scott Bancale

Photo by baylorbears.com

June 16, 2022

First, former Baylor baseball coach Steve Rodriquez resigned after 7 seasons. He did accumulate 197 wins and 146 losses including a Big 12 tournament title in 2018. This is the 3rd most wins all-time as a Baylor baseball coach.

Then, the process of hiring a new head coach began. I am not surprised by the hire of Mitch Thompson because he is a solid coach. In addition, he knows what it takes to win at Baylor.

I mean Mitch was an assistant coach at Baylor from 1995 to 2012 where Baylor baseball had some of the best years in program history. He knows how to develop players at the next level as well. In fact, he recruited 72 players that were drafted or signed with Major League Organizations.

Some of the names are Kip Wells, Jason Jennings, Chad Hawkins, David Murphy, Kelly Shopach, and Aaron Miller. While Mitch was at Baylor as an assistant he coached 10 teams to win 40 games or more from 1995-2012 which included a trip to the College World Series in 2005.

He also set team records in virtually every offensive category which includes batting average, hits, runs, doubles, home runs, RBIs, total bases, stolen bases and slugging percentage. Mitch also coached

After his time at Baylor Mitch was the South Texas area scouting supervisor for the Kansas City Royals organization for one year. Then, he became a head coach at McLennan Community College for 9 years.

Mitch was 372-138-1 in his 9 years at MCC including postseason trips every year. He did win a national title in 2021.

This is a fantastic hire, and I know that the Baylor fanbase is ecstatic about this year. I will say that it is important to lay a foundation for next year, and we will see how they do year 1 under Mitch Thompson. I don't want to put pressure on him year 1 when the roster has lost 8 guys to the transfer portal including 2 guys to rival schools.