One of the vital prolific hitters in College of Kansas baseball historical past is the brand new interim supervisor of Main League Baseball’s Philadelphia Phillies.

Rob Thomson, a 58-year-old native of Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, who took over for Joe Girardi on Friday after serving as bench coach for the Phils since 2018, led the Jayhawks with a .443 batting common in 1984.

His .443 mark stays the very best single-season batting common in KU historical past. Thomson, a catcher/third baseman, additionally led the group with a .389 common in 1985.

His profession batting common of .369 put up from 1983-85 is tied for fifth all time at KU.

Thompson — he was a thirty second spherical choose of the Detroit Tigers within the 1985 MLB Draft (by no means advancing to the massive leagues as a participant) — has been in skilled baseball ever since.

He performed 4 years within the minors, then grew to become a coach within the Tigers’ minor-league group in 1988. He was with the New York Yankees group from 1990 to 2017, incomes 5 championship rings.

Named the Yanks’ bench coach on Girardi’s teaching employees previous to the 2008 season, Thomson managed two big-league video games in April 2008 after Girardi suffered a respiratory sickness. The Yankees misplaced each video games.

He served because the group’s third base coach for six seasons, and was third base coach for the Yankees’ 2009 World Sequence championship group. New York defeated the Phillies 4 video games to 2. Earlier than the 2015 season, Thomson was named bench coach, transferring over to the Phillies in 2018 to work for first-year skipper Gabe Kapler as bench coach.

Thompson is believed to be the primary College of Kansas graduate to handle an enormous league group. He’s additionally the primary Canadian supervisor to be employed by an MLB group since George Gibson of London, Ontario managed the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1934. Toronto native Arthur Irwin — he managed 5 groups between 1889 and 1899 — is the one different Canadian to function a full-time supervisor.

Thomson took over a Phillies group with a 22-29 report. The Phillies, in Thomson’s debut, rolled to a 10-0 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday in Philly.

“I’m prepared to steer this group and stay up for attending to work and turning this round,” he informed media members Friday earlier than the sport. “As a bench coach you’re spending an entire lot of time making ready for the opposite membership and possibly not a lot time within the clubhouse. I’m going to take the preparer hat off. I’m nonetheless going to arrange some, however I’m going to have my confidence within the coaches round me to maintain me knowledgeable of knowledge.

“Now I can exit within the clubhouse and actually talk with the gamers, get to know them, get the texture, know what they like, know what they don’t like, know once they’re harm, know once they’re not harm, in order that they know that I’ve bought their again and that I assist them,” Thomson added.

Bryce Harper, who smashed two homers together with Kyle Schwarber to assist Thomson win his debut, mentioned as quoted by the Sporting Information: “He’s been on this group for 5 years now. He is aware of the ins and outs. He brings that new voice, possibly he’s extra open now since he’s the supervisor and never the bench coach. I believe we’ll see extra out of him.”

“He mentioned he believes in us, he has our again and we’re a proficient group,” Nick Castellanos of the Phillies informed the Sporting Information. “He’s prepared and he’s excited for this chance and all of us can genuinely really feel that.”

Thomson makes his offseason residence in Tampa, Florida. He and spouse Michelle have two daughters.

Requested in 2010 by a kuathletics.com reporter why he determined to attend KU, Thomson mentioned: “I’m a Canadian citizen. I used to be taking part in in Canada. The league I used to be taking part in in was allowed to get United States imports. There have been two guys on my group from KU, Dennis Coplen and Invoice Yelton. I didn’t have a college to play for but, in order that they known as Marty Pattin, who was the coach at KU on the time, and he provided me a scholarship. I got here to KU and it was clearly the precise transfer for me.”

He revealed his favourite reminiscence taking part in for ex-Kansas Metropolis Royals pitcher Pattin at KU. Pattin died in 2018 on the age of 75.

“in my first 12 months at KU, once we made it to the Massive Eight Event, we didn’t fare too properly, however taking part in in Oklahoma Metropolis in entrance the most individuals I had ever performed in entrance of on the time (was a thrill), and reaching a aim as a membership to get to the match was the most important and greatest reminiscence I’ve from after I was there,” Thomson mentioned.

Thomson to kuathletics.com famous: “I attempt to get again to Lawrence not less than annually for both a soccer recreation or a basketball recreation. I observe the entire applications fairly religiously through the web and on TV. I catch in all probability 20-25 video games a 12 months on TV. I observe them fairly shut, I’m an enormous fan. I meet KU individuals everywhere in the nation. They learn our media information and discover out that I went to highschool at Kansas and discuss to me about being a Jayhawk. It’s fairly neat. It’s clearly an enormous college with an enormous alumni base, so I see Jayhawks in all places.”

He famous: “I miss town of Lawrence as a result of it’s simply such a wonderful campus and delightful little city that I used to be actually comfy in. I got here from a small city in Canada and Lawrence jogged my memory loads of the place I grew up. I used to be very comfy from the primary day that I walked on to campus.”