Bethany Coach Joins Black Bears’ Staff
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MORGANTOWN -- The 2023 college baseball season will be JT Thomas's fifth as the head coach at Bethany College. Before then, however, Thomas will be tackling a new challenge this summer as the pitching coach for the West Virginia Black Bears in the MLB Draft League.
"It's a little bit of the same, but a little bit different," Thomas said of coaching in college versus in the Draft League. "The Biggest difference is time. The young men that I coach at Bethany, I'll get them in September and we don't play until February. Here, we got them Monday and we play Thursday. It's a huge, huge difference."
Case in point, The Draft League, which is in its second season of competition, opens play today with the Black Bears on the road at the Mahoning Valley Scrappers despite the fact that most members of the Black Bears' initial roster just wrapped up their college seasons a few weeks ago and many have been in Morgantown for just a few days.
"It's a little bit different than what you would think in high school or college," second-year manager Jed Gyorko said. "You'd normally have these kids for four or five years to mold them as players. Not so much here, we have two or three practices and then we're into games."
Gyorko, an eight-year MLB veteran with the St. Louis Cardinals, LA Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers, is entering his second season as manager of the Black Bears with a renewed focus on the goals of the league.
"We had seven guys drafted (in 2021) and that's what we're trying to build on," he said. "The most important thing about this league is those players and we're going to do whatever we can to put them into those spots."
To that end, Thomas said his job with the pitchers will largely revolve around the individual players, how their college seasons went and what their goals for this summer are.
"It's really just trying to be in their ear with votes of confidence and minor details," Thomas said. "You don't want to change too much, but you can make suggestions.
"It's really about communicating with pitchers so we can get on the same wavelength. That way when they are on the mound and they display their talents, they can do it to the best of their ability."
Thomas coached Bethany to a 16-23 record this season and the Bison had the fifth-best team ERA in the Presidents Athletic Conference at 5.56. They were led by all-conference selections Zach Pressnell (5-5, 4.55) and Zach Nolf (2-1, 1.57).
Thomas said he does not plan to change his pitching philosophy much from what he uses with the Bison.
"I want guys to attack the strike zone and throw strikes," he said. "That's kind of plain, but it works. And then I'll individualize things that they need to get better at and we can do those things in early work and in the bullpen."
Like he does at Bethany, Thomas understands that college coaches will have been working with these players for years and it's not his job to try and transform them into something completely different over just a few weeks.
"You can't coach them all the same way," he said. "One young man might say he needs to learn a changeup this summer, another might want to work on his arm path. My biggest responsibility in that manor is making sure I remember (what they want) each time I see them."
The prospect of working with so many different pitchers is something that attracted Thomas to the Draft League in the first place.
"I believe that as a coach, you're a life-long learner," he said. "I want to help these young men but I want to learn some stuff too and that's what I'm looking forward to."
After a four-game road trip against the Scrappers to open the season, the Black Bears will have their home-opener from Mon County Ballpark on Tuesday, June 7 against the Frederick Keyes at 7 p.m.