This is part two of a two-part column.
Last week, I wrote about just a portion of my interview with Tulsa Drillers catcher Josh Thole and the early years of his career. This week we look at where he is now on his baseball journey.
Thole is a native of Breese, Illinois, and has played in 478 Major League games, split between the Mets and Blue Jays. He has also spent time in the minor leagues with four different organizations; New York Mets, Toronto, Detroit and Los Angeles. He was signed by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the winter of 2017, but never played a game in their organization, before being released and signing with Detroit.
Now in his 30’s, I asked Thole how he felt about being in the Dodgers organization and playing in Tulsa.
“I am in hands-down one of the best organizations in professional baseball, from top to bottom,” Thole said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re the 26th guy, or if you’re a 32-year old guy going to Double-A. I’m just trying to make the most of it just to show that I can still play. I’m not willing to hang up the jersey just quite yet, and we have a good staff and good tools here.”
Thole said he is also looking toward the future and wanting to learn everything he can while he’s still a player.
“I’m still learning all the stuff, getting up to speed with how the industry runs, and hopefully one day I’ll get an opportunity to further my career outside of playing,” he said.
For the time being, Thole is still behind the plate when knuckle ball pitcher J.D. Martin is on the mound for the Drillers.
“Yeah, who would have thought, right?” he joked. “I couldn’t believe in Spring Training when they said they ‘we’re sending a knuckleballer with you,’ but it’s like one of those things, when you get used to it, you get used to it. You’re going to have good days, and you’re going to have bad days, but at the end of the day it’s like riding a bike I suppose.”
But, unlike in the past, catching for Major League pitcher R.A. Dickey, Thole is now helping Martin develop in the minors.
“Looking at the process that R.A. went through and seeing J.D. going through that same process, just two-steps back, you root for him, you pull for him and it’s no different than what R.A. did,” Thole said.
Thole has had a taste of Triple-A with the Oklahoma City Dodgers, but has spent most of the season here in Tulsa, and he’s okay with that.
“Like I said, there’s a culture that’s built around Dodgers baseball and around the Tulsa Drillers,” he said. “Every day you go out there, everyone is pulling from the same end of the rope no matter what level you are in the organization, they preach that and that’s where I think a lot of guys get success because you don’t want to let the guy behind you down. You want to be able to keep moving the line offensively, and letting guys down is something you never want to happen.”
Currently, Thole is splitting time at the catcher position with one of the Dodgers’ top prospects, Keibert Ruiz, who is listed as the 16th best prospect in all of minor league baseball by Baseball America. The 20-year-old Ruiz has the benefit of being tutored by Thole, an eight-year veteran of MLB.
Well, Thole certainly has not been a letdown at all and is doing a fine job behind the plate for the Drillers. You can be sure that someday he’ll be a coach or manager somewhere.