Brookland-Cayce pitcher adjusts to new role this season after injury
With his red-and-gray Brookland-Cayce hat, gray game jersey and shorts on, Hayden Thomas stood at the edge of the dugout cheering his team in its big region matchup Thursday against Gilbert.
Thomas yelled out words of encouragement for starting pitcher BJ Etheridge. He was there to greet his teammates each time after they crossed the plate or had a good at-bat.
Thomas watched as the Bearcats turned in a dominating performance in the 13-1 victory over the defending Class 3A champions. Brookland-Cayce is off to a 5-0 start in Region 5-3A and is in good shape to win its first region championship since 2008.
“I really don’t think about not playing, but I just want to have fun out there, scream and holler for my teammates,” Thomas said. “Not playing sucks, but you just deal with it. I get to play next year.”
Thomas, a junior, is one of the top pitching arms in South Carolina for the Class of 2023. Diamond Prospects ranks him as the No. 2 left-handed pitcher in the state behind South Carolina commit Xavier Pelzer. He also plays with the Canes, one of the top travel teams in the country.
Thomas committed to Arkansas and is coming off a dominant sophomore season. The left-hander was 8-0 with a 0.90 ERA with 54 strikeouts and 11 walks in 46.2 innings pitched last season.
He hoped to build on those numbers this season and help his squad to a deep postseason run, but he underwent season-ending Tommy John surgery in November.
Thomas said he felt discomfort while pitching in a travel baseball tournament in October.
“It wasn’t a pop sound, but it was a strain in my arm,” Thomas said. “It was instant pain.”
Tommy John surgery includes ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction inside the elbow by replacing it with a tendon from elsewhere in the body. The surgery was first performed 40 years ago on the former New York Yankees pitcher for whom the procedure is named after.
It’s a surgery that’s common among pitchers and even young athletes. A 2015 study in the American Journal of Sports Medicine found that athletes between the ages of 15 to 19 accounted for 56.8% of all Tommy John procedures.
Typical recovery time is between one and two years. Thomas is four months removed from surgery, and he’s able to do some weight room work and will start throwing in a few months.
He goes to rehab with Prisma Health two times a week.
“I had some friends that had Tommy John surgery and they came back stronger, throwing harder,” Thomas said. “But I tried not to think about it too much. I just wanted to get the surgery, do the rehab and get back stronger, bigger and faster.”
And in the meantime, Thiomas is cheering his teammates on, giving pitchers advice when they need it. His teammates will do the same for him.
“He is a big asset. The big thing for us is, we hang out with each other outside of baseball, which creates big friendships,” said B-C catcher Ty Marshall, who is committed to play at Clemson. “We encourage Hayden, but mainly he encourages us. It sucks what happened but he is making the best out of a situation and we love him for it. We hope he is back soon.”
This story was originally published April 3, 2022 at 11:22 AM.
