Cody Ryan Thomas (born October 8, 1994) is an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

in the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

organization. He was a

multi-sport athlete A multi-sport athlete is an athlete who competes or trains two or more different sports. Most of these athletes played two or more sports from a young age – especially in high school – before deciding to usually concentrate on just one sport p ...

in college, playing both

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

and

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...

Early years

Thomas attended

Colleyville Heritage High School Colleyville Heritage High School (CHHS) is a public secondary school in Colleyville, Texas in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The school is a part of the Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District and serves freshmen through senior students i ...

Colleyville, Texas Colleyville is a city in northeastern Tarrant County, Texas, United States, centrally located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. A wealthy suburb of the Dallas/Fort Worth area, Colleyville was originally a small farm town in the 19th century. Th ...

. In football, he passed for 3,057 yards with 32

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether Rush (gridiron football), running, Forward pass, passing, returning a Kickoff (gridiron football), kickoff or Punt (gridiron football), punt, or recovering a Turno ...

as a junior and 4,154 yards with 51 touchdowns as a senior. Thomas was rated as a four-star recruit and was ranked among the top quarterbacks in his class. He committed to the

to play

. The

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

selected Thomas in the 30th round of the

2013 Major League Baseball draft The 2013 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft was held from June 6 through June 8, 2013. The first two rounds were broadcast from Studio 42 of the MLB Network in Secaucus, New Jersey. Each team received one selection per round, going in ...

, but he did not sign.

College career

Football

Thomas took a

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Entertainment * ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi * Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after b ...

in his first year with the

Oklahoma Sooners football The Oklahoma Sooners football program is a college football team that represents the University of Oklahoma (variously "Oklahoma" or "OU"). The team is a member of the Big 12 Conference, which is in Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (forme ...

team in 2013. As a redshirt freshman in 2014, he appeared in seven games and made three starts. He completed 30-of-66 passes for 342 yards with two touchdowns and four

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

s. Thomas competed with

Baker Mayfield Baker Reagan Mayfield (born April 14, 1995) is an American football quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL). Following a stint with Texas Tech, Mayfield played college football at Oklahoma, where he won the Hei ...

and

Trevor Knight Trevor A. Knight (born October 3, 1993) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at Oklahoma and Texas A&M. After leading Oklahoma to an 8–5 record in the 2014 season, he lost the starting job in an open quarter ...

for the starting job in 2015. Mayfield won the job with Thomas appearing in three games as a backup. In January 2016, he left the football team to focus on his baseball career.

Baseball

Thomas appeared in 14 games for the

Oklahoma Sooners baseball Oklahoma Sooners baseball is the NCAA Division I collegiate baseball team of the University of Oklahoma (OU) based in Norman, Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Baseball tradition is long and storied, with two national championships in 1951 and 1994, along ...

team as freshman in 2014, recording one hit in 12 at-bats. He did not play in 2015 while focusing on football. He returned to baseball in 2016, appearing in 40 games. He hit .299/.354/.556 with six

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

and 27

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

(RBI) over 117 at-bats.

Professional career

Los Angeles Dodgers

Thomas was selected by the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

in the 13th round of the

2016 MLB Draft The 2016 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft began on June 9, 2016, to assign amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order is the reverse order of the 2015 MLB season standings. In addition, compensation picks will be d ...

. He signed with the Dodgers and made his professional debut with the

Arizona League Dodgers The Arizona Complex League Dodgers are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers, competing in the Arizona Complex League of Minor League Baseball. The team plays its home games at Camelback Ranch in Phoenix, Arizona. The team is compos ...

. After seven games he was promoted to the

Ogden Raptors The Ogden Raptors are an independent baseball team of the Pioneer League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball (MLB) but is an MLB Partner League. They are located in Ogden, Utah and play their home games at Lindquist Field. Pitche ...

. Thomas was awarded the Joe Bauman Home Run Award for finishing the 2016 season with 19 home runs among short season A and rookie ball players. On August 3, 2017 Thomas set Great Lake Loons' single-game records in homers (3), RBIs (7) and total bases (12). In the same game, both Cody & teammate Carlos Rincon also hit back to back HR's twice in the same inning which has only been done one other time in the history of professional baseball (Boone/Cameron, Mariners 2002). With the

Rancho Cucamonga Quakes The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers. They are located in Rancho Cucamonga, California, and play their home games at LoanMart Field. The franc ...

in 2018 he was named to the post-season

California League The California League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in California. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following Major Leag ...

All-Star team. In 127 games he hit .285 with 19 homers and 87 RBI. In 2019, he began the season with the

Tulsa Drillers The Tulsa Drillers are a minor league baseball team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The team, which plays in the Texas League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers major-league club. Stadium The Drillers play at ONEOK Field (pronounc ...

and was selected to the mid-season

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

All-Star Game. Thomas did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Oakland Athletics

On February 12, 2021, he was traded to the

along with

Adam Kolarek Adam John Kolarek (born January 14, 1989) is an American professional baseball pitcher in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. He previously played for the Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland Athletics. He played college baseball for ...

in exchange for

Sheldon Neuse Sheldon Lynn Neuse ( ; born December 10, 1994) is an American professional baseball infielder for the Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Oaklan ...

and Gus Varland. Thomas spent the year with the Triple-A

Las Vegas Aviators The Las Vegas Aviators, formerly known as the Las Vegas 51s and Las Vegas Stars, are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics. They are located in Summerlin South, Nevad ...

, slashing .289/.363/.665 with 18 home runs and 52 RBI in 59 games. He was added to the Athletics' 40-man roster on November 19, 2021. He was designated for assignment on December 16, 2022.

References

External links

Oklahoma Sooners baseball bioOklahoma Sooners football bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Cody 1994 births Living people American football quarterbacks Arizona Complex League Athletics players Arizona League Dodgers players Baseball players from Texas Colleyville Heritage High School alumni Glendale Desert Dogs players Great Lakes Loons players Las Vegas Aviators players Major League Baseball outfielders Oakland Athletics players Ogden Raptors players Oklahoma Sooners baseball players Oklahoma Sooners football players People from Colleyville, Texas Players of American football from Texas Rancho Cucamonga Quakes players Tulsa Drillers players