New Crew member models himself after famous 'Professor'

This story was excerpted from Adam McCalvy’s Brewers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

He’s a left-hander born and raised in Georgia who idolized the legendarily precise Braves righty Greg Maddux. And he’s about to get his own chance to prove he can out-think Major League hitters.

Meet Connor Thomas, a 26-year-old father of two, aspiring guitarist and new entry to MLB Pipeline’s Top 30 Brewers prospects list (at No. 30) after Milwaukee plucked him away from St. Louis in the Rule 5 Draft. Thomas doesn’t have the power fastball so prominent in today’s game, but the Brewers are betting that he’s ready to contribute in the big leagues.

“This gives me a legitimate shot to become a big leaguer in some capacity,” Thomas said. “It’s been the first true opportunity I’ve gotten in my career, and I couldn’t be happier.”

The opportunity comes with being picked in baseball’s annual Rule 5 Draft, in which a player who stalled in one organization can see his career jumpstarted by another. It only costs a team $100,000 to make a pick, a bargain for a potential big leaguer. But there’s a catch: The player has to stay in the Majors for the entire following season. He can't be sent to the Minors without first clearing waivers and then getting offered back to his original organization for half of the Draft price.

Only a handful of Rule 5 Draft picks make it through that gauntlet. Two years ago, the Brewers poached right-hander Gus Varland from the Dodgers and he looked like the next coming of Craig Kimbrel in Spring Training, only to struggle with injuries, bad luck and a downtick in stuff during the regular season. By May, he was back with the Dodgers.

Still, teams keep taking shots with Rule 5 picks. Sometimes he turns into a useful piece of the roster. In the very best cases, he turns into a Josh Hamilton or a Johan Santana.

“I’m not saying the Cardinals never gave me a chance, but I was kind of at a crossroads,” Thomas said. “The Brewers have come in as the knight in shining armor and given me a chance.”

A fifth-round Draft pick of the Cardinals out of Georgia Tech in 2019, Thomas has grown up fast. He was already a father at the start of his pro career after his wife, Brett, gave birth to the first of the couple’s two daughters during his junior year of college. Thomas quickly became one of the Cards’ top pitching prospects, promising enough to be added to the 40-man roster in 2022 so he couldn’t be poached in the Rule 5 Draft. But a disappointing season followed, and Thomas lost his 40-man spot in November 2023 before switching to relief for ‘24. He rebounded to the tune of a 2.89 ERA in 90 1/3 innings for Triple-A Springfield, typically in multi-inning stints.

His strikeout rate is modest for today’s game (20.6 percent last season) but his ground ball rate is high (53.5 percent), which could be a good fit for a Brewers team that won Rawlings’ Gold Glove Award for team defense the past two years.

“I play the game of baseball like the old guys played it,” Thomas said. “My role model growing up was Greg Maddux and I like to try to pitch similar to him, which is incredibly hard to do. I try to be one step ahead of what the hitters are expecting.”

Bryan Gale, a special assistant in Milwaukee’s scouting department, said Thomas will be given an opportunity to build his pitch count in Spring Training to be ready for a role in the rotation or the bullpen. GM Matt Arnold hopes Thomas can help replace lefty Hoby Milner or Bryse Wilson, who quietly gobbled up innings in recent years, which helped keep the rest of the staff in order.

Coming to camp under pressure to earn an Opening Day roster spot can be a lot for a young player, but Thomas has both experience in Arizona (he was the Arizona Fall League’s Pitcher of the Year in 2022) and a friend in Milwaukee’s clubhouse. He grew up in Tifton, Ga., not far from current Brewers left-hander DL Hall of Valdosta. The two have known each other since they were 6 or 7 years old.

“We played together in travel ball, played against each other in high school,” Thomas said. “When he was in Nashville last year rehabbing, we had a chance to catch up. For us to be teammates again, it’s really cool. We’ve already chatted a bit.”

They will have plenty of more opportunities to chat in Spring Training.

“When the Brewers called my name, I was super pumped because of the reputation they have with similar profile dudes,” Thomas said. “This is a very exciting opportunity for my career.”