Curtis Thigpen

Curtis Barnard Thigpen (born April 19, 1983) is an American former professional baseball catcher. He played parts of two seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Curtis Thigpen
Thigpen with the Lansing Lugnuts in 2005
Catcher
Born: (1983-04-19) April 19, 1983
Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
MLB debut
June 6, 2007, for the Toronto Blue Jays
Last MLB appearance
September 26, 2008, for the Toronto Blue Jays
MLB statistics
Batting average.229
Home runs1
Runs batted in12
Teams

Amateur career

Thigpen spent his college career at the University of Texas and won the College World Series in 2002 during which he was named to the All-Tournament Team. In 2003, he played collegiate summer baseball in the Cape Cod Baseball League for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox and was named a league all-star.[1][2][3] Thigpen was selected by the Blue Jays in the second round of the 2004 Major League Baseball Draft with the 57th overall pick.[4]

Minor league career

In 2007, he started the season playing for the Syracuse Chiefs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Major league career

Toronto Blue Jays

Thigpen was called up from the minors on June 5, 2007, and made his major league debut on June 6, 2007, at Rogers Centre in Toronto against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He started at first base and finished the game 1-for-4.[5] After the 2007 season, he finished hitting .238 with 11 RBIs, a .294 on-base percentage and a .287 slugging percentage over 47 games.[6] During the 2008 season, Thigpen saw less playing time with Rod Barajas coming to Toronto. On September 26, 2008, Thigpen hit his first and only home run—in what would turn out to be the final at-bat of his major league career.[7] He finished the season hitting .176 with one home run and one RBI.[6]

On February 4, 2009, Thigpen was designated for assignment to clear a roster spot for newly acquired pitcher Brian Burres.[8] On February 6, Thigpen was sent outright to the Blue Jays' AAA affiliate, the Las Vegas 51s.[9]

Oakland Athletics

On March 27, 2009, Thigpen was traded to the Oakland Athletics in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations.[10] He was released in April 2010.[11]

Post-playing career

Thigpen and former Longhorns teammate J. B. Cox returned to the Texas Longhorns as volunteer student assistants in 2010.[12] Thigpen then went on to work as a commercial lender at R Bank Texas from September 5, 2012 until January 15, 2014.[13]

References
  1. "Major League Baseball Players From the Cape Cod League" (PDF). Cape Cod Baseball League. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2012-12-07. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  2. "2003 Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox". The Baseball Cube. Archived from the original on 2021-08-07. Retrieved September 23, 2021.
  3. "East All-Star Roster: All-Star Game 2003". capecodbaseball.org. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  4. "2nd Round of the 2004 MLB June Amateur Draft". Baseball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 2010-01-05. Retrieved December 23, 2021.
  5. "Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Toronto Blue Jays Box Score, June 6, 2007". Baseball-Reference.com. June 6, 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-10-25. Retrieved December 23, 2021.
  6. "Curtis Thigpen Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 2009-06-12. Retrieved December 23, 2021.
  7. Bastian, Jordan (September 26, 2008). "Rain doesn't dim Jays' offseason hopes". Toronto Blue Jays. MLB.com. Archived from the original on September 29, 2008. Retrieved December 23, 2021.
  8. "Blue Jays claim Burres". Toronto Blue Jays. MLB.com. February 4, 2009. Archived from the original on February 8, 2009. Retrieved December 23, 2021.
  9. "Toronto Blue Jays Transactions". MLB.com. Archived from the original on 2020-10-27. Retrieved December 23, 2021.
  10. "A's Acquire Catcher Curtis Thigpen from Toronto". Oakland Athletics. MLB.com. March 27, 2009. Archived from the original on April 1, 2009. Retrieved April 1, 2009.
  11. Axisa, Mike (April 16, 2010). "Odds & Ends: Penn, Veras, Beimel, Mientkiewicz". MLB Trade Rumors. Archived from the original on 2015-03-30. Retrieved December 23, 2021.
  12. Golden, Cedric (May 23, 2011). "Former Horns star Cox still finding a way to impact Texas baseball". Austin American-Statesman. Archived from the original on May 27, 2011. Retrieved September 6, 2011.
  13. "R Bank Press Release" (PDF). R Bank Texas. September 5, 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 16, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2014.
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