11 months ago the Cincinnati Reds picked up outfielder Bubba Thompson on waivers after he was designated for assignment right before the start of spring training by the Minnesota Twins. It was the second time the Reds had picked him up off of waivers since the 2023 season had come to an end and for Thompson is was 5th time in the previous six months he was claimed off of waivers by a team.
The outfielder had a solid spring training, hitting .269/.367/.462 with four walks and seven strikeouts in 15 games (31 plate appearances). That was good enough to get him a spot on the opening day roster for the big league club.
For the first week of the regular season he was used exclusively off of the bench as a pinch runner and only once in those six appearances did he enter the game and remain in it long enough to get an at-bat. He struck out in that at-bat. But on April 7th he would get a start against the Mets and picked up a broken-bat single in his first trip to the plate that day, finishing 1-3. The next day he got another start, this time against the Brewers, and he went 1-4 with a double that day.
That double would be his last hit of the big league season for Thompson. Over the next month he went 0-10 in nine games before he was optioned back to Double-A. Yes, after going 2-18 the Reds optioned him to Double-A Chattanooga. Less than two weeks later the Reds put him on waivers and after no one claimed him he was outrighted to the minors and remained with Chattanooga. He remained there until September when he was sent to Triple-A after hitting .232/.264/.289 for the Lookouts in 57 games. With the Bats he played in nine games in the final month and hit .160/.222/.200. Following the season he became a free agent.
Thompson, while not officially announcing his retirement as of the time I’m tying this late on Monday night, it’s being reported by AL.com’s Creg Stephenson that the former Reds outfielder has enrolled at South Alabama and has joined their football team as a walk-on.
Before choosing to play professional baseball after being a 1st round draft pick, Thompson has scholarship offers to play football from multiple SEC schools as a quarterback.
In less than a year Thompson will have gone from playing Major League Baseball to playing college football at South Alabama. Talk about a wild ride.
