Mark Radford Thompson (born April 7, 1971) is an American former right-handed

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

. Thompson graduated from Logan County High School in Russellville, Kentucky and he then attended the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

. In 1991, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the

Brewster Whitecaps The Brewster Whitecaps are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Brewster, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's East Division. The Whitecaps play their home games at Stony Bro ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over 1,000 forme ...

. Standing at tall and 205 pounds (one source has him at 213), Thompson was selected by the

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. Th ...

65th overall in the second round of the

1992 draft Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno D ...

. In his first two minor league seasons, he was an effective pitcher, posting a record of 14–6. He spent less than three seasons in the minors before making his big league debut on July 26, against the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...

. He earned the

win Win or WIN most likely refers to: * A victory Win, Winning, WIN or Winner may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * '' Win!'', a 2016 American film Literature * ''Win'' (Coben novel), 2021 * WIN (pacifist magazine) * WIN (wrestling ma ...

in that game, but his overall

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

in his rookie season (which consisted of two games) was 9.00. He spent most of the rest of his career bouncing between the majors and minors. He spent only one season entirely in the majors-, when he posted a 9–11 record with a 5.30 ERA. He was ninth in the league in

shutout In team sports, a shutout (North American English, US) or clean sheet (Commonwealth English, UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketba ...

s that year (with one), but he was also ninth in runs allowed (100) and fourth in hit batsmen (13). He finished his major league career with an 18–24 record, with a 5.74 ERA. He

struck out In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It means the batter is out, unless the third strike is not caught by the catcher and the batter reaches first base safel ...

198 and walked 161 in 337

innings pitched In baseball, the statistic innings pitched (IP) is the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of Batter (baseball), batters and baserunners that have been put out while the pitcher is on the Baseball field#Pitcher's mou ...

. He had a .154

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

in 104 career

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens upon completion of his turn at bat, ...

s, with the highlight of his batting career being the

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

he hit off of

Kent Bottenfield Kent Dennis Bottenfield (born November 14, 1968) is an American former professional baseball pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Montreal Expos, Colorado Rockies, San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals, An ...

in a game. He appeared in one postseason game in his career, pitching a perfect inning for the save in the

1995 National League Division Series The 1995 National League Division Series (NLDS), the opening round of the National League side of the 1995 MLB Postseason, began on Tuesday, October 3, and ended on Saturday, October 7, with the champions of the three NL divisions—along with a ...

. He played his final major league game on July 27, . He stuck around in the minors until 2003, when he finished his career with the independent

Long Island Ducks The Long Island Ducks are an American professional minor league baseball team based on Long Island in Central Islip, New York. The Ducks compete in the North Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB), an independent "par ...

. In 2006, he was the pitching coach for the

Casper Rockies Casper (Computer-Based Assessment for Sampling Personal Characteristics, earlier CASPer or "CMSENS") is an admissions test developed by Harold Reiter and Kelly Dore. It was made for the McMaster University's Program for Educational Research and De ...

. Thompson in the 2010s has worked in a variety of professional positions in his native Kentucky, serving among other things as a representative for the school memorabilia company

Jostens Jostens Inc. is an American manufacturer of memorabilia. The company is primarily known for its production of yearbooks, academic regalia, and class rings for various high schools and colleges as well as championship rings for sports. For over 5 ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Mark 1971 births Living people Kentucky Wildcats baseball players Brewster Whitecaps players Major League Baseball pitchers Colorado Rockies players St. Louis Cardinals players Baseball players from Kentucky Long Island Ducks players People from Russellville, Kentucky Arkansas Travelers players Asheville Tourists players Arizona League Rockies players Bend Rockies players Carolina Mudcats players Central Valley Rockies players Chattanooga Lookouts players Colorado Springs Sky Sox players Indianapolis Indians players Louisville Bats players Memphis Redbirds players Salem Avalanche players Tri-City Dust Devils players