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Virginia Tech head baseball coach John Szefc announced several additions to his staff on June 22, 2017 which included Micheal Thomas being named the Hokies’ Volunteer Assistant Coach in charge of the catchers.

Thomas comes to Blacksburg from Lexington, Kentucky, where he spent the 2016 and 2017 seasons serving as a student manager for his alma mater. Thomas played for the Wildcats from 2011-14, emerging as a star catcher during UK’s 2014 season. He was selected in the 22nd round of the 2014 MLB Draft by the Detroit Tigers and played the 2014 and the 2015 seasons in the Tigers’ organization, before retiring from his playing career.

Over his Kentucky career, Thomas played in 137 games with 102 starts, batting .279 (107-for-383) with 17 doubles, one triple, 12 homers and 70 RBI, with a career .376 slugging percentage and six steals. As a senior in 2014, Thomas, AJ Reed, Austin Cousino and Max Kuhn formed a dynamic lineup that helped Kentucky to the 2014 NCAA tournament. That season, Thomas belted eight homers and drove in 45 runs, as he hit .315 with a .484 slugging percentage.

During the 2017 season, Thomas worked under first-year head coach Nick Mingione and helped the Wildcats to a historic season that saw the program reach the NCAA Super Regional round for the first time and post the fourth-most wins in school history. Kentucky also reached a top-five national ranking and hosted a regional for just the second time in program history.

Working primarily with the catchers at Kentucky, his top two catchers those two seasons – Kole Cottam and Troy Squires – combined to allow just 17 of 30 stolen base attempts in 2017 and committed just five errors in over 600 chances for a .992 fielding percentage. The previous season, the pair was just as effective behind the plate, limiting the opposition to 22 of 33 in stolen base attempts and a .993 fielding percentage with just three errors in over 400 chances.

In the summer of 2017, Thomas worked with the Waynesboro Generals, a summer league baseball team in the Valley League. He assisted with all aspects of the game and worked with the hitters and catchers and managed a coaching box.

Thomas, born in Virginia Beach, Virginia, was a four-year member of the football, basketball and baseball teams at Elizabethtown High School in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. He helped the Panthers to a pair of district titles and was a two-time all-region performer.

He is joined in Blacksburg by his wife Haley.