Kaleb Thomas, a right-hander from Six Nations of the Grand River made a verbal commitment to attend NCAA Division I Missouri State University to play for the Bears on August 23.
“I’m extremely excited to announce my commitment to further my academic and athletic career at MSU Bear Baseball,” wrote Thomas to Twitter. “I’d like to thank my family, friends, HPP Tigers coaches and teammates who have helped me become the person and player I am today!”
Currently a Grade 12 student at Brantford Collegiate Institute, he will head to Missouri State University in the next two years.
Thomas has played ball in Ancaster and Brantford, as well as with the Tri-City Giants and Ontario Rockies programs, and was coached within the Mississauga Tigers High Performance Program and made a switch from shortstop to pitcher—a change not many players can embrace.
Thomas is currently ranked fifth in the 2023 prospect on the Prep Baseball Report Ontario rankings. He is considered the Top Arm on the prospect list. He accepted the invitation to represent the PBR- team Canada at the Futures Games in Georgia.
And Missouri State will provide a prolific coach: over the course of his 33-year coaching career, Paul Evans produced a pitcher selected in the Major League Baseball draft each season besides one. That means 66 pitchers have gone on to play MLB under his guidance.
Missouri State University is known for its sponsorship of over 15 NCAA Division 1 (one) intercollegiate athletic teams in men’s and women’s basketball, golf, soccer, swimming and diving; men’s baseball and football; and women’s beach volleyball, cross country, softball, tennis, track, and volleyball.