JD Thompson’s Journey to Becoming Vanderbilt’s Friday Night Ace

JD Thompson battled with imposter syndrome as he arrived at Vanderbilt, and who could blame him?

The lefthander hails from Rusk, Texas, which has a population of just 5,285, a stark contrast from the big city life of Nashville. The undersized lefty also didn’t light up radar guns with a blazing fastball, so you can see why Thompson struggled with the internal dilemma.

But three years later, Thompson is now Vanderbilt’s Friday night starter, joining an elite group of former Commodores such as David Price, Sonny Gray and Walker Buehler. He did so by breaking out last season with a 4.15 ERA last season, though that number was inflated by an eight-run outing against Coastal Carolina in the Clemson Regional, to go along with 74 strikeouts to 18 walks in 52 innings.

More than anything, the 21-year-old did so by believing in his low-90s fastball.

“I’ve always just had a lot of trust in my fastball,” Thompson said. “It’s probably one of my better put out pitches. It’s honestly not a secondary pitch. I throw it with confidence. It beats guys. So I’m not worried about the velocity, as long as I’m filling up the zone, and then I could play something off of it. It works for me.”

In an era where pitchers are increasingly reaching upper 90s and even touching 100 mph, the 5-foot-11, 203-pound lefthander has found success and has become the ace of one college baseball’s most decorated programs.

Opposing hitters slashed .239/.317/.327 against his fastball with a 20% swinging strike rate. Hitters have a tough time detecting Thompson’s heater from his three-quarters delivery and he throws it with considerable vertical break and a flatter plane of approach from his shorter frame.

That success is even more impressive given that Thompson’s secondary pitches have long lagged behind his fastball. But that’s an area he’s worked on this offseason, specifically with his slider, which has the most potential to be an effective big league pitch.

“I’ve never really had a great secondary,” Thompson said. “So the development over the past few years, especially this offseason, has been a big focus for me.”

In Friday night’s season-opener on the road against Grand Canyon University in front of a record attendance of 5,294, Thompson had everything working for him. Especially that slider he prioritized using.

Thompson went 4.2 innings, striking out six on three hits and one walk. He landed 38 of his 49 pitches for strikes. In the third inning he only needed three breaking pitches to generate three groundball outs.

“He was pretty effective up in the strike zone,”  GCU head coach Gregg Wallis said. “So the way he’s dumping in that breaking ball and riding the ball up in the strike zone, it’s a tough matchup. There’s a reason he’s the ace for Vandy.”

Thompson hopes to build on that success and lead Vanderbilt back to the College World Series. He wants to lead by example, especially since he’s coming in as one of the more experienced pitchers on the roster. It all starts with length, as Thompson only pitched five or more innings in four of his 14 stars last season.

“[It’s important] setting the tone early,” Thompson said. “For your starter to go out, and 5-7 innings it just brings a different type of momentum. If you go out there and get pulled by the third it’s not as good of a feeling. It’s getting deep into games, and giving these guys a chance to win a ball game sounds good.”