Six Nations standout Kaleb Thomas turning the heads of scouts

Kaleb Thomas of Six Nations is turning heads as a pitcher and infielder with the Mississauga Tigers High Performance Program. Photo: J.P. Antonacci

November 24, 2020

By J.P. Antonacci

Canadian Baseball Network

You’re more likely to find a lacrosse stick than a baseball bat in Six Nations of the Grand River, a First Nations community southwest of Hamilton, Ont.

But at the Thomas home, baseball is the name of the game.

Brad and Cindy Thomas both played ball in their younger days and passed on their love of the game to their sons Kaden – who plays minor baseball in Brantford – and 16-year-old Kaleb, a pitcher-infielder with the Mississauga Tigers High Performance Program who Perfect Game has their eye on as a promising high school athlete.

Kaleb said baseball has been part of his life “pretty much ever since I could walk. I grew up on a baseball diamond and loved it ever since.”

Brad played all over the diamond with the Hill United Chiefs, a mainstay on the global fastpitch scene for decades and one of two franchises since 1960 to win three straight International Softball Congress world titles.

“I was utility. I’d play anywhere. Much like Kaleb plays anywhere,” Brad said.

“(Brad) played with them when they were first starting. He went to Florida with them,” Cindy added. “That’s when Kaleb was barely walking, so he was around the diamond with them.”

Baseball runs in the family for Kaleb Thomas of Six Nations, second from right, whose father Brad played for the renowned Hill United Chiefs fastpitch team. Photo: J.P. Antonacci

As soon as he could grip the ball, Kaleb started playing catch with his dad in their backyard, with younger brother Kaden eventually joining in. There aren’t any hardball diamonds on Six Nations and very few kids who play, so Kaleb had to go further afield in search of competitive teams.

“Probably when I was nine, 10, that’s when I really started to see that I was good and had potential,” he said.

Wearing his father’s number 24 on his back, Kaleb impressed in minor baseball stints with the Ancaster Cardinals and Brantford Red Sox. Last year, the right-hander threw a combined no-hitter to help his high school varsity team at Assumption College in Brantford win the Brant County league championship.

“I like challenging the hitters with pitches and seeing the outcome – seeing who’s better,” Kaleb said. “I like the mental challenge too, of when I get into bases loaded (situations) and I’m not doing so well.”

Kaleb stands a shade under six feet and weighs in at 180 pounds, which he uses to power a fastball in the high 80s, accompanied by a change-up and a recently added slider.

“I also threw a knuckle-curve, but that changed to a slider now and I think it’s working better,” he said.

“My pitching coach (Mississauga’s Greg Byron) has said it’s nasty, and I’ve found a lot of strikes and swings and misses with it. It’s a good pitch. They know it’s coming but they can’t hit it. I have to thank my pitching coach for that. I would have never learned it.”

Mississauga coach Sean Travers said the normally reserved Kaleb Thomas (above) comes alive on the baseball field. “You get to see the personality and the confidence, and just the incredible ability,” Travers said.. Photo: J.P. Antonacci

Kaleb speaks with the quiet confidence of a pitcher who knows how to handle the spotlight.

“It doesn’t really bother me. I like the pressure. It helps me perform,” he said.

“I focus on one pitch at a time and I give my best to every hitter, every pitch. If they beat me, then props to them. I just get ‘em next time.”

Cindy marvels at her son’s composure on the mound.

“He’s very calm. I think I feel more pressure watching him pitch,” she said with a laugh.

“He’s always been the kid that wanted to pitch against the good team and wanted to be there. He’s always wanted that challenge, and it’s fun to watch him play.”

The talented young pitcher is also turning heads as a middle infielder.

“Definitely my arm is my strength,” Kaleb said. “I’m working on my speed, to be faster and quicker.”

He plays shortstop primarily, though he’ll play second after pitching to give his arm a breather. So far, he’s been able to divide his attention between the mound, the field and the batter’s box.

“I work on all the aspects of the game,” he said “If I’m not doing good in one position then I’ll focus on that more, but if I think I’m good then I’ll practice them equally. Eventually I’ll have to choose, so that’s when I’ll start focusing on (one) more.”

Tigers coach Sean Travers is impressed by Kaleb’s “natural tools” on all sides of the ball.

“I don’t know that I’ve ever had a shortstop-pitcher at a high level of both,” said Travers, who in September 2019 left his post as director of player development after 17 years with the Ontario Blue Jays and founded the Mississauga Tigers High Performance Program this summer.

“The arm is something very special. Hands are good, instincts are good, and the work ethic is fantastic,” Travers said. “Both (pitches, fastball and slider) are very impressive. Very athletic on the mound, and at shortstop he’s a very good defender. Contact, gap to gap hitter.”

Travers said Kaleb has a middle infielder’s build, but the trend is moving away from hulking hurlers to pitchers who draw their power from their athleticism and core strength.

“He’s high-level at both, which is going to probably be tough to continue,” Travers said.

“People always say, well, he’s got to make a decision. I think the game will make the decision. In the next 12 to 24 months, the game will kind of figure itself out, and for right now he’ll work on both.”

In the meantime, scouts are becoming more and more intrigued by the kid from Six Nations with the swing-and-miss stuff.

Kaleb took part in several Perfect Game showcases as a member of the Ontario Rockies travel team coached by Damian Blen, and PG staff put Thomas on their Top 1000 for 2023 pre-draft list.

Playing on one of the High Performance Program’s two travel teams should only improve his standing.

“It’s a development program that brings kids to the biggest tournaments in the U.S. for exposure,” Travers said of the HPP, which is associated with the Mississauga North Baseball Association.

“I like it. It’s helped a lot,” Kaleb said. “It’s like an all-in-one. You’ve got strength, physio. I have a pitching coach now, which I never really had.

“I’ve met a lot of new people, new teammates. You learn more every day from the new players. Their pitches, or how they hit the ball – what their approach is.”

Brad and Cindy say it’s worth the 2.5-hour round trip to Mississauga every week to give their son the chance to excel.

“We see the potential that he has,” Brad said.

“He’s got an opportunity that I never had when I was growing up. You could always tell from when he was young, he was the one who always stood out on his team. And he’s just gotten better and better every year.”

The level of instruction Kaleb gets from Travers’ coaching staff is making a difference, Cindy added.

“He’s never had a specific pitching coach. He’d throw at practice and that’d be done, but now he’s learning stretching, he’s learning to build his arm strength, he’s learning a lot more,” she said.

“So if Kaleb has that goal and that will to want to be there, then we have to get him there. That’s our philosophy.”

Joining a travel team has expanded Kaleb’s world beyond the borders of Six Nations while also giving him the chance to teach curious teammates about Indigenous culture.

“He’s met so many other people from all over. He answers questions. There have been people that have asked about the native culture,” Cindy said.

“He doesn’t get offended by the questions, because kids don’t know.”

Kaleb’s teammates ask him about Indigenous land ownership and the clan system, how taxes work for Indigenous people and “if we have powwows.”

“It educates them on Indigenous history and it shows them that we’re just like every other person. We’re no different,” Kaleb said.

As his baseball journey continues, Kaleb has his priorities in order.

“The goal is just to get better every day, and hopefully get a scholarship to any division school. Whatever school wants me,” he said.

“I just want to play baseball and see how far it takes me.”