One of the Fourth Region's most successful baseball products is sharing his experience and expertise with youngsters who dream of duplicating his
success.
Mark Thompson, who starred at Logan County High School and the University of Kentucky before pitching in the major leagues for seven seasons, has
opened Pro Performance in Bowling Green. He will teach youngsters all facets of the game and try to help them prepare for high school and college,
maybe even professional, careers.
Pro Performance is located at 925 Searcy Way, just off Lovers Lane. It's on the opposite side of Scottsville Road from Campbell Lane and adjacent to
the Knights of Columbus headquarters.
Thompson has converted a 5000-square foot building into a baseball training facility with stations for batting off tees, soft toss drills, a batting
cage and two portable pitching mounds.
A pitcher for the Colorado Rockies and St. Louis Cardinals from 1994-2000, he has also been a pitching coach in the Rockies farm system.
Mark holds a premier place in Colorado Rockies history.He was the franchise's second draft pick ever in 1992. That year Colorado didn't field a major
league team, and Mark was named the organization's most valuable player while pitching for the Bend (Oregon) Rockies. After short stays in California
and with the AAA feeder team in Colorado Springs, he went to Denver as the Rockies' first draft choice to make it to the National League team.
He pitched his major league debut on July 26, 1994 against Tony Gwynn and the San Diego Padres, getting the win. His catcher in that game was Joe
Girardi, now the manager of the world champion New York Yankees.
The Rockies were playing at Mile High Stadium then. When they opened Coors Field a few years later, he was the winning pitcher in the first game ever
played there. Later he became the first (and for several years only) Rockies pitcher to record a postseason save. That came in 1995 against
Atlanta in the first round, the only game Manager Don Baylor's Rockies won in the series against the eventual World Series champions. He retired all
three Braves he faced that night.
Thompson pitched in 94 major league games, 52 of them as a starter. He finished with an 18-24 record and a 5.74 earned run average. In 337 innings, he
gave up 215 earned runs on 404 hits and 151 walks. He struck out 198 of the 1,568 major league batters he faced and only had 8 wild pitches in all that
time. He allowed only 1.5 homers for every nine innings pitched.
His highest win total was 9-11 in 1996 while working for the Rockies. That season he started 28 games and relieved in six others. He went 1-1 in both
his first major league season and in his last.
Thompson pitched against some of the most powerful hitters the game has ever known, including Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Robin Yont, and Mark McGwire,
who became his teammate at St. Louis.
Mark also got 16 hits off major league pitching, a quarter of which went for doubles. A fifth hit was a home run during the 1997 season. On defense he
had a .936 fielding percentage, making only five errors in seven seasons on 78 chances. He was credited with 27 putouts.
Thompson had pitched Coach David Billingsley's Logan County Cougars to the regional championship and the state quarterfinals in 1989. It was during
postseason play that University of Kentucky coach Keith Madison saw him in action and recruited him for the Wildcats. Mark became a featured pitcher
for the Bat Cats, working weekends against teams in the powerful Southeastern Conference.
"I want to teach youngsters the fundamentals of baseball I've learned over the years as a pitcher and a coach," he says. "I still love baseball and
think I have a lot to offer kids. Why not share what I know with them? It keeps me involved in baseball and maybe I can teach them how to improve their
skills and get into the college game, maybe even into the pros."
Thompson's connections with countless baseball people should be a plus as he helps his students find places to play. "I think I have the kind of
credibility which would influence scouts and coaches to choose a player I recommend," he says.
He teaches pitching by using a training net, which has nine zones for pitchers to hit. "Catchers can move around to make the location of a pitch look
better than it really is," he explains. "This net doesn't move and forces a young pitcher to work on mechanics."
He also knows how to instruct hitters. Although he was a professional pitcher, Mark batted throughout his major league career, all of which he spent in
the National League. "We also spend a lot of time as pitchers studying hitters to see their weaknesses so that we can get them out. I can help batters
get over their weaknesses."
Thompson has had some good jobs outside of baseball. Some of them involved customer relations, which included playing a lot of golf with clients.
Baseball kept drawing him back, though.
"I enjoyed coaching in the minors (in Caspar, Wyoming), and I think the Rockies had plans for me eventually to become their pitching coach," he says,
"but it was going to take a long time and a lot of traveling. Even in the majors, you spent a lot of time in the road staying in hotels. I decided to
open this training facility because it allows me to stay in baseball without having to travel. It's time for me to settle down, maybe even have a
family."
Anyone who would like for a member of their family to take advantage of Mark Thompson's expertise and experience can contact Pro Performance at
270-393-1800. Or you might just talk to his parents, Jim and Doris Thompson of Russellville. They'd be glad to help facilitate getting Mark and
potential Mark Thompsons together.