The Thinking Man’s Pitcher

Tom Thornton is a warrior. “In terms of pitching more innings, I’ve always considered myself a workhorse,” Thornton said. “I want to lead the team in innings again this year. I threw three complete games in a row at one point last year and I want to have that reputation for taking the ball and having the ability to go nine if need be.”

Tom Thornton is conscientious. “His greatest asset is his preparation every single day,” Rooney said. “He’s the complete package. He is diligent in his schoolwork and he is diligent in baseball. He takes a workmanlike approach in everything he does. The guy knows no shortcuts.”

Tom Thornton is practical. “I really like to practice sound body awareness of what I’m doing on the mound,” Thornton said. “I try not to overthrow my pitches. My objective is to make the batter hit my pitch. I want him to hit it; I don’t want him to miss it. That makes for more three-pitch at bats.”

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Thornton is not overpowering. His fastball generally tops out in the 85 mile-per-hour range. But when the Irish have needed consistency, leadership and a big-game performance the last couple of years, more often than not, head coach Paul Mainieri has tabbed the Middleboro, Mass., native.

“Tom Thornton is a guy we’ve been able to turn to whenever there’s been a lot at stake,” Mainieri said.

Joining Thornton in Notre Dame’s three-man rotation will be junior Jeff Samardzija, who is fresh off an All-American football season, and junior Jeff Manship, who returns to the Irish 100 percent healthy after undergoing “Tommy John” elbow surgery in 2004. Samardzija and Manship are ace-type pitchers in their own right. But Thornton has the most experience and results with 20 career victories and 250 1/3 innings pitched in 39 career starts.

After pitching in mainly mid-week non-conference games as a freshman -- notching a 5-1 mark in 2003 -- Thornton rose to the occasion as a sophomore with a 9-2 mark while averaging a team-best 6 1/3 innings per outing. Thornton’s numbers show a 6-6 mark with a 4.69 earned run average in 2005, but that doesn’t begin to reveal his value to the Irish during his junior season. For the second straight year, Thornton logged more than 90 innings (96 in 2005 and 99 2/3 in 2004), usually drawing Notre Dame’s toughest opponents.

During one three-game stretch last season versus Boston College, Connecticut and Villanova, Thornton threw back-to-back-to-back complete games as the Irish battled valiantly to make the four-team Big East Tournament. Needing four victories in their last four games to qualify, the Irish won them all with Thornton notching a victory over West Virginia on the final weekend.

Thornton’s warrior-like attitude has earned the respect of his teammates. Usually, every-day players are tabbed for the role of captain. Thornton joins shortstop Greg Lopez in that role this season.

“That was quite an honor,” Thornton said. “We have a rich tradition and legacy of not only great players but great leaders. Coming in I had to find my own niche and leadership spot, which I share with the rest of the group. We’re going to have a lot of seniors this year that take the initiative to lead. To be honest, this is really a great group. I don’t have to do too much out of the ordinary. It’s a very self-motivated group. Maybe I do things differently just among the pitchers, but we have so many great leaders that it makes my job as captain pretty (easy).”

Thornton sets a great example. At 6-foot-6, 225 pounds, he has to work harder at fielding his position because he’s not as athletic as someone such as Samardzija. Thornton also throws, in his estimation, 20-to-25 percent more between starts, just because he feels he needs the work to be at his best.

“I work very hard between starts to be able to throw a lot of pitches,” Thornton said. “To me the innings aren’t necessarily a big concern. I throw more between starts than any of our other pitchers. It’s not that they aren’t working hard. It’s just that for me, I need to practice things a little more. They might want to throw less just because that’s the way their body works.

“If I’m feeling healthy, I don’t worry about how many pitches I’ve thrown. At times I’ll cut back, but I ice probably more than anybody else. I try to do enough things to keep ready to throw.”

Thornton enjoys analyzing his mechanics and discussing his craft with the Irish coaching staff. It’s that hunger for knowledge that also contributes to his 3.54 cumulative grade-point average as a double major in anthropology and film, television and theater.

“I enjoy reflecting on what I’m doing,” Thornton said. “What I like about the (Notre Dame) environment is that I can come here every day and learn something new. If you’re privileged enough to sit next to Coach Mainieri when he’s working on defense or Coach Rooney or Coach (Cliff) Godwin, all three of our coaches really know baseball, and it’s just fun to sit there and to watch what they’re doing or how they move things around. Coach Rooney and I can talk about different aspects of pitching, like moving your release point two degrees to the right to get more movement.”

For Thornton, competing at the highest level of college baseball means thinking outside of the box.

“There’s an element of what we do, in order to make it the best, where you have to go outside of what you have,” Thornton philosophized. “If you were to list 20 things necessary to get better, it order to get from five to 15, you’re probably going to have to go outside of what you have. I’m probably going to have to get more information to make this thing work. I can always get what I need from our coaching staff.”

Thornton also turns to his teammates for feedback.

“Obviously I’ll talk to Coach Rooney quite a bit,” Thornton said. “But I’ll always talk to the catchers in the pen that day. If there are people watching the inter-squad game, I’ll talk to them. I’ll talk to (student assistant coach) Nick (Mainieri). I’ll talk to the hitters. The hitters will know. If I’m trying to get a pitch in -- like I’m trying to work on getting my two-seam fastball in to a lefty -- I talk to (left-handed hitters) Brett Lilley and Danny Dressman. If I’m able to jam Brett Lilley, that’s a rarity, so the pitch must have been pretty good because he’s good at getting his hands through the zone and inside the baseball.”

Thornton will put his knowledge to use Thursday, Feb. 23, when the Irish open the 2006 campaign versus Indiana State in Millington, Tenn.

“Here’s a guy who is going to walk out of here as one of the winningest pitchers in the history of Notre Dame,” Rooney said. “How is he able to do that? He does the little things that it takes to be successful.

“Tom Thornton is not a hard thrower. He is your classic left-handed pitcher. Tommy’s greatest strengths are his work ethic and the way he goes about his business, which makes him successful.”