Safety Shaq Thompson is the nation’s No. 4 overall recruit in the Class of 2012 and part of an impressive incoming class at Washington.
He’s also the epitome of a high school star. According to Yahoo! Sports Prep Rally, he led Sacramento’s Grant High School deep into the state playoffs in football. He carried a 3.2 GPA. And he starred for the Pacers’ baseball team.
The lattermost highlight of Thompson’s high school career convinced him to give pro baseball a try. After the Red Sox selected him in the 18th round of the 2012 entry draft, he reported to Boston’s short-season Gulf Coast League squad in Florida.
As of Tuesday, Thompson has yet to record a hit in 27 at-bats – 26 of which have ended with a strikeout.
The minor league record for futility at the plate is unknown. To provide some context, the major league record for consecutive hitless at bats is 46 by Eugenio Velez from 2010-11. And Velez “only” struck out 19 times during that streak.
If you’re Steve Sarkisian, you have to be a little happy about this. Sure, it’s tough to see one of your stud recruits struggling in anything. But the sooner Thompson realizes he can’t cut it on the diamond, the sooner he’ll start focusing on the gridiron full-time.
