Baseball: Cook County All-Area captain Thomsen’s blistering season goes down as best in St. Viator history

Hitters hit.

And no one has hit like St. Viator’s Brandon Thomsen in a long time.

Thomsen hit .525 this season with 54 hits. He also had 10 homers and 50 RBI. He scored 36 runs, had 4 sacrifice flies and struck out just 15 times in 144 plate appearances.

Those numbers are extremely impressive. But what is even more extraordinary are the newer analytic numbers that Thomsen accumulated with numbers that look like they came from a video game.

With 30 walks and 2 hit by pitches, Thomsen’s on-base percentage was an incredible .632. With 13 doubles and a triple to go with the home runs, Thomsen’s slugging percentage was a staggering .961.

What was even more impressive was Thomsen’s OPS, on base percentage plus slugging percentage. The cream of the crop of hitters in the major leaguers is around 1.000. Thomsen’s finished with an uncanny 1.593.

“The numbers don't lie,” St. Viator coach Terry Beyna said. “To hit over .500 with 10 home runs is unbelievable. I also think the RBI is what jumps out at you. And you look at the walks. They walked him a ton and yet he still had 50 RBI in 36 games.”

For his dominating play and leadership, Thomsen is the captain of the Daily Herald Cook County All-Area baseball team.

With those numbers, Thomsen helped lead the Lions to a co-championship of the East Suburban Catholic Conference in the league’s final season.

Thomsen was named player of the year in the conference. Last year he was named ESCC offensive player of the year, and he is a three-time member of the ESCC all-conference team.

Thomsen’s numbers this season eclipsed those of former St. Viator standout and 2017 Daily Herald captain Cole Kmet. The current Chicago Bears tight end had a staggering season that year hitting .435 with 12 homers and 44 RBI while scoring 36 runs. He had an OBP of .500 and a slugging percentage of .922 while his OPS was 1.422.

Thomsen, whose numbers this season are the new gold standard, said he has always enjoyed hitting baseballs.

“I have always loved like kind of hitting in just the garage off the tee and just like kind of videoing myself,” Thomsen said. “I was just kind of trying to figure it out on my own. And that only got me so far, because I was like 12 and 13.”

That’s when Thomsen, who grew up in Rolling Meadows and played for the Palatine Bulldogs, connected with Paul Bloomquist as his hitting coach.

“He just kind of helped me like kind of have my first glimpse of success,” Thomsen said. “And that kind of got me hooked on baseball and all that.”

Thomsen, who attended Holt Family Academy in Inverness, decided to attend St. Viator as a freshman. He played hockey as a freshman, a sport that Thomsen had played growing up.

On the hockey team, Thomsen made connections with St. Viator seniors Dylan Harer, Zan Von Schlegel and Bryan Hatch, all who played hockey and were key players on the school’s baseball team.

“I had a really good connection from our centerfielder, Dylan Harer,” Thomsen said. “I kind of met him and kind of became friends with him through hockey. I knew him from months before tryouts. Zan Von Schlege and Brian Hatch also kind of vouched for me to like bring me up. They helped me figure out what it was like to play varsity and just kind of deal through all the ups and downs.”

Thomsen didn’t set the varsity baseball world on fire as a freshman. But he did hit a respectable .250 at 14 years old against varsity pitching. He also helped anchor a veteran pitching staff at catcher.

“Brandon came up to varsity pretty quick,” said Beyna, who was in his first year as varsity head coach for the Lions after being at Elk Grove.

“He fit right in. I think that physically, he is as strong as a player as I've ever had from a standpoint of just his power. He runs well for a kid his size and has great arm strength. He works really hard at the game. Put all those things together and he's had four successful years for us.”

Those years include hitting .371 with 5 homers as a sophomore. He stepped up his game again as a junior hitting .451 with 6 homers.

“I think the biggest improvement he had from junior to senior year was he really was way more disciplined in the strike zone,” Beyna said. “He took his walks. He didn't strike out as much. I think he wasn't trying to do as much.”

His high school play and summer ball attracted top level colleges. Thomsen had several offers before choosing Purdue.

Thomsen also began working with professional hitting coach Trey Hannam.

“I knew that I was going to be playing on a national type of stage,” Thomsen said. “I was going to Jupiter, Florida and I knew that we were going to be getting a lot of pro attention for my team. So, I kind of just wanted to hone it in and make sure my mechanics were looking good. I ended up doing pretty well in Jupiter and I kept with it.”

With St. Viator playing Nazareth and Landon Thome as well as Glenbrook North shortstop Ethan Bass, there were plenty of pro scouts that saw Thomsen play.

“I know he's received some pro interest,” Beyna said. “And I know he's attending some pre-draft stuff this summer. Brandon performed really well every time there was somebody there professionally at our games. He has a lot of the physical tools that an organization would be looking for.”

Meanwhile Thomsen is planning to head to Purdue in July to begin his college experience. He will be taking classes in preparation for next spring with the Boilermakers.

He won’t have to look for a garage to hit off a tee in West Lafayette with Purdue’s great baseball facility. But Thomsen will be in those batting tunnels daily working on his craft.

Because hitters hit.