Bubba Thompson

BIOGRAPHY

Bubba Thompson was born June 9, 1998, in Jacksonville, Florida. He is an outfielder in the MLB.

Thompson attended McGill–Toolen Catholic High School in Mobile, Alabama. He played baseball and American football in high school. As a junior in baseball, he hit .469 with 19 stolen bases. During his senior year in football, he led his team to the Class 7A state title game and passed for 3,173 yards and 38 touchdowns.

He originally committed to Auburn University to play college baseball but changed his commitment to the University of Alabama in February 2017. A three-star football recruit, he also received offers to play college football from the University of Tennessee and the University of Mississippi.

Thompson was considered one of the top prospects for the 2017 Major League Baseball draft. He was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the first round of the draft.

Thompson officially signed with the Rangers a few days after the draft and was assigned to the AZL Rangers, where he spent the whole season, posting a .257 batting average with three home runs and 12 RBIs in thirty games. He spent 2018 with the Hickory Crawdads of the Class A South Atlantic League, where he slashed .289/.344/.446 with eight home runs, 42 RBIs, and 32 stolen bases.

Thompson was ranked as the #48 overall prospect in baseball by Baseball Prospectus in their preseason 2019 Top 101 list. Thompson was ranked as the #108 overall prospect in baseball by Fangraphs in their preseason 2019 Top 130 list.

Thompson was assigned to the Down East Wood Ducks of the Class A-Advanced Carolina League for the 2019 season. He was placed on the injured list on April 17, after suffering a fractured hamate bone in his left hand. He finished an injury-marred season hitting .178/.261/.312/.573 with five home runs and 21 RBIs in 57 games. Thompson played in the Arizona Fall League for the Surprise Saguaros following the 2019 season and was named a Fall League All-Star.

On August 4, 2022, Texas selected Thompson's contract and promoted him to the active roster to make his MLB debut versus the Chicago White Sox. In his debut, Thompson recorded his first career hit, a bunt single off of Johnny Cueto.

In 2022 with Texas, he batted .265/.302/.312 in 170 at bats with 18 steals in 21 attempts, and his 85.71% stolen base percentage was 8th-best in the American League, as he played primarily left field. He had the second-fastest sprint speed of all major league batters, at 30.4 feet/second.