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Junior Kyle Thebeau is ready to take a leadership position on the team after practicing with the Cape Cod League in the offseason.

Stepping up to the plate

Junior Kyle Thebeau said that a summer in the Cape Cod League will prepare him for success in 2008

By: Brad Cox

Posted: 2/21/08

In baseball, the bat is a pitcher's mortal enemy. While the pitcher is trying for strikeouts, groundouts or even flyouts, that pesky bat always seems to mess things up. However, the pitcher's efforts are sometimes made easier when the bats are made of wood, instead of the aluminum used in collegiate games.

Texas A&M junior pitcher Kyle Thebeau spent his summer in Falmouth, Mass., pitching for the Commodores of the prestigious Cape Cod League, a summer league for college players. The Cape, as it is often called, uses wooden bats to best simulate how college players would play on a professional level.

"I wish I could pitch to wood bats everyday," Thebeau said. "I feel like some of the homeruns I've given up [at Olsen], aluminum bats made the difference on them going out."

Thebeau pitched 19 innings in 11 games, striking out 29 and posting a 3.79 earned run average against some of the best college prospects in the nation.

"The Cape was really fun," he said. "There were a couple of guys on my team that I feel strongly that they'll be in the pros someday, and there were a lot of guys in the league that were really talented."

The Cape has played host to pros such as Mark Teixeira, Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio and Todd Helton. The Cape was also featured in the 2001 film "Summer Catch." Thebeau said that there were similarities between real life and the film, but it was still different.

"The weather and scenery are beautiful," Thebeau said about the locale. "It was a really positive experience and I'm glad I got the opportunity to do that."

Thebeau's second to last game in the 2007 season was a complete game showing against Louisiana-Lafayette in the College Station regional. Thebeau struck out a career-high 13 while only allowing two runs in his first start in nine weeks, leading the Aggies to their first regional championship since 2004.

Even though A&M ultimately lost to Rice in the Houston super regional, failing to make it to the College World Series, Thebeau established himself as a leader on the mound. In 2008, Thebeau will have to help fill the shoes of Kyle Nicholson and David Newmann, two starters who have moved on to professional careers.

"Those guys did some pretty amazing things for us last year," Thebeau said. "You don't really replace those guys. I hope to step up but I want to respect them and what they've done. I'm going to try my best to do better than them."

A&M Head Coach Rob Childress said he expects big things out of the junior pitcher in 2008.

"He needs to be a guy we can count on every week in the rotation," Childress said. "It's his time and he's ready. He goes about his business in a different way than he's ever done before. You can just see the maturity, the leadership and the expectation that he has for himself and this team."

Though he is quickly becoming a leader of the Aggie baseball team, Thebeau has had to juggle his baseball responsibilities while managing his grades as a petroleum engineering major.

"It's really hard," Thebeau said about handling his major. "It's a lot of time management and delegating responsibilities. There are a lot of times when you don't want to study because you're kind of worn out, but you have to force yourself to do that. Sometimes emotionally, it's tough to do that after losses."

Baseball has played an important role in Thebeau's life, but sometimes being a student athlete with limited social time has proven to be difficult.

"I'm between a half and a full point higher in first semester with grades than I am second semester with grades," Thebeau said. "Baseball really does play an emotional role on how school goes. I also have a somewhat limited social time, but it makes the times that I am able to hang out with my friends a lot better."

When he's not playing baseball or studying for a test, fishing for trout in the Gulf of Mexico is one of his favorite activities. His grandfather has a ranch near George West, Texas, where he can hunt white tail deer.

"Sometimes I don't get to do those things as much as I like," Thebeau said. "But when I do get a chance, I really enjoy it."

A number of faces for the Aggies have changed during the offseason. Junior starters David Newmann, Gary Campfield and infielder Brandon Hicks left A&M for professional contracts. Six seniors moved on following the season.

"It is definitely going to be a very different team than last year's team," Thebeau said. "But I feel like we're going to be very competitive."