Duke Transfer Kassius Thomas Named An Impact Transfer for Stanford
The Stanford baseball team took in a couple of transfers following last season as they look to reload after losing a major chunk of their key contributors to the MLB.
Along with UCSD first baseman Brandon Larson, they also landed Duke righty Kassius Thomas. The Sierra Canyon product was ranked as the No. 42 recruit in the class of 2022, No. 5 in California and No. 2 ranked right-handed pitcher prior to pledging to the Blue Devils.
This past season, he made just six appearances with one start for Duke. While he didn't get the innings he would have liked while in Durham, there is a major chance that he can crack the rotation for Stanford who saw Quinn Mathews, Joey Dixon, Drew Dowd, and Ryan Bruno all get drafted.
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D1Baseball recently ranked the top 130 impact transfers, and Thomas came in at No. 100 on the list. Kendall Rogers provided a breakdown of what Thomas brings on the mound for the Cardinal:
Thomas could be a breakout candidate for the Cardinal in 2024. The impressive-looking 6-foot-2, 200-pound, right handed pitcher was a highly touted prospect out of high school but appeared in just six games for the Blue Devils last season. He tallied a 3.38 ERA in 5.1 innings, along with 11 strikeouts and eight walks. From a sheer stuff standpoint, Thomas will sit anywhere from 91-94 mph with his fastball, while also displaying a quality 11-to-5 breaking ball at 76-80 mph.
On top of adding Thomas to bolster their pitching unit, the Cardinal also brought in a top-15 freshman class that is headlined by pitchers Joey Volchko (#14 on PBR’s list of the top 150 freshmen) and Aidan Keenan (#31). While there will be quite a few new names stepping into major roles for Stanford, the Cardinal badly need depth in both their rotation and in the pen, as pitching has ended up being the weak link of the team each of the past couple of seasons.