Thompson hasn’t officially announced his retirement from professional baseball. However, he’ll pick up the pigskin at South Alabama as a walk-on in the coming weeks during their offseason workouts and spring practices. The athletic soon-to-be 27-year-old former first-round pick was a standout quarterback at McGill-Toolen Catholic High School in Mobile, Alabama prior to being selected 26th overall in the 2017 MLB Draft by the Rangers. If his baseball career is finished, he’ll end with an underwhelming .232/.273/.295 triple-slash line with one homer and 27 stolen bases in 109 games between the Rangers and Reds from 2022-2024.

Thompson passed through waivers unclaimed and will remain with Cincinnati as extra organizational depth. The 25-year-old speedster went 2-for-18 with five steals in 17 games this season for the Reds before being designated for assignment earlier this week.

Sadly, this is becoming a bit of a trend for the former first-round pick. Thompson has elite speed but can’t seem to hit enough to stick with an organization. He slashed just .111/.111/.167 with only two hits across his 18 plate appearances with the Reds this season and was demoted to Double-A at the beginning of May where he hit .200/.243/.314 with one home run and two steals across nine games. The 25-year-old will try to latch on with another team.

Thompson struggled while with Cincinnati this season slashing just .111/.111/.167 with only two hits across his 18 plate appearances. He’ll head down to the Double-A level for the first time since 2021 to try and get going offensively.