Thomas Eager enters his third season on The Farm in 2020, arriving prior to the 2018 season alongside the Clarke and Elizabeth Nelson Director of Baseball David Esquer.
Eager, who serves as pitching coach and recruiting coordinator, guided Stanford's pitching staff to a 3.62 earned-run average in 2019 -- the Cardinal finished 45-14, good for the fifth-best win percentage (.763) in program history, earning its 11th Super Regional berth and first since 2014. Stanford pitchers issued a league-low 182 walks and Jack Little set the all-time program record in saves with 28 for his career.Â
Eager led Stanford to a 2.83 earned-run average in 2018, the 11th-lowest in team history and second-lowest in the nation. Two of Eager’s starting pitchers – righty Tristan Beck and lefty Kris Bubic – were drafted in the opening four rounds of the 2018 MLB Draft. Little tied a program record in 16 saves, finishing with a 0.60 ERA, 58 strikeouts and eight walks across 45.1 innings
Eager also mentored the pitchers for Coach Esquer at Cal for two seasons, which included 2016 first round selection Dalton Jeffries. He held the same role at Cal Poly for three seasons, where the Mustangs had seven pitchers drafted, and posted the lowest ERA in the school's Division I history (3.05) in 2014 en route to a Division I program-record 47 wins and No. 1 seed at the NCAA Regionals.
Before his promotion to pitching coach, Eager spent two seasons as the Director of Operations for his alma mater, Cal Poly, where he pitched in 2006 and 2007. The Visalia, California, native finished his sophomore season at Cal Poly in 2007 with an 11-3 ledger, notching a 3.43 ERA with 99 strikeouts in 126.0 innings of work on his way to first team All-Big West accolades.Â
A fifth round draft pick in 2007, he spent four years in the St. Louis Cardinals organization. He reached as high as Double-A and posted a 15-21 record during his professional career.
A three-year varsity letterman, Eager was a first-team All-Central California Conference selection as a senior at Merced High School. Eager was also a second team all-conference choice as a junior and helped the Bears to a CIF Sac-Joaquin Section title as a sophomore in 2002.
Eager earned a bachelor of science degree in business management from the University of Phoenix in May of 2012 after studying business administration at Cal Poly.
Eager and his wife, Jenna, have two sons, Trey and Blake.