REPORT: Former MLB First-Round Pick Is Leaving Baseball To Play College Football At The Age Of 26

Former MLB first-round pick Bubba Thompson has decided to walk away from life on the diamond and try his hand at college football.

According to a report from Creg Stephenson of AL.com, the 26-year-old Bubba Thompson has enrolled at South Alabama and will join the Jaguars’ football team as a walk-on. The program is coached by Major Applewhite.

As noted by Stephenson, Thompson was a standout high school quarterback before pursuing a career in the majors. Having never attended college, Thompson can play up to four seasons of football there, per Stephenson.

Bubba Thompson was drafted in the first round (26th overall) by the Texas Rangers in 2017. Thompson was a star outfielder from McGill–Toolen Catholic High School in Mobile, Alabama.

Former MLB player Bubba Thompson has joined South Alabama’s football team as a walk-on

Thompson is 27 years old

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— Unnecessary Roughness (@UnnecRoughness) January 14, 2025

The 6-foot-2, 197-pound Thompson debuted in the majors for the Rangers in 2022. In 55 game appearances, he recorded one homer, nine RBI and batted .265 with a .312 slugging percentage and .613 OPS.

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Though he only appeared in 37 games for Texas during the 2023 season (a .170 BA, .283 slugging percentage and .520 OPS), Bubba Thompson was awarded a championship ring after the Rangers won the franchise’s first World Series.

Thompson suited up in 17 games for the Cincinnati Reds during the 2024 season, batting .111 with an OPS of .278. HE spent most of the year playing for the Reds’ Double-A affiliate, the Chattanooga Lookouts, of the Southern League.

Bubba Thompson Looks To Follow Footsteps Of Deion Sanders & Bo Jackson

Deion Sanders and Bo Jackson headline the list of all-time great athletes who played in both the majors and the NFL. Those two starred in both leagues, with Sanders winning two Super Bowl championships (in 1994 with the San Francisco 49ers and 1995 with the Dallas Cowboys) and helping Atlanta to a World Series appearance in 1992.

Thompson never became a star in the majors, but we’ll see how he fares in football.

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