Tommy Nicholson

Thomas Blair Nicholson

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 160 lb.

• School University of Texas at Austin

• Born August 23, 1979 in Santa Ana, CA USA

BR register page

Biographical Information

Tommy Nicholson reached AAA (spending three seasons there) then became a college coach.

He hit .327 at Texas. The Chicago White Sox took him in the 11th round of the 2000 amateur draft, between Corey Hart and John Gall. He hit .260/.330/.316 for the 2000 Burlington Bees with ten steals in twelve tries. Moving up to the Winston-Salem Warthogs the next year, he produced at a .245/.311/.308 clip and led Carolina League second basemen in fielding percentage (.978) and putouts (275).

Nicholson returned to Winston-Salem in 2002 and posted nearly identical offensive numbers (.245/.313/.311, one fewer walk, one more extra-base hit). Moving to third base, he fielded .959 there. He led Carolina League third sackers in fielding, assists (248) and double plays (30). He was a utility infielder in 2003, split between Winston-Salem (.289/.340/.456 in 26 G), the Birmingham Barons (.280/.372/.384 in 47 G) and Charlotte Knights (.140/.245/.163 in his first 19 AAA games). In '04, he was with the same three teams - .259/.361/.346 in 60 games for the Warthogs, .278/.354/.400 in 38 f or the Barons and 0 for 3 for the Knights. He wrapped up his pro career in 2005, playing for the Barons (4 for 15, 2 2B, BB) and with the Colorado Rockies' Tulsa Drillers (.286/.386/.367 in 17 G) and Colorado Springs SkySox (.294/.341/.329 in 32 G).

Tommy had batted .256/.329/.331 with 217 runs and 156 RBI in 570 games as a pro, fielding .975 in 275 games at 2B, .946 in 225 at 3B and .947 in 32 at SS.

He returned to the University of Texas as volunteer assistant in 2009-2010, then was assistant at Sacramento State University (2011-2012), Texas again (2013-2016) and Sacramento State again in 2017. He was assistant at Stanford University from 2018-2021 then became head coach of the University of California, Davis.