Nazareth senior shortstop Landon Thome is in select company.
The son of Baseball Hall of Famer Jim Thome, who played for the Chicago White Sox for four seasons, Landon Thome has signed to play at Florida State and could be picked early in the MLB draft in July.
But in the final weeks of his high school career, Landon Thome is more inclined to focus on the past and the present rather than the future.
“It’s been the fastest four years of my life, and it didn’t set in until about halfway through graduation that this is really almost all over,” he said. “When I came in as a freshman, I might have known two or three people, and now I have so many people I’ll be connected with for a lifetime.”
Among those people are the former teammates who led Nazareth to the Class 3A state title in 2023, when Landon Thome was a freshman.
“The biggest thing for me that year was being around all that talent,” he said. “Almost the whole lineup went Division I. I was just worried about putting the bat on the ball, but being around them every day, being able to pick their brains, was a big part of my development.”
The 6-foot, 185-pound Landon Thome has come a long way since then. It’s easy to see the physical changes, since he’s about 40 pounds heavier. But Nazareth coach Lee Milano is impressed that Landon Thome has never stopped looking for ways to improve.
“He’s made huge growth from year to year in his overall game,” Milano said. “We knew the power was going to keep coming, he runs really well and he has really good baseball instincts. Also, your best players need to be your hardest workers, and he lives up to that.”
Not that Landon Thome, who will participate in the MLB draft combine at Chase Field in Phoenix in June, worries about living up to anything.
“I feel like every time I go out there on the field, I try to have fun,” he said. “I don’t put too much pressure on myself. It’s awesome to see that people want to take the time to see me play, and I want to go out there and have fun.”
Landon Thome, who was batting .531 with 13 doubles, eight triples, seven home runs, 54 runs scored and 47 stolen bases for the Roadrunners (24-9) through May 22 with the playoffs on tap, is No. 39 in MLB.com’s rankings of 2026 draft prospects.
“The growth he’s made hasn’t gone unnoticed on a national scale,” Milano said. “We had 50 pro guys at one of our games a couple of weeks ago, and Landon has done a good job of playing under a microscope. He does a really good job of keeping everything in perspective.”
Landon Thome has a clear-eyed view of the process in part because he watched former Nazareth teammates go through it.
In the previous two seasons, professional scouts tracked Cooper Malamazian, who was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 17th round of the 2024 MLB draft and is Indiana’s starting shortstop, and Jaden Fauske, who was picked by the Chicago White Sox in the second round of the 2025 MLB draft and is playing at Single-A Kannapolis.
Landon Thome also works out at Chicago’s Bracey Performance, where major leaguers Steven Kwan and Jake Cronenworth train.
Of course, there’s also Landon Thome’s father. Jim Thome, who hit 612 home runs during his 22-year career in the majors and is a special assistant to White Sox general manager Chris Getz, has been a Nazareth assistant throughout Landon’s high school career.
One of the Thome family’s favorite routines is eating breakfast together while watching MLB Network, where Jim Thome has worked as a part-time studio analyst. They watch as fans of the sport, but it’s also a convenient way for Jim Thome to reinforce baseball nuances that may not resonate with the average viewer.
“There’s a unique balance of being dad and coach, and one of the key things when I’m being dad is to try to listen really well, to understand what he and the other players are going through,” Jim Thome said. “Landon has made it pretty easy because he’s such a good kid and he’s so coachable. But it’s a little sad to know that the four years are close to coming to an end.”
As both dad and coach, Jim Thome appreciates the player Landon has become.
“He’s embraced being the son of a major leaguer so well, and he has his own identity and his own unique style,” Jim Thome said. “I look out and see someone who genuinely loves playing, and he turns the page very quickly and realizes that even if you don’t have your best day, you can still do a lot of things to help your team win a game. I’m not sure I had that at his age.”
Landon Thome certainly understands the benefits of being Jim Thome’s son.
“You get some chirps from other teams,” Landon Thome said. “But I look at it as a blessing. He’s the smartest baseball mind I know, and I can go to him when I have a question about anything.”
Steve Reaven is a freelance reporter.
