Thomas Walker rejoined the San José State baseball staff ahead of the 2026 season after a year at Long Beach State, returning to a program he helped elevate into a perennial Mountain West contender. Walker previously served as the Spartans’ recruiting coordinator from 2019–22 and recruiting coordinator/associate head coach from 2023–24, playing an integral role in San José State’s run to three straight Mountain West Championship Games (2022, 2023, 2024) and in 2023, the program’s first-ever Mountain West regular-season and tournament titles and first NCAA Regional appearance since 2002.
As San José State’s hitting coach, Walker has been the architect of one of the most productive offensive eras in program history. During his tenure, the Spartans’ offenses in 2022, 2023 and 2024 ranked among the top three single-season home run totals in school history, signaling a dramatic rise in the program’s power output and overall run production. In 2023, San José State hit .282 with an .826 OPS and 65 home runs while winning both the Mountain West regular-season and tournament championships. The surge continued in 2024, highlighted by Hunter Dorraugh setting a new SJSU single-season home run record, including a historic four-homer performance in the Mountain West Championship Game. Meanwhile, Dalton Bowling emerged as the program’s doubles and RBI leader, anchoring the middle of the order for one of the most explosive lineups SJSU has ever fielded. In addition, Walker coached 2022 All-American Charles McAdoo, the highest-honored player he has developed to date and now a prospect in the Toronto Blue Jays organization. Collectively, Walker’s offenses combined power, plate discipline, and situational execution to drive the most successful run of Spartan baseball in the modern era.
Walker’s impact on player development has also translated directly to professional baseball. During his time at San José State, the Spartans produced multiple MLB Draft selections and signees, including:
- Ruben Ibarra – 4th Round, 2021 (Cincinnati Reds)
- Brady Hill – 15th Round, 2022 (Colorado Rockies)
- Charles McAdoo – 13th Round, 2023 (Pittsburgh Pirates; now in the Toronto Blue Jays organization)
- Jack White – Undrafted Free Agent, 2023 (Seattle Mariners)
- Jonathan Clark – Undrafted Free Agent, 2023 (Chicago White Sox)
- Theo Hardy – Undrafted Free Agent, 2024 (Texas Rangers)
Before arriving in San Jose, Walker gained coaching experience at multiple levels of the game. He began in youth baseball with the Long Beach Cardinals (2012–2017), worked as Assistant Director of Operations at UC Riverside (2017), served as both Hitting Coach (2017) and Head Coach (2018–2019) for the Rochester Honkers in the Northwoods League, and spent two seasons as an Assistant Coach at Golden West College (2018–2019). He originally joined San José State ahead of the 2020 season, contributing to a culture and roster build that laid the foundation for the Spartans’ championship breakthrough.
A native of Long Beach, Calif., Walker graduated from Long Beach Poly High School (2011) before beginning his college career at the University of Oregon (2012), where the Ducks earned the No. 5 national seed and hosted both an NCAA Regional and Super Regional. He played the 2013 season at Golden West College before transferring to UC Riverside (2014–2016), where he was a three-time captain and earned First Team All-Big West honors in 2014.