A former Houston Astros prospect spent the past few years as a youth baseball instructor and coach in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. That work is now under scrutiny because of a 2010 criminal charge.
Tommy Whiteman, 46, was a sixth-round pick by the Astros in the 2000 MLB Draft. He then played seven years of minor-league baseball in the Astros and Colorado Rockies organizations, including multiple seasons with the Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks and Triple-A Round Rock Express. Whiteman ended his playing career in 2006, and four years later, he was charged with online solicitation of a minor in Texas, where he communicated or distributed sexually explicit material in interactions with a 14-year-old girl.
Whiteman is currently listed on the Texas Sex Offender Registry (SOR) public website as a resident of Keller and will remain on the SOR list through 2030. That designation didn’t preclude him from engaging with minors on baseball and softball diamonds and facilities.
Whiteman and his wife, Timilyn, are the founders of Redemptive Sports, which owns an indoor baseball and softball facility in Keller, according to the company’s website. Facebook photos from 2015 show the Haskell High School softball team working and speaking with Whiteman, and per WatchKeep.com’s Amy Smith, Whiteman was previously listed as the head coach for the Fort Worth THESA Riders, a member of the Texas Home Educators Sports Association.
Chron could not reach Whiteman or the THESA for comment as of Wednesday morning. However, Whiteman goes into detail about his past issues and takes ownership of his struggles.
“I found myself in chat rooms late into the night while my wife and innocent infant daughter slept,” Whiteman said in a statement on his company’s website. “I was engaging in inappropriate conversations that led to adultery. One of these online conversations ended up being with a minor…but it was never a minor…it was a police officer. The sting went down exactly like you would imagine on T.V. It was no question the worst day AND the best day of my life.”
After an initial post from WatchKeep about Whiteman on April 21, Redemptive Sports deactivated its Instagram and Facebook accounts; its website remains active as of Wednesday.
Whiteman is not listed as a THESA coach as of Wednesday, per the team’s MaxPreps page. That page was last updated early Sunday morning.
Whiteman was a standout prep player in Oklahoma, and he was an All-Big-12 selection at shortstop with the Oklahoma Sooners before his professional baseball career. Redemptive Sports says it is a faith-based organization, one that notes “our cornerstone is Jesus.” Per the site, prospective players “will find coaching here that will take you to the next level, but more importantly, we hope you find Jesus.”
