(David Banks/Getty Images)
By Jon Weisman
Maybe when you’re the son and brother of NBA stars, there’s extra pressure to make a name for yourself. Or maybe there’s just the normal pressure that every would-be Major Leaguer faces.
Either way, Trayce Thompson — the son of former Laker Mychal Thompson and brother of current Warrior Klay Thompson — quickly became his own man last summer.
Coming up with the White Sox at age 24, the outfielder — acquired by the Dodgers from the White Sox today — went 14 for 27 with two walks and two homers in his first 12 games. On August 25, he had a single, double and triple, driving in the tying and winning runs off Wade Miley in the bottom of the seventh inning of a 5-4 victory over Boston.
Inevitably, there was a cooling off period, but Thompson still finished with a .363 on-base percentage and .533 slugging percentage in 135 plate appearances.
“I wasn’t necessarily surprised (by starting so well),” Thompson said. “I always had confidence in my abilities. I was more pleased with the way I handled it because I wasn’t playing every day. I never really had to deal with throughout my minor-league career.”
Experience prepared Thompson for when the going got tougher. By his own admission, he had a couple of difficult years in the minor leagues, the roughest being 2013, when he hit .221/.313/.369 for Double-A Birmingham.
“I was such a streaky player,” Thompson said. “I never knew how to cope with that. … When you go 0 for 4 with four strikeouts, it comes across in your mind, “Am I really that guy?'”
But between his family and his friends in baseball, who include his new teammate Joc Pederson, he has learned how to ride the rough waves.
“You have to stay positive in baseball,” Thompson said. “It’s a long process, but this year it seemed like my confidence never changed.”
“Once I started playing regularly, and we started seeing teams for the second time, they started to make adjustments on me. That’s all baseball is — it’s just a game of adjustments. They make adjustments on you; you’ve got to make ’em back. And you’ve got to stick to your strengths at the same time.
“Luckily enough, my best friend since I was 13 or 14 years old when we moved down to California, is one of the best players in Major League Baseball, and that’s Nolan Arenado. I’ve been picking his brain for the last three or four years, ever since he got called up. … I definitely have a lot of resources to help me out as far my mental edge as well as my physical edge in this game.”
Thompson’s role with the Dodgers has yet to be carved out. He could be platooning with Pederson, whom he calls “one of my really good buddies” dating back to their days in instructional league, backing him up, or someday finding a spot in the same outfield alongside him.
“He’s a plus athlete with a really long frame,” Dodger president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said today. “We feel like he has a chance to continue to improve — we saw a lot of improvement in 2015 over 2014, and we feel like the arrow is still pointing up. He also fits our short-term and long-term roster really well with his ability to play all three spots. Plus defender, really good makeup, good footspeed.”
Thompson’s future will depend in no small part on how real his offensive rebirth is. One noticeable change: After striking out 628 times in four minor-league seasons from 2011-14, Thompson whiffed less often with Triple-A Charlotte in 2015 (79 strikeouts in 417 plate appearances).
“I think I just kind of took a little bit of pressure off myself,” Thompson said. “I set such high expectations for myself and I always will, but at the same time I wasn’t relaxing, I wasn’t playing the game, I wasn’t really having fun like I normally do. There were a few mechanical things that I changed that kind of helped me get back to who I was at the lower levels and kind of helped me drive the ball like I did when I was in A ball. I think just mentally, I was kind of lost those two years.
“This year was kind of a make-or-break year for me within the (White Sox) organization, and they kind of gave me a second or third chance, and I just wanted to make sure I made good on that opportunity they gave me.”
In the few instances between his phone buzzing that allowed him to pause to think, Thompson relished the possibility of taking his career forward in Los Angeles.
“It’s definitely an exciting and kind of surreal moment for me,” he said. “It hasn’t sunk in completely yet … but to think about the possibility of playing in L.A. and playing in front of my parents a lot and family and friends, it’s definitely an opportunity I don’t want to take for granted.”
Sure to be in the works is a reunion with his dad’s former teammate, Dodger owner Magic Johnson.
“He probably saw me when I was a chunky little baby,” Thompson said. “Hopefully I get a chance to talk to him pretty soon. I know he knows who my brother is.”
Roger Miller
People can talk about Thompson’s athletic abilities and speed but the simple fact is he can’t hit. Sure, he had a fantastic first 57 PA’s in the majors when everyone was unfamiliar with him. But when the advanced scouting reports got out, over his last 78 PA’s he hit .203. This to go along with a career .241 minor league average. I can’t offhand think of a soul who’s ever made any kind of major league career with a .250 or less career minor league BA. I’m sure there are a couple examples but those would constitute something like 1 in 100 shots. In fact there’s much more reason to believe Scott Schebler (career .272 BA, .825 OPS in the minors) would have a better shot of hitting in the majors eventually than Thompson. In essence, Dodgers have given up a guy with some OK fielding skills but decent enough hitting ability for a 4th OFer in Schebler for a true 5th OFer in Thompson whose only value would come as a late inning defensive replacement or pinch runner. Thompson realistically can only be employed in September when roster expansion finally allows for the luxury of a defense-baserunning specialist.
What is puzzling to me about this whole trade is that the White Sox, a 4th place finisher last year are getting a win-now player for their prospects where the division-winning Dodgers are using their prospects to get a bunch of if-maybe minor leaguers two of whom (Thompson and Johnson) are true suspects rather than prospects.
Mark Hagerstrom
Hate to lose Schebler, but I think there are fit issues with the Dodgers in the near term with CC and Dre already from the left side and not being the answer to spell/platoon with Joc.
Don Bright
I have no idea how he”ll turn out, but it appears he was traded to be Joc’s platoon mate in CF, something only Kike could be currently, but not if he’s playing 2B