Is Trayce Thompson Getting Screwed?

Let’s cut to the chase: Many Dodger fans believe it is a disservice to ask Thompson to do something he can’t do… and that is hit LH Pitching. Trayce is a RH hitter, and in the real world, he should hit LHP like you hit a rented mule. Except that he can’t! We can think what we wnt about it, but what does Trayce think? Well, the OC Register’s JP Hoornstra wrote this about a month ago:

“Thompson acknowledged he has room for improvement against left-handed pitching. More specifically, he said, he’s struggled to pick up fastballs with a southpaw on the mound.

“I think it’s more of a timing thing and just getting used to that angle,” he said. “I know it’s in there. It’s just going to take one small tweak and I feel like I’ve had moments here since June last year. It’s just finding that consistency, that’s something I’m kind of searching for.”

There have been times, Thompson said, when he simply hasn’t seen the ball as well out of a pitcher’s left hand as his right. Generally speaking, though, he doesn’t believe his reverse splits are a function of his vision.

“It’s more subtle. Being convicted and being ready to damage fastballs. Off righties, I feel I do a good job of that. That’s kind of been my thing, my whole going into the last couple years has been trying to do a lot of damage on fastballs. Look at the leaderboards, the best players in baseball, they all do really good against fastballs. It’s just a matter of doing that against lefties now.”

–JP Hoornstra

Early in the Spring, Trayce acknowledged that he had worked over the winter on hitting LHP and believed he had improved. Evidently not! This season, he is hitting .061 against LHP and .217 against RHP. The fact is: he isn’t good against either side! He is bad against RHP and horrible against LHP! Last year, he hit .308 against RHP, but just .171 against LH. For his career, Trayce has hit .228 against RHP and .194 against LHP. That spans 836 AB’s and I doubt that will change… much! I would tend to believe that what he did last season was an anomaly! However, the only way he can play is in a platoon with another RHH who hits lefties. Tha does not seem likely to happen on this team. which means that Trayce will likely be included in a trade… barring injury! Sometimes life is not fair!

Dodger Notes & News

• You can say all you want about defense, but in the first inning Adam Engle who was playing CF instead of Gold Glover Grisham, misplayed a fly ball for what should have been the third out and JD Martinez followed that up with a 3-run blast. BALLGAME OVER! Defense matters. The Dodgers made some blunders last night: Vargas, Muncy & Betts, but they weren’t fatal. All three players came back and made up for it, but defense wins championships!
• Now we know that Andre Jackson was “tipping” his pitches when the Cubs hit four homeruns off him earlier in the season. That may have been his main problem all along. They are working on this with him and hopefully he can fully realize his great potential.
• The Dodgers have 10 homegrown players while the Padres have 2! Any difference in a sense of Homegrown pride? I think there is.
• Michael Busch played 2B for OKC last night, and Andre Jackson pitched 2 shutout innings in relief before Nate Robertson came in and got his 5th save. Nick is 6′ 6″ and 265 pounds. He has pitched 17 innings and struck out 27 with just 3 BB. His ERA is 2.55 and his WHIP is 0.91. He is not a Top Prospect, but he’s pretty damn good and should get a “look-see.”
• Jonny DeLuca hit hit 10th HR for Tulsa.
• Diego Cartaya was 1-2 with a double.
• Jose Ramos was 2-2. Both Ramos and DeLuca look to be on par with Pages.
• Kyle Hurt threw 3 innings of two hit ball for Tulsa allowing no runs and striking out 5. HIs ERA sits at 1.42.

Happy Mother’s Day to All the Mothers in My Life!