Is Trayce Thompson Getting Screwed?

Posted By on May 14, 2023

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!

This article has 42 Comments

  1. Trayce had one super game this season and nothing else.
    This can not go on for much longer IMHO.

    Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    1. Except the more the Dodgers win, the more they can have Thompson face lhp.

      1. 100 plate appearances. That will happen by the deadline and a decision can be made then. In the meantime, with a salary of $1.4 million, the Dodgers can afford to carry him, encourage him, and work with him. Patience. If we decide to move him, there will be teams that will have interest.

        Yes, we have several players in the organization that are having good years. I’m interested to see what that will mean mid season.

        SF and SD are struggling. I am somewhat surprised by this, and don’t expect it to continue. Arizona is playing.550 ball. That’s 89 wins. I’ll take the under.

  2. The Dodgers dropped their team ERA to 3.99 last night. The Braves are the best in the NL at 3.54, while the Rays are the best in baseball with 3.17.

  3. Do the Dodgers have a lefty pre-game batting practice pitcher and if so does he throw fastballs to Thompson?

  4. So what’s the point of sending Trayce out there at all? There are only two types of pitchers -righties and lefties- so he has shown he cannot hit either. Really, this is advertising him for some kind of trade? What team can benefit from his skills?

    Happy Mother’s Day!!

  5. Dodgers team ERA is 13th in baseball, and they are 4th in run scored. Just watching the games, it seems that the Dodgers struggle more on offense than pitching. The top four starters have been great as has the back of the bullpen. However, overall the bullpen is 22nd in MLB and helped inflate team ERA. Also, a few Dodger pitchers have really struggled so far including Thor, Vesia, Jackson, Reed, and Grove which has pushed team ERA up. I expect that the team ERA will decline as they settle on the top starters and bullpen arms.
    The Tampa Bay Rays lead MLB in both ERA and runs scored and are off to an amazing start. Good thing they are in the AL.

    Great win by Dodgers yesterday! Julio was awesome and great to have JDM back in the lineup!

    Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms who deserve so much credit for their love and sacrifices on our behalf.

  6. Great win last night! Love max , but cringe every time they hit the ball his way. Nice play on that slow grounder, it’s the easiest plays he struggles with. Mookie s throw was as bad as you’ll see. Hopefully he will eventually get one position and leave him there! Feel sorry for Thompson, he’s worse than Barnes. I see no reason to send him up to the plate. Right or left it doesn’t matter. He cannot hit! At least bring up Duggar, I think he still is in our minors, can’t hurt to try someone else. Bring on the brooms!

  7. Great pictures Mark. Lovely family. And happy Mother’s Day.
    I am the leader of the choir in singing that the Dodgers are doing a disservice to Trayce. And what’s the poor guy supposed to say? He has to try to express an air of hope as he struggles for a key to hit LHP. In reality he has to be questioning his role and struggling with his confidence. Why should be be confident. Give him at bats versus RHP perhaps and not immediately pull him when the opposition brings in a RHP. It’s not like his platoon partners are tearing the cover off the ball. Otherwise he’s a dead man walking.

  8. 4:10 PM ET

    Padres (19-21) 6GB
    Dodgers (25-15) 1st place

    SP Ryan Weathers L
    1-1 2.50 ERA 18IP 11K
    SP Tony Gonsolin R
    0-1 1.93 ERA 14IP 10K

    Confirmed Lineup
    RF Mookie Betts R
    1B F. Freeman L
    DH J. Martinez R
    3B Max Muncy L
    2B M. Vargas R
    LF Chris Taylor R
    CF James Outman L
    SS Miguel Rojas R
    C A. Barnes R

    Clear-day
    0% Rain
    74° Wind 8 mph Out

  9. Saturday scores
    Oklahoma City 2, Round Rock 1
    Tulsa 8, Springfield 3 (5 innings)
    Great Lakes 6, Lake County 5
    Rancho Cucamonga 7, Stockton 5

    Sunday schedule
    10 a.m. PT: Great Lakes (Justin Wrobleski) at Lake County (Ryan Webb)
    11:05 a.m.: Oklahoma City (Gavin Stone?*) at Round Rock (Cody Bradford)
    11:05 a.m.: Tulsa (Nick Nastrini) vs. Springfield (Wilfredo Pereia)
    2 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Jeisson Cabrera) vs. Stockton (Dheygler Gimenez)

    *Noah Syndergaard completed a full bullpen session Saturday with a covered right index finger without issue. The Dodgers are expected to determine Sunday whether he will be able to make his start on Monday. If not, Stone could step in, though at the moment he’s listed as Sunday’s starter for Oklahoma City.

    All 4 Dodger Minor League Teams are in first place in their respective divisions

  10. Stone scratched from his start at Oklahoma City today. Most likely Thor to the IL and Stone replaces him in the rotation.

  12. I think the Dodgers will keep Trace around as a low-cost insurance policy for Peralta’s surgically repaired back and the possibility that Heyward craters. Otherwise, they will likely move him at trade deadline.

    I too cringe when balls are hit Max’s way. I agree with Mark that defense wins championships and it would sure be nice to upgrade at 3rd base before playoffs begin.

    Another shaky Graterol performance. He is NOT a high-leverage guy imo. Doc keeps putting him into situations thinking he’ll learn, mature, etc. but Brusdar is what he is — a flame thrower who get hit and issues too many walks. Seemingly every time Graterol is on the mound, we hold our collective breaths and hope batted balls land in player’s glove. I was pleasantly surprised when Doc yanked him yesterday. Graterol should take over middle innings instead of Bickford.

    1. WEll, Graterol gave up a bloop and then a bang bang play at 1b. I have confidence in him for high leverage situations still.

      Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  13. Someone is getting screwed but it’s not TT. Getting paid 1.3 mil for hitting .125. Maybe we should only play him against rhp with era’s over 5. And cmmon, Graterol gives up a swinging bunt and chip shot into center. That was not a bad outing. I’m still confident in him

  14. Pages has been coming on strong and could soon be moved from Tulsa to OKC. Outman made the same move and then made all the way to the majors last season. Pages’s righty bat could be just what the Dodgers need.
    If he does make it to the majors, I sure hope that he gets more than that four-game “runway” that Outman got…..
    While I’ve developed a new crush on Matt Chapman in Dodgers blue, someone pointed out tht team actually needsa SS in 2024, not a third baseman.
    I’d say they need both–but also that they are actually deeper at SS. The two best in-house options for SS will be a fully recovered Lux and the versatile Mookie, but both Rojas and Taylor will also be under contract. All are high-quality athletes who grew up playing S Max, on the other hand, is a grinder who plays 3B mostly because when Freddie was signed he got kicked off 1B, his best position. Love Max’s can-do attitude but we’ve always known he’s really best suited for DH. Putting a proven gold glover at 3B would reduce the pressure on SS and the pitching staff.
    But that’s for next year.
    Who should the Dodgers target at midseason?

      2. Pagés is ready for MLB, he could go straight up from AA or play a few games in AAA before receiving the call, it all depends on what the Dodgers do with Thompson, if they decide to release him, Pagés comes, if Thompson resolves it Pagés could take him until 2024 but Pagés, right now, is ready for MLB !!!

        1. Dodgers have not promoted a position player from AA in the entire Freidman era. Pages would need more than just a few games at AAA. He is not ready for prime time. MLB-AA miles apart in talent.

  16. Outman certainly not rookie of the month in May. That is not gold glove D in center! Was hoping Vargas would elevate to Outman’s April level but the opposite is happening in May.

  17. A few games ago Thompson looked completely lost like a dead man walking. His past few games have been an improvement. He mixed a few walks in with his K’s and made hard contact once.
    It looks like he will occupy the last seat on the bench and eventually disappear.

  20. Like Jackie Gleason used to say “HOW SWEET IT IS”!!!!! I will never forget how CK was mocked on the big screen in San Diego when he lost. To me it was an insult and totally uncalled for for a future HOF. We took the next FIVE games from that trash and I believe what they did compelled us to get pissed off and show them whose boss!!

  21. SF Giants are no longer in my shit list. That belongs only to immature things of the SDP.

  22. Rojas’ at-bats slowly improving.

    Outman presently struggling at the plate, and defense faltering some too. Will he pass the adversity-test he now faces?

    Padres look like a lost team – no passion or urgency in their play.

    1. This is their impression of the way we looked against them in the playoffs last year.

      1. We looked tight and rusty from the long layoff when we played them in playoffs.
        The MLB playoff format stinks!

  23. Well I for one blame Roberts for the way this team is playing for the last 3 weeks and his handling of the bullpen and their performance!

  24. Here’s a more kid-friendly headline for this write-up –

    Is Trayce Thompson Getting A Raw Deal? 🙂

  25. I’m wondering if Outman isn’t as good as he should be defensibly in centerfield OR if we are spoiled by just how good Cody Bellinger was defensively? Outman has had some bad looking non-catches recently. Maybe I’m expecting too much too soon from the rookie?

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