Trayce Thompson Recognizes His Role With the Dodgers Moving Forward
Trayce Thompson's ride in the major leagues has been anything but easy. And although it seems like he finally found his place with the Dodgers, this isn't the first time he's resided in Los Angeles.
At the end of the day, the game of professional baseball is a business and Thompson recognizes this.
After playing for five different baseball clubs, his goal is to just create action and fill a gap where the team needs him. After reflecting on last season and determining what he can do differently, he shares his potential solution with the Athletic:
“I know I had a step in the right direction last year for myself and my career, helping this team, but in my opinion, I wasn’t very good. I was really inconsistent. There’s a lot more room to grow.”
“It really boiled down to not hitting the fastball versus lefties,” he said. “I really struggled versus the fastball. It left a bad taste in my mouth on the year...It’s something that — I want to be the guy versus lefties … So there’s a lot of work to do.”
During his 2022 campaign, Thompson finished the season with the best batting average (.258 AVG) since his rookie year in 2015 with the Red Sox.
But against lefties, as he mentioned, he struggled...a lot.
Across his 86 at-bats against left-handed pitchers he slashed .174/ .260/ 0.507. But on the other side, he batted .308/ .409/ .602 with a 1.010 OPS against right-handed pitchers.
Former Dodgers outfielders Joey Gallo and Cody Bellinger took off this winter leaving some big gaps in the outfield and Trayce Thompson might be the one to fill one of the spots.
But like he also added, he has some work to do first. But luckily the Dodgers are officially in the midst of Spring Training so Thompson can try some things out and shake off some rust just in time for the 2023 season.
Additionally, the 31-year-old outfielder will represent Team Great Britain this March in the World Baseball Classic which will help get him some more reps.
