Boston Red Sox Sign OF with Big League History to Minors Deal, Invite Him to Spring Training

The Boston Red Sox added an outfielder with major league experience on Monday, signing veteran Trayce Thompson to a minor league deal and giving him a non-roster invite to spring training.

The #RedSox have added OF Trayce Thompson to the club’s 2025 Spring Training roster as a non-roster invitee. He will wear number 37.
— Red Sox (@RedSox) February 17, 2025

Thompson, who turns 34 next month, initially was a second-round pick of the Chicago White Sox in the 2009 MLB Draft out of high school in Southern California. He played 44 games with the White Sox in 2015 before being traded later that year as part of a three-team deal that sent him to the Los Angeles Dodgers and landed Todd Frazier in Chicago.

But his homecoming in Los Angeles, where his father, Mychal, played for the Lakers, didn’t last.

Since appearing in a combined 107 games with the Dodgers in the 2016 and ’17 seasons, Thompson has bounced around, going to the Oakland Athletics, back to Chicago with both the White Sox and Cubs, then to the San Diego Padres and back with the Dodgers before spending time with the White Sox again in 2023.

Along the road, he’s also played games for the Triple-A clubs of the Cleveland franchise, the Detroit Tigers, Arizona Diamondback and New York Mets without being called up to the majors.

The right-handed hitter was exclusively in the minors in 2024, appearing in 107 games for Triple-A Syracuse (Mets) and Triple A-Iowa (Cubs). He hit a combined .233, slugging 23 home runs and driving in 66 runs but striking out 120 times.

Thompson, whose brother is four-time NBA champion Klay Thompson, has appeared in 369 MLB games with a career average of .212, amassing 198 hits, 41 doubles, 45 home runs and 126 RBIs.

While it is unlikely Thompson will make the Boston roster out of spring training, he could offer valuable depth stationed not far away at Triple-A Worcester.

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