The baseball league schedule gave Trayce Thompson the opportunity to celebrate his brother Klay’s fourth NBA title in Boston on Thursday. Five days later, Trayce Thompson celebrates her own special moment. He has returned to the Premier League.
Thompson joined the Los Angeles Dodgers in Cincinnati on Tuesday after the Detroit Tigers replaced him on Monday for financial reasons. As star field player Mookie Betts was left out with an injury for several weeks, Thompson was able to go to the right with Eddy Alvarez.
The promotion is only the third in the Premier League for Thompson in four chaotic seasons. Since 2018, Thompson has played for Dodgers five times in the years 2016-2017, three times as a free agency, demanding resignations, and twice trading and once being released.
This season, Thompson, who played six games in the San Diego Padres in April and May, has 170 combined Triple Al games .305 / .365 / .721 and 17 home teams.
“I was there for two years and I’m not ashamed of it at all … I thought I was the worst player in baseball,” Thompson said. “Of course, I was as talented as everyone else. But this game is not about talent, but about performing at a league level.
“But I’m glad it happened because I needed to understand who I am. Failure really defines you. It makes you crumble or defines you.
Thompson, 31, has faced many challenges during his 13-year career. The performance of Trayce Thompson, the youngest son of Mychal Thompson, the grandfather of Los Angeles Lakers, in the minor league never matched his second-round selection (2009) status. He spent more than six seasons with minors before reaching the main event.
Trayce Thompson previously played for Dodgers for two seasons before being assigned to work. (Via Chris Williams / Icon Sportswire Getty Images)
But when he arrived, Thompson flourished. He hit power and played strong defense in all three outdoor fields of the White Sox in the good debut season of 2015. Dodgers liked Thompson, who grew up in Orange County, enough to ask to be included in the three-team shift this season, which brought Todd Frazier from the Cincinnati Reds to the White Sox. Thompson continued to play well for Dodgers, securing 13 home teams and playing good defense against the World Cup aspiring team, until he broke two lower back in July 2016 and skipped the rest of the season.
Although Thompson’s back was healthy for the 2017 season, he had difficulty hitting. Bad habits, initially developed through injury, led to a large drop in attack performance. He played 27 games with the Dodgers, but spent most of the season at Triple As. The following year, Thompson was assigned to work at the end of his spring training, leading to a chaotic period in his career.
The Yankees demanded it on April 3 and almost immediately gave it up. Oakland then embraced him and played three games for As before getting a DFA and switching to the White Sox. He played 48 games for the White Sox, got a DFA at the end of June and spent the rest of the season at Triple As.
“If you play on a team like Dodgers, it’s time to produce,” Thompson said. “They need men to play well.
“It would be different if I were a limited or really not the same type of athlete. But physically I felt great. It was really frustrating, especially in the middle of the season, when I didn’t know what was going on and was thrown out of the high league fire. It was a lot.” was a rather low year for me personally. “
According to Thompson, he was motivated to prove that he is still a viable player, but in 2019 he focused more than ever before. He made a decent season in Triple-A Columbus, hitting 24 home teams, but with Cleveland he never got a chance and was released on August 1st.
Thompson signed with Diamondbacks in 2020 and was in the middle of his best spring training ever when a pandemic broke out. He spent the whole season in second place.
He acquired The Cubs from Arizona in May 2021 and had a fantastic season at Triple-A in Iowa. Thompson was promoted in September after two wingers were injured. With 1,114 OPS, he hit four home cars with 35 recordings. The appearance only strengthened Thompson’s determination.
“It was a good year for me and it showed me I could still do it,” Thompson said. “I’m glad I’m in the place I am right now. I don’t think I’d be in that place right now if I didn’t live through them for a few years.
However, challenges remained.
He signed with San Diego after the lockout ended and immediately produced Triple-A in El Paso, which led to a promotion in late April when Wil Myers was injured. However, his trial period lasted six games and he was back in the DFA.
“I had too much urgency, I was probably trying to do too much,” Thompson said. “But it’s up to me. … I feel like I’ve finally gotten into a groove, but that’s the way it is.
If only he knew what it was leading to.
Thompson signed a sub-league deal with Detroit on May 19, the day after his brother scored 15 points in the first game of the NBA West Final against Dallas Mavericks, 34 minutes plus 20.
One of the oddities of the post-pandemic sub-league schedule is that the teams play six-game series every week from Tuesday to Sunday. Therefore, Thompson rarely checks the schedule more than a few days ahead of schedule.
When Thompson was scheduled for the upcoming road trip on June 9, he noticed that Toledo was playing his next series, Triple-A, in Worcester, down the road from Boston. He quickly realized that as the NBA Finals drag on for so long – the Boston Celtics had a 2: 1 lead in the series – the 6th game will be held in Boston.
After winning the 4th Golden State game at TD Garden on June 10, Trayce felt he was celebrating with his family the following Thursday. Klay not only belongs to the organization, but their eldest brother Mychel became a coach at the beginning of the year.
A week later, Trayce Toledo won a quick 10: 4 win in Worcester. After the game, he hurried to his hotel to gather his belongings before traveling to Boston with a 45-minute Uber to celebrate the night.
“Everyone wants to be there in person, not over the phone or FaceTime or Skype,” said Mychal Thompson. “Every time you find a way to get there physically, it made it special.
“It was the perfect timing.”
The Thompson is a cohesive family that has celebrated each other’s success over the years.
Brothers Thompson Mychel, Klay and Trayce are posing in the photo after last Thursday’s game. (Courtesy of Trayce Thompson)
Trayce was lucky enough to take part in Klay’s return to the NBA on January 9, after a 941-day inter-game play that was a “very emotional night” he filled. But last week, Trayce had one of his brother’s championships for the first time. He had always done his business, and the baseball-free calendar never gave him a chance to be there.
“I talked to my uncle about it. I knew they would win Game 6,” said Trayce Thompson. “For me personally and selfishly, I haven’t experienced any of these NBA moments. To make all this stuff line up, it just seemed that way.
“It was a long night, but it was one of the best nights of my life.”
Maybe it meant more, because Trayce celebrated his big brother’s first title after a long period of mental and physical strain that Klay had left for almost three years. When he recovered from a frontal ligament injury after finishing the 2019 finals, Klay Thompson tore his Achilles tendon in November 2020. Trayce remembers traveling from California’s Irvine Bay Area that night to support his brother. I have always been considered an Iron Man and did not know what to say.
No one knew what to expect when he returned. Klay was, of course, second in the NBA Finals with 230 minutes in Golden State, averaging 19 points per game in the offseason.
“I learned so much just by watching him,” said Trayce Thompson. “Seeing him day after day … I was so proud and happy about him.”
It’s Trayce’s turn.
On Monday, Dodgers switched to Thompson, whose sub-league contract with Detroit soon had a waiver clause in place.
He’s not sure how long he’ll be there, but Thompson is sure he’ll be in the main events. He likes his new perspective on the game and he understands why the cliché – control what you can control – is important. His mental approach is different, and several swing adjustments over the years have better prepared him for damage in high-speed balls.
But he’s not sure how long he’ll be ready to hunt for a dream, and realizes Triple A is 31 years old. He now believes that he is able to win and that is enough to support him.
“The battery is very charged,” Thompson said. “I’m very motivated to prove myself in the high leagues. I feel like I’m in a good position physically and mentally for that. But at the same time I don’t play this game to play Triple-A baseball. I love the game, don’t get me wrong. But sometimes I don’t love game back to you When you’re 31 at Triple A, you see it sometimes.Until that opportunity is within my reach and I can knock down the door and control my destiny, as I did at the beginning of this season in San Diego, I’ll bet on myself.
“It’ll all end at some point, but I want to make sure I look in the mirror and say I did everything I could,” Thompson said.
After the Warriors Championship parade on Monday, Mychal Thompson finished Toledo to watch Trayce play. He was shocked to see that his son was not in line, and sent a message to find out why he had discovered that Trayce had packed his apartment after the deal.
Mychal Thompson is confident that Trayce will use every ounce of energy to achieve his dream. He appreciates the determination that Trayce has shown in good times and bad.
Big Dodgers fan Mychal Thompson said the return of his son was “a dream come true”. He also noted that this could lead to a new family celebration in November.
“(His) perseverance, mental toughness and faith – continue to believe in yourself and set goals to reach the big competitions and stay,” said Mychal Thompson. “She has a great work ethic and self-confidence, and she’s not going to give up.
“You can’t wish for anything better than to play here in LA on a great team like Dodgers who have a chance to make it to the series. Who knows? If Trayce can survive, maybe we’ll go to another parade.
(Photo: Matt York / Associated Press)
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