In 2002, playing for the New York Yankees, Marcus Thames went up to bat for the first time on June 10 against future Hall of Fame pitcher Randy Johnson.
Thames should have been an easy out for the hard-throwing left hander, who was in the midst of another Cy-Young season, but the 25-year old rookie hit a two-run blast off Johnson for his first career home-run.
A perfect foreshadowing of things to come.
During his seven major league seasons Thames has mostly been used as a reserve, but coming off the bench hasn’t prevented him from developing into one of the more dangerous power-hitters in the game.
In over 1,100 career at bats, Thames has hit a home run every 15.4 plate appearances. For a player who doesn’t play everyday that’s a notable feat since that number compares favorably to some of the all-time home run leaders like Ken Griffey Jr. 15.10, Frank Thomas 15.60, David Ortiz 15.90 and Alex Rodriguez 14.20.
But that doesn’t mean that Thames goes to the plate swinging for the fences. “I don’t try to hit a home run, I just try to get a pitch that I can drive the ball somewhere,” Thames said. “You just have to be aggressive, man, and if you can be aggressive you’ll have success.”
He’s found success in his five seasons with the Tigers wherever they’ve needed him. Thames has come off the bench, played in the outfield, played as a designated hitter, at first base, and come in as a pinch hitter.
At times, Thames admitted that developing consistency hasn’t been easy as a reserve, but he’s always appreciated his position on the team and wants to contribute wherever and whenever he can.
“I know it’s my job so I don’t frown about it. I come in and get my work done with Mac in the cages and extra BP as much as I can,” Thames said. In the past, extra work combined with extra study has helped. “I just try to be prepared when it’s my time to come out and play,” he asserted. “Being ready to hit, means you have to know the situations when you get in there. You have done the background check on the pitchers and make sure you get a good pitch to hit.”
He tries to carry that same approach for pinch hitting, and has counseled other players who have transitioned to bench roles about it. “It’s tough,” he admits laughingly.
His patience and positive attitude are now paying off with huge dividends. An injury to Gary Sheffield and roster changes (cutting Jacque Jones) opened up more playing time for Thames and he has taken full advantage of the opportunity.
Back in 2006, Thames found himself in a similar situation when injuries to Dimitri Young and Craig Monroe gave him the most playing time he’s had in one season his entire career. He appeared in 110 games (348 at bats) and hit 26 home runs with 60 runs-batted in.
If May and June are any indication, he may very well surpass his 2006 success by leaps and bounds. For close to two months Thames has been a Sportscenter highlight machine.
On May 21, he hit a grand slam leading the Tigers to a 9-4 win against the Seattle Mariners, and then a week later hit two home runs against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, literally powering the Tigers to a 6-2 victory.
In June it was more of the same. On June 11, Thames keyed a 5-1 victory over the division leading White Sox with a three-run home run in the second, giving Detroit the big early lead. A week and a half later on June 21, he broke a 5-5 tie against the San Diego Padres with a two-run, pinch hit, home run in the seventh helping Detroit to a 7-5 win.
Last month, Thames had a streak of eight straight at-bats in which he hit a HR, and he tied a team record with home runs in five consecutive games. From the end of May to the end of June he led all of baseball with his power output.
His nine home runs in the month of June (through June 22) were more than Miguel Cabrera (2), Maggilo Ordonez (3), Carlos Guillen (1), Ivan Rodriguez (1) and Placido Polanco (1) had combined during the same amount of time.
Thames has also been able to keep his batting average and on-base percentage up. In past years, he was often criticized for being an all-or-nothing player, he would hit a home run or nothing at all, but in May he hit .293 and in June he hit .278 with a .361 on-base percentage.
The success he’s had over the last two months has been a huge boost to the team, in the 12 games that Thames has hit home runs, Detroit is 11-1.
When the Tigers weren’t playing well in May, and Thames was starting to get hot, he admitted that with a losing record it was hard to be happy individually when the team as a whole wasn’t playing well.
“We’re frustrated. We’ve lost what, 27 games or something, and it hasn’t been fun at all. We just have to not let guys in when they are in scoring position and win some ball games,” Thames said.
Thames knew the Tigers were capable of playing better, and predicated that their fortunes would improve.
“You have to stick together as a team, you can’t go out and start giving up. Twenty-five guys got to stick together and pull together, and we’re going to have some fun,” he said.
Wins in 12 of their last 16 games, including a season high six game win streak, is bringing the buzz back to Comerica Park and hopefully that means Thames can now enjoy his personal success a little more.
