Marcus Thames has labored with among the greatest gamers in baseball, together with Aaron Judge, Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani.
“Sometimes people think the top athletes on each team don’t want to get better,” Thames stated throughout a video convention name final week. “But these guys, they need to be coached, and it was enjoyable. It was enjoyable to be round them and being an additional set of eyes for these guys and ensuring I gave them all the pieces that they wanted.
“Guys all across the league, they all talk. And they all want to be better, man.”
The Chicago White Sox are in important want of offensive enchancment. And Thames will look to do his half after being named the crew’s hitting coach on Nov. 7.
“The endorsements for Marcus Thames were impressive,” Sox normal supervisor Chris Getz stated on the MLB normal managers conferences final week. “Whether it be players I spoke to, coaches that worked with Marcus, just glowing.”
Thames, 47, involves the Sox after spending the 2023 season because the Los Angeles Angels hitting coach.
“I love the vision they’re trying to do,” Thames stated of the Sox. “They’re attempting to reshape the crew. I heard (Getz’s) interview and he’s attempting to make some strikes to make the crew a bit extra athletic and get some guys to place the ball in play a bit bit extra. And I like that imaginative and prescient.
“The game has come to a point where situational hitting has been a lost art until the postseason, and then you see teams trying to bunt and hit-and-run and stuff like that during the postseason. We’re going to start hitting that in spring training and we’re going to change our identity a little bit, and I like that vision of what they’re trying to get done.”
The Sox offense is led by 2023 Silver Slugger Award winner Luis Robert Jr. and in addition options first baseman Andrew Vaughn, third baseman Yoán Moncada, left fielder Andrew Benintendi and designated hitter/outfielder Eloy Jiménez (a Silver Slugger winner in 2020).
“I’ve seen those guys from across the other way in another dugout, but I’ve got to get to know these guys,” Thames stated. “That’s my number one thing, that’s how I am. I’m a good listener first and then I’ll attack the obvious.”
In his one season with the Angels, the crew ranked third within the American League in dwelling runs (231), fifth in slugging proportion (.426) and seventh in OPS (.743) and walks (548).
The Sox tied for eleventh within the AL with 171 dwelling runs in 2023 and have been twelfth with a .384 slugging proportion. They have been 14th within the AL in OPS (.675) and final within the majors with 377 walks.
“We certainly need to have more competitive at-bats,” Getz stated. “You have a look at whether or not it’s our ground-ball charge, our chase charge, we’ve acquired some work to do offensively and that’s actually why we made a change, introduced in Marcus and Mike (Tosar) now focusing extra on the hitting (shifting from major-league discipline coordinator to assistant hitting coach).
“It’s something that’s a focal point for us and it’s really putting together quality at-bats. It’s nothing profound. It’s understanding how pitchers are attacking you. Having a distinct plan to attack the pitcher that night.”
Thames was the hitting coach for the Miami Marlins in 2022 and for the New York Yankees from 2018-21. He was the assistant hitting coach for the Yankees in 2016-17.
“He’s coming in with a plan,” Sox supervisor Pedro Grifol stated throughout a video convention name final week. “He is aware of our deficiencies, he is aware of our chase, he is aware of how I actually need to enhance the situational hitting side of our ballclub. He had a plan for that.
“We need to improve there. Plain and simple. I’m not saying, ‘Go out there and draw walks,’ but we need to take them when given to us and understand that there is a walk or two around every crooked number that’s put on the board. He had a plan for all of this. And he’s got a strong presence.”
Thames was one in all 5 coaches the Sox added to the employees, together with first base/outfield coach Jason Bourgeois, catching coach Drew Butera, assistant pitching coach Matt Wise and major-league coach Grady Sizemore. Each performed within the majors.
Thames appeared in 640 video games throughout components of 10 big-league seasons with the Yankees (2002, ’10), Texas Rangers (2003), Detroit Tigers (2005-09) and Los Angeles Dodgers (2011). He homered in his first profession at-bat off future Hall of Famer Randy Johnson on June 10, 2002.
“I remember but I don’t like talking about it,” Thames stated of that dwelling run. “It’s for me and my kids and my family. Right now, it’s about those hitters that we bring into the locker room with the White Sox.”
His focus is on getting extra out of a bunch that completed final within the majors with a .291 on-base proportion in 2023.
“I don’t think you are who you are. I think some guys can get better,” Thames stated. “But if you happen to have a look at a few of these guys, they’ve 4 years, 5 years within the massive leagues. Sometimes it takes three years to actually get going.
“We’ve actually acquired to coach these guys and be sure that they’re ready earlier than the sport, and I believe that’s going to be the large distinction. Lots of guys fear about their swing a lot on this recreation now, they overlook concerning the method facet of issues, and I’m actually heavy on being ready and the method facet of the sport and that’s going to assist clear up a few of it.
“You’re not going to change it drastically. But when we have guys that are swinging at pitches on the fringes, getting early outs, and you applaud them for not swinging at those pitches, it starts getting contagious. And that’s what we’re going to start building in that clubhouse.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com