Justin Thompson, who has not pitched in the Major Leagues since august 15th 1999 joined the Rangers bullpen tuesday after being called up monday night.
Thompson was originally acquired by the Rangers from the Tigers on november 3rd 1999 as part of the 9 player trade that sent Juan Gonzalez to Detroit and immediatly got bit by the injury bug. Thompson suffered a torn rotator cuff in spring training and missed the entire 2000 season he would also miss all of 2001. In 2002 Thompson would pitch in 7 games for the Gulf Coast League Rangers and began working his way back up through the Rangers system pitching in A ball in 2003 and AA in 2004.
Thompson was a non-roster invitee to Rangers camp this past spring but struggled with his velocity, Thompson's fastball used to top out at 96 MPH now tops out between 86 to 90 MPH but mostley in the high 80's didn't make the Rangers out of spring training but wound up in the minors, he was 2-2 with a 4.29 ERA at AAA Oklahoma.
When Thompson makes his first appearence for the Rangers he will own a record no one else will ever want: the longest amount of time for a Major League player to make his debut with his new team after a trade (5 years 9 months).
It just goes to continue to show that if you are a left hander and can get batters out there will always be a place for you at the big league level.
Thompson was originally acquired by the Rangers from the Tigers on november 3rd 1999 as part of the 9 player trade that sent Juan Gonzalez to Detroit and immediatly got bit by the injury bug. Thompson suffered a torn rotator cuff in spring training and missed the entire 2000 season he would also miss all of 2001. In 2002 Thompson would pitch in 7 games for the Gulf Coast League Rangers and began working his way back up through the Rangers system pitching in A ball in 2003 and AA in 2004.
Thompson was a non-roster invitee to Rangers camp this past spring but struggled with his velocity, Thompson's fastball used to top out at 96 MPH now tops out between 86 to 90 MPH but mostley in the high 80's didn't make the Rangers out of spring training but wound up in the minors, he was 2-2 with a 4.29 ERA at AAA Oklahoma.
When Thompson makes his first appearence for the Rangers he will own a record no one else will ever want: the longest amount of time for a Major League player to make his debut with his new team after a trade (5 years 9 months).
It just goes to continue to show that if you are a left hander and can get batters out there will always be a place for you at the big league level.
They'd just about take any old bum off the streets now. I mean, they took James Baldwin.
Comment