Trayce Nikolas Thompson (born March 15, 1991) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professiona ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

for the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brookly ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

(MLB). He has also played for the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The t ...

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is locate ...

, and the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...

. Trayce is the son of former

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...

(NBA) player Mychal Thompson and the younger brother of current NBA player Klay Thompson.

Early career

Thompson attended Santa Margarita Catholic High School in Rancho Santa Margarita, California. He committed to attend the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

(UCLA) to play

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

for the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) ...

Professional career

Chicago White Sox

The

selected Thompson in the second round of the 2009 MLB Draft, and he signed rather than enroll at UCLA. Thompson started his baseball career in 2009 at the Rookie level with the Bristol White Sox and

Great Falls Voyagers The Great Falls Voyagers are an independent baseball team of the Pioneer League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball (MLB) but is an MLB Partner League. They are located in Great Falls, Montana, and play their home games at Cente ...

. In 2009 combined, Thompson hit .198 in 106 at-bats. In 2010, Thompson played the whole season for the

Kannapolis Intimidators Kannapolis () is a city in Cabarrus and Rowan counties, in the U.S. state of North Carolina, northwest of Concord and northeast of Charlotte and is a suburb in the Charlotte metropolitan area. The city of Kannapolis was incorporated in 1984. T ...

of the Class A

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its ...

. In 2010, Thompson hit .229 in 210 at-bats. In 2011, Thompson again played the whole season with Kannapolis hitting .241 in 519 at-bats, and was named to the mid-season SAL All-star team. In 2012, Thompson moved up through the White Sox farm system starting with the Winston-Salem Dash of the

Class A-Advanced High-A (officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing) is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A and Double-A, and abov ...

Carolina League The Carolina League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated along the Atlantic Coast of the United States since 1945. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 un ...

, then moved up to the

Birmingham Barons The Birmingham Barons are a Minor League Baseball team based in Birmingham, Alabama. The team, which plays in the Southern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox and plays at Regions Field in downtown Birmingham. The current ...

of the

Class AA Double-A (officially Class AA) is the second-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946, below only Triple-A. There are currently 30 teams classified at the Double-A level, one for each team in Major League ...

Southern League and the

Charlotte Knights The Charlotte Knights are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. They are located in Charlotte, North Carolina, and play their home games at Truist Field, which opened in 20 ...

of the

Class AAA Triple-A (officially Class AAA) has been the highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946. Currently, two leagues operate at the Triple-A level, the International League (IL) and the Pacific Coast League (PCL ...

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ( ...

. In 2012, Thompson hit a combined .253 in 517 at-bats. Before the 2013 season, Thompson was ranked the White Sox #2 prospect. Thompson spent the entire 2013 season at Double-A Birmingham where he hit .229 in 507 at bats. Thompson was added to the White Sox'

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, and ...

on November 20, 2013. The White Sox promoted Thompson to the major leagues on August 3, 2015, and he made his debut the next day. He hit his first major league home run on August 11 against Hector Santiago.

Los Angeles Dodgers

On December 16, 2015, Thompson, along with Micah Johnson and Frankie Montas, were traded to the

as part of a three team trade that sent Todd Frazier to the White Sox and José Peraza,

Brandon Dixon Brandon Dixon may refer to: * Brandon Dixon (American football) (born 1990), American football cornerback * Brandon Dixon (baseball) Brandon Allen Dixon (born January 29, 1992) is an American professional baseball infielder and outfielder for t ...

and Scott Schebler to the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

. He made the Dodgers' 2016 opening day roster. He played in 80 games for the Dodgers, hitting .225 with 13 homers and 32 RBI. He was placed on the disabled list on July 16 with a sore back. When his injury did not respond to treatment, he underwent an X-Ray which revealed that he had multiple fractures in his back, which kept him out of action for the rest of the season. After recovering from his injuries, Thompson was optioned to the

Oklahoma City Dodgers The Oklahoma City Dodgers are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers. They are located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and play their hom ...

to begin the 2017 season, but was called up to the parent club partway through the season. Ultimately, he played in 95 games for the Oklahoma City club and 27 for the Dodgers. In his big-league appearances in 2017, he batted .122 with a .483

OPS In ancient Roman religion, Ops or ''Opis'' (Latin: "Plenty") was a fertility deity and earth goddess of Sabine origin. Her equivalent in Greek mythology was Rhea. Iconography In Ops' statues and coins, she is figured sitting down, as Chthon ...

and two RBIs. Thompson was designated for assignment by the Dodgers on March 27, 2018.

Oakland Athletics

On April 3, 2018, Thompson was claimed off waivers by the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one o ...

and then two days later was claimed again, this time by the

. The Athletics designated him for assignment on April 17, 2018. He had one hit in seven at-bats in three games for the Athletics.

Chicago White Sox (second stint)

Thompson was traded back to the White Sox on April 19, in return for cash considerations. The White Sox designated Thompson for assignment on June 22, 2018. In 48 games in the majors, he hit .116 with three home runs and nine RBI. He elected free agency on November 2, 2018.

Back to the minors

On December 1, 2018, Thompson signed a minor league deal with the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive ...

, who released him on August 2, 2019. On February 2, 2020, he signed a minor league deal with the

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. ...

organization. However he did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. He re-signed with the Diamondbacks on a minor league deal on November 2, 2020 but played in only four games for the Triple-A Reno Aces in 2021, going 5-18.

Chicago Cubs

On May 11, 2021, Thompson was traded to the

in exchange for cash considerations. Thompson played in 88 games for the Triple-A Iowa Cubs, hitting .233 with 21 home runs and 63 RBI's. On September 14, 2021, the Cubs selected Thompson's contract. On November 3, 2021, Thompson was outrighted off of the 40-man roster and elected free agency two days later. He had seven hits in 28 at bats over 15 games.

San Diego Padres

On March 13, 2022, Thompson signed a minor league contract with the

. His contract was selected from Triple A

El Paso El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the ...

on April 28. On May 10, he was designated for assignment but he declined the assignment and elected free agency. In six games in the majors, he had one hit in 14 at-bats.

Los Angeles Dodgers (second stint)

On May 19, 2022, Thompson signed a minor league deal with the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

, however they traded him back to the Dodgers on June 20 for cash considerations. He was added to the active roster. Thompson remained on the Dodgers active roster the rest of the season, hitting .268 with 13 home runs and 39 RBI in 74 games.

Personal life

Born in Los Angeles, Thompson is the youngest son of former NBA player Mychal Thompson and former

University of Portland , mottoeng = The truth will set you free , established = 1901 , type = Private university , religious_affiliation = Catholic (Congregation of Holy Cross) , endowment = $218 million , president = Robert D. Kelly , students = 3,731 (fall 20 ...

and

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a private Jesuit university in San Francisco, California. The university's main campus is located on a setting between the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. The main campus is nicknamed "The ...

women's volleyball player Julie Thompson. Mychal played for the Los Angeles Lakers and currently works in sports radio. Both of his older brothers are basketball players: Mychel played in the NBA for the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers (often referred to as the Cavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

in 2012, and

Klay KLAY (1180 AM broadcasting, AM) is a radio station broadcasting a news/talk/sports radio, sports information format. Located in Lakewood, Washington, Lakewood, Washington (U.S. state), Washington, United States, the station serves the Tacoma, Wa ...

has played for the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...

since 2011. He is a childhood friend of

Nolan Arenado Nolan James Arenado (; born April 16, 1991) is an American professional baseball third baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). Arenado is widely recognized as an elite third baseman, both offensively and defensive ...

. Thompson is

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Trayce 1991 births Living people Sportspeople from Lake Oswego, Oregon American people of Bahamian descent Baseball players from California Major League Baseball outfielders Chicago White Sox players Los Angeles Dodgers players Oakland Athletics players Chicago Cubs players San Diego Padres players Bristol White Sox players Great Falls Voyagers players Kannapolis Intimidators players Winston-Salem Dash players Birmingham Barons players Charlotte Knights players Salt River Rafters players Tiburones de La Guaira players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Oklahoma City Dodgers players Columbus Clippers players African-American Catholics Reno Aces players Iowa Cubs players El Paso Chihuahuas players Toledo Mud Hens players