Trent Thornton

Trent Edward Thornton (born September 30, 1993) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in MLB for the Toronto Blue Jays.

Amateur career

Thornton graduated from Ardrey Kell High School in Charlotte, North Carolina and enrolled at the University of North Carolina to play college baseball for the North Carolina Tar Heels. As a freshman, he had a 12–1 win–loss record and 8 saves with a 1.37 earned run average (ERA) in 29 games, earning freshman All-American honors. As a sophomore in 2014, he went 7–4 with a 2.73 ERA in 16 games, including 14 starts. He was named to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference second-team. He then played collegiate summer baseball with the Orleans Firebirds of the Cape Cod Baseball League. As a junior in 2015, he went 3–7 with a 5.08 ERA in 28 games, including four starts.

Professional career

Houston Astros

Thorton was selected by the Houston Astros in the fifth round of the 2015 Major League Baseball draft, and he received a $325,000 bonus when he signed. He made his professional debut that summer with the Low-A Tri-City Valley Cats, going 4–0 with a 3.27 ERA in 12 starts and 3 relief appearances. In 2016, he began the season with the High-A Lancaster JetHawks and was promoted in July to the Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks. He compiled a combined 10–5 record with a 3.52 ERA in 24 appearances, 21 of them starts. In 2017, he returned to Corpus Christi for the first three weeks of the season, then moved up to Triple-A Fresno Grizzlies. He pitched to a 9–6 record and a 5.21 ERA in 25 games, 23 starts, for the two clubs. He spent 2018 with Fresno. He was named the Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Week for June 11–17 after pitching 7 scoreless innings in which he allowed only one hit, given up with two outs in the eighth inning, and two walks. In 24 games (22 starts) for the Grizzlies, Thornton went 9–8 with a 4.42 ERA. After the 2018 regular season, he pitched for the Scottsdale Scorpions in the Arizona Fall League.

Toronto Blue Jays

On November 17, 2018, Houston traded Thornton to the Toronto Blue Jays for utility player Aledmys Díaz. The Blue Jays added Theonton to their 40-man roster a few days later to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. After 2019 spring training, the Blue Jays announced that Thornton had made the Opening Day roster on March 26. He made his MLB debut on March 31, starting against the Detroit Tigers. He pitches five shutout innings, and his eight strikeouts established a new franchise record for strikeouts in an MLB debut. Thornton earned his first career win on May 14 on the road against the San Francisco Giants, allowing two runs and striking out seven in 5 innings. He also hit two singles, the only hits of his MLB career and scored two runs in the interleague game, which Toronto won 7–3. Thornton's rookie season ended with a 6–9 record and 4.84 ERA in 29 starts, the most in his big league career, and 3 bullpen outings. He led the Jays in starts, innings pitched, and strikeouts. He lowered his ERA below 5.00 in the final month of the season, crediting his development in part to rotation-mates Clay Buccholz and Clayton Richard.

Thornton started three games for the 2020 Toronto Blue Jays, with no decisions, an 11.12 ERA, and six strikeouts in 5 innings. Elbow problems doomed his season, as he started the shortened season on the injured list with right elbow inflammation, made one start on July 27, then went back on the shelf for several weeks. He returned to the mound on August 20 and made two more starts, not recording an out beyond the first inning in either of them. Thornton went back on the 10-day injured list on August 24, moving to the 60-day injured list three days later, due to elbow inflammation caused by bone spurs.

Thornton shifted to a relief role in 2021, initially due to injury concerns. He had a 1–3 record and 4.78 ERA with 52 strikeouts over 49 innings. He started the season strong, with a 2.49 ERA at the end of May, but spent the second half of the season shuttling between the majors and the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons, being optioned to Buffalo six different times from July 7 to September 13.

Thornton had a similar role for Toronto and Buffalo in 2022, making 32 appearances for Toronto, pitching to an 0–2 record and 4.11 ERA with 37 strikeouts in 46 innings. He was optioned to Buffalo four times from May through August, before being recalled on October 5 and recording the final six outs of the Jays regular season finale, a win over the Baltimore Orioles. He was left off Toronto's roster for the Wild Card Series loss to the Seattle Mariners.

On January 13, 2023, Thornton signed a one-year, $1 million contract with the Blue Jays, avoiding salary arbitration. Thornton was optioned to Buffalo to begin the 2023 season. He was recalled to Toronto in June 19, then sent back to Buffalo on July 1. In 4 relief appearances for Toronto, he had a 1.69 ERA with 5 strikeouts in innings. Thornton was designated for assignment by Toronto on July 21, 2023, following the acquisition of reliever Génesis Cabrera.

Seattle Mariners

On July 26, 2023, the Blue Jays traded Thornton to the Seattle Mariners for infielder Mason McCoy. The Mariners added Thornton to their roster on August 1, and he became a bullpen regular, pitching in 23 of the team's final 56 games. He had a 1–2 record for Seattle in 2023, with a 2.08 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 23 innings. With the Mariners, he began throwing a sweeper as his most common pitch and also threw more sliders.

Thornton and the Mariners agreed to a one-year $1.2 million contract on January 11, 2024. Thornton picked up his first MLB save on June 26, 2024, relieving closer Andrés Muñoz with no outs and the bases loaded, allowing just one inherited runner to score. He led Mariners pitchers in 2024 with 71 appearances, going 4–3 with a 3.61 ERA and 77 strikeouts in innings. Thornton added one mile per hour to his fastball velocity, compared to 2023, and he was in the top 12 percent of pitchers at getting batters to swing at pitches thrown outside the strike zone.

Personal life

Several of Thornton's relatives played college football. His father Jeff played quarterback for the Indiana Hoosiers in 1988. His uncle Wes played defense for the Davidson Wildcats in the 1990s. His late grandfather Jerry played football and baseball for the Kansas Jayhawks in the 1960s.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Thornton, Trent
1993 births
Living people
American expatriate baseball players in Canada
Baseball players from Pittsburgh
Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players
Corpus Christi Hooks players
Fresno Grizzlies players
Lancaster JetHawks players
Major League Baseball pitchers
North Carolina Tar Heels baseball players
Orleans Firebirds players
Scottsdale Scorpions players
Seattle Mariners players
Tacoma Rainiers players
Toronto Blue Jays players
Tri-City ValleyCats players