The Chicago White Sox have their next hitting coach. On Tuesday Robert Murray of Fansided reported that the White Sox hired Marcus Thames as their next hitting coach. It marks the White Sox third hitting coach in as many seasons. It also marks Thames’s fourth team in four consecutive seasons.
Thames previously served as the Los Angeles Angels’ hitting coach. Last season the Angels hit .245 as a team which was 18th in the MLB and were 16th in scoring with 746 runs. While those numbers are middle of the pack they represented a significant improvement from the previous year before Thames got there. In 2022 the Angels ranked 24th in average (.233) and 25th in runs scored (623).
The 2023 Angels also ranked fifth in the MLB in home runs (231), eighth in slugging percentage (.426), and 12th in OBP (.743). Having Mike Trout and Shoehei Ohtani helped boost those numbers but the Angels were still better in all three categories than under Thames than they were in 2022.
Under Thames, the Halos also improved their walk rate from 7.5% to 8.4% and lowered their strikeout rate from 25.7% to 24.8%. Plate discipline and power are two categories that the White Sox need to improve in. The White Sox ranked 22nd in the MLB in home runs (149), 18th in slugging percentage (.387) and on-base percentage (.310).
Thames, who played a decade in the MLB as an outfielder can help in that department. After hanging up his cleats he broke into the coaching ranks in the Yankees system. Eventually, he was promoted to lead hitting coach in 2017. In his four years in the Bronx, the Yankees ranked in the top five in home runs three times. They also ranked in the top ten in OBP all four years he was wearing pinstripes.
He then served as the Miami Marlins hitting coach in 2022 before taking the Angels job. One could point to the fact that both of those managers were fired after Thames’s first year on the job. That history doesn’t bode well for Pedro Grifol, who is already on the hot seat.
Thames played ten seasons in the MLB hitting .246/.309/.485 with 115 home runs 306 RBIs and a 105 OPS+ throughout his career. He began his career with the Yankees but spent the bulk of his time in Detroit, where he played six seasons. After leaving Detroit in 2009, Thames returned to New York for another season before finishing his career with the Dodgers in 2011. His best season came in 2006 when he hit .256 with a career-high 26 home runs and 60 RBIs.
Thames will be replacing Jose Castro as the White Sox hitting coach.
