The Amazing Journey of Eric Thames

Often, the journey of a professional baseball player is much more complicated than we like to think. In general, for someone born in the United States, we tend to believe there are limited outcomes for those players. They either make it to the big leagues or they don't. How they perform in the big leagues is the extra gravy on the side, it is the making of the big leagues that we use to define their careers. Throughout professional baseball's history, there have been many players who have bucked this myopic view. They have carved out careers in the minor leagues or by playing unaffiliated ball. Some have even become stars in other countries.

Eric Thames is someone who has not taken a conventional route throughout his professional baseball career. Initially, it was as conventional as they come. He was drafted in the 39th round of the 2007 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft by the New York Yankees. Instead of signing, he returned to Pepperdine University where another great season allowed him to jump to being a 7th round pick by the Toronto Blue Jays the following year.

Over the next handful of seasons, Thames continued on a traditional path for a prospect. He mashed at the lower levels and was steadily pushed from A to AA to AAA, where he continued to excel. He was never ranked as a top prospect but was someone who performed well at every stop in his progression to the big leagues.

In 2011 he finally got his chance with the Blue Jays themselves. He was quite good that year, though defensively it became clear he was miscast as an outfielder. His respectable numbers on offense were hindered by his putrid performance with the glove. Still, the Jays liked what they saw and it seemed like Thames was on the right track for a decent MLB career. In 2012, Thames struggled and found himself traded to the Seattle Mariners.

His woes in the outfield continued, but now his unwillingness to take a walk coupled with his swing and miss bat led to him not getting on base enough to warrant a consistent spot in the lineup. Things didn't get much better in Seattle and suddenly Thames found himself back in the minors.

Throughout 2013 Thames maintained his usual minor league output but was never given a shot at the big league roster by his new team, the Baltimore Orioles. Thus in 2014 Thames followed his heart and his wallet to South Korea. He inked a deal with the NC Dinos for much more money than he would have gotten in the minors. It ended up being the best move of Thames' career.

In South Korea, he was able to reinvent himself. He was still a big swing and miss guy, only now he was walking a heck of a lot more and destroying the baseball when he did make contact. For the next three years, the now first baseman was the best player in the Korea Baseball Organization. He parlayed his on-the-field success and his abundance of personality into commercials and television appearances that he continues to make to this very day in South Korea.

The man with the gold cleats was not content with KBO stardom alone and made his way back to MLB and the Milwaukee Brewers. When asked why he chose the Brewers, Thames referenced his affinity for beer matching that of the working-class city. It was clear from the onset that Thames had improved as a player and that his personality would gel well with Brewers fans. His production didn't stay at the off-the-charts level of his first half-season back, but during his time in Milwaukee, he remained a better than average big leaguer who was a big part of Milwaukee's run of success.

Thames spent the abbreviated 2020 season with the Washington Nationals and his results were less than desirable. Still, it was a weird season and one would think that most teams would be willing to look at his previous productivity compared to a season where plenty struggled. That was not the case and reports surfaced that Thames was not receiving much if any, interest from MLB teams. Instead of taking any lowball offer, the San Jose native signed a contract with the Yomiuri Giants of Japan's Central League. At a stage of his career when most people would have seen closed doors, Thames decided to create a new door all on his own.

I could give you Thames' stat lines to show that he has been both a dominant force in unaffiliated baseball and put together a quality MLB career as well. His numbers are great, but they don't tell enough of the story of his journey. Thames' progression through the professional baseball landscape hasn't been about his oftentimes gaudy numbers but rather how his personality and approach has allowed him to flourish across the globe.

No stat line can adequately describe how Thames became so well known that his appearance in 2019 on South Korea's The Masked Singer was a national event. Thames was a successful big leaguer and is still a star in South Korea to this very day. Next on his list is Japan, and based on his track record there's no reason to think that Thames won't flourish yet again.

His journey was far from conventional, but it is one that any pro baseball player would be lucky to experience.