Trayce Thompson

Trayce Nikolas Thompson (born March 15, 1991) is an American professional baseball outfielder in the New York Mets organization.

He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, Oakland Athletics, Chicago Cubs, and San Diego Padres.

Thompson also played for the Great Britain National Team in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

Trayce is the son of former National Basketball Association (NBA) player Mychal Thompson and the younger brother of current NBA player Klay Thompson.

Thompson attended Santa Margarita Catholic High School in Rancho Santa Margarita, California.

He committed to attend the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to play college baseball for the UCLA Bruins.

The Chicago White Sox 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.

In 2009 combined, Thompson hit .198 in 106 at-bats.

In 2010, Thompson played the whole season for the Kannapolis Intimidators of the Single–A South Atlantic League.

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 High–A Carolina League, then moved up to the Birmingham Barons of the Double–A Southern League and the Charlotte Knights of the Triple–A International League.

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 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.

On December 16, 2015, Thompson, along with Micah Johnson and Frankie Montas, were traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers as part of a three team trade that sent Todd Frazier to the White Sox and José Peraza, Brandon Dixon and Scott Schebler to the Cincinnati Reds.

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 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 and two RBIs.

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

On April 3, 2018, Thompson was claimed off waivers by the New York Yankees and then two days later was claimed again, this time by the Oakland Athletics.

The Athletics designated him for assignment on April 17, 2018.

He had one hit in seven at-bats in three games for the Athletics.

Thompson was traded back to the White Sox on April 19, 2018, 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.

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

He spent the 2019 season with the Triple-A Columbus Clippers, playing in 89 games and hitting .219/.294/.482 with 24 home runs, 56 RBI, and 8 stolen bases.

On August 2, 2019, Thompson was released by the Indians organization.

On February 2, 2020, he signed a minor league deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks 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.