As we’ve all surely heard by now Jeff Pentland is out as
hitting coach of the New York Yankees and Alan Cockrell is in after spending
the 2015 season as the assistant hitting coach to Pentland. The Yankees needed
someone to fill the vacancy left behind by Cockrell and that man was former
Triple-A hitting coach Marcus Thames. Marcus Markley Thames, born March 6,
1977, played with four different teams including the New York Yankees three
separate times during his playing career from 2002 to 2011 and has since spent
his time in the minor leagues with the club as a coach. During the 2013 season
Thames was the hitting coach for the High-A Tampa Yankees and was promoted to
the Trenton Thunder in the same position for the 2014 season drawing rave
reviews from one of the Yankees top prospects Robert Refsnyder. Now, in a bit
of irony, we remember a Yankee of the past (as a player, not as a coach) and we
remember Marcus Thames during his playing days.
Thames was originally drafted by the New York Yankees in the
30th round of the 1996 MLB Draft but did not make a true impact in
the minor leagues until 2001. Thames was with the Double-A Norwich Navigators
that season and he batted .321 with 31 home runs and 97 RBI where he was named
to Baseball America’s minor league All-Star team and where he put himself on
the map for the Yankees. New York was so impressed with Thames that they called
him up before a June 10 game in 2002 and Thames responded immediately. Thames,
facing the Arizona Diamondbacks big left-hander Randy Johnson, hit the first
home run of his career on his first at bat becoming just the 80th
player in MLB history to do so. Thames earned his first curtain call from the
Bronx faithful, what a moment if you were fortunate enough to see it live.
Thames’ tenure with the Yankees ended on June 6, 2003 when
he was traded to the Texas Rangers for Ruben Sierra. Thames went on to hit a
home run in his first at bat with the Rangers as well but was back in the New
York groove in 2010 when he signed a minor league deal with the club. Thames
made the Opening Day roster and was set to be a platoon partner with Brett
Gardner in left field before his defense forced him to accept a bench role.
Thames was delegated to the bench behind Gardner, Curtis Granderson, Nick
Swisher and Austin Kearns who was traded for before the trade deadline and
ended up playing in just 82 games that season. In half of a season Kearns hit
.288 with 12 home runs, mainly against left-handed pitching.
Thames elected free agency in November of 2010 but was right
back with the team on July 22, 2011 after New York signed him to another minor
league deal. Thames never played a game for the Yankees at any level that
season and would retire from the game a member of the New York Yankees before
pursuing his career in coaching with the ball club. Thames has continuously
defied the odds and has defied the odds once again with his promotion to
assistant hitting coach with the club. Congratulations to him and his family.
You have to think that Thames is on the short list for hitting coach after
Cockrell’s contract expires, no?
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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)