Philadelphia Phillies: Whats next for Jake Thompson?
Once mentioned as one of the Philadelphia Phillies top prospects, Jake Thompson is still looking to translate early Minor League Baseball success into an MLB roster spot.
Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jake Thompson was originally selected in the 2nd round (91st) of the 2012 MLB First year player draft by the Detroit Tigers. Thompson was drafted out of high school and turned down a scholarship with TCU and instead signed with the Tigers. After a strong 2014 season for the Tigers AA squad, Detroit traded Thompson to the Rangers along with relief prospect Corey Knebel in exchange for closer Joakim Soria.
Thompson came to Philadelphia as a part of the Cole Hamels trade with the Texas Rangers in 2015. With any trade that involves a key member of the franchise, the players coming back always hold the weight of justifying a blockbuster deal.
The Philadelphia Phillies management and fans alike watched a young, top pitching prospect come into the organization and immediately saw Thompson pay dividends pitching for the Reading Fightin Phils. In 7 starts, Thompson went 5-1 with a 1.80 ERA, a 1.00 WHIP, and just 33 hits in 45 innings pitched. a masterful start for a pitcher the Phillies were hoping to be a top 4 starter in the years to come.
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As the 2016 season started, Jake Thompson made the move to the AAA Leigh Valley Iron Pigs. Compiling 21 starts, Thompson went 11-5 with a 2.50 ERA and a WHIP of 1.095. As the calendar flipped to August, Thompson finally realized his dream and was called up to the Philadelphia Phillies as a starting pitcher.
This was the first time in his professional career that Thompson was sub-par. In his 10 starts for the Phillies, Jake went 3-6 with a 5.70 ERA and a 1.509 WHIP, nothing anyone had seen from Thompson so far in his career. Nothing to over react to at the time, a young pitchers first sniff at the bigs, time to regroup for a strong 2017 season.
This season Thompson started the year back in AAA before being quickly called up for a reliever role with the Philadelphia Phillies. He was called up on May 5th to serve as bullpen fortification. He made three appearances over a five day stretch, surrendering five runs on six hits over five innings of work. The 23-year-old right-hander then returned to AAA.
The cause for concern is his 2017 Triple-A stats, in 13 starts this season Thompson has posted a less than impressive 3-7 record sporting an ERA of 5.94 and 1.63 WHIP. An awful season for a top prospect looking to cement a role with the Phillies. His most recent start was his best of the season, recording eight shutout innings in line for his third win.
As the Phillies season is quickly becoming another lost year, Thompson could get called back up in a reliever role or even a spot start late in this season. Only Phillies management knows how long a leash Jake Thompson has as a Phillie but best case scenario for his professional career may be a middle reliever.
Here’s hoping Thompson can get his stuff under control and return to a top pitching prospect. Still a young man at 23, Thompson will have plenty of opportunities to crack this roster, whether he becomes a starting pitcher or ends up in the pen. Thompson has shown the ability to get batters out, he just needs to translate that from the minors to the pros, arguably the toughest aspect of being an MLB pitcher.