Eric Thames

StaTuesday: The increased patience of Brewers slugger Thames

Published May. 10, 2017 9:16 a.m. ET

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Dave Heller

Eric Thames' patience at the plate has been one of his biggest strengths in his return to the majors.

A lot has been made about the power showing from the Milwaukee Brewers' Eric Thames this year. And rightly so; Thames has 12 home runs in 30 games (in 108 at-bats and 130 plate appearances) with a .731 slugging percentage.



Thames has increased his production -- his previous major-league career high in homers was 12 in 2011 which he did in 95 games (362 AB, 394 PA) -- thanks in large part to his patience at the plate.

When Thames was previously in the major leagues, he would often swing at pitches outside the strike zone (oSW).

When he played for Toronto in 2012-13 Thames' oSW% was 34 percent and 32 percent; with Seattle in 2013 it was 33 percent (as a comparison, former Brewers outfielder Carlos Gomez is usually in the 36 percent range).

This year, Thames has been one of the best in the majors when it comes to not swinging at pitches out of the strike zone, with an oSW% of 18.8 percent.

One side effect of Thames' increased patience has been that he's often ahead in the count, 22.7 percent of the time, in fact, which is fourth-best in the majors.

The rest of the top five? Cleveland's Carlos Santana, Baltimore's Manny Machado, Atlanta's Freddie Freeman and Washington's Bryce Harper.

Thames is also rarely behind in the count -- 29.7 percent of the time, which is also fourth-best in the majors. Not surprisingly, four of the five listed above who get ahead of the count a lot are also in the top-five here, with the lone exception being Freeman is 10th in being behind in the count with Pittsburgh's Andrew McCutchen taking his place at the No. 3 spot.

Those are impressive groups to be a part of.

As a result, already this season Thames has walked 20 times, putting him among the National League leaders. His previous high for walks in a season was 23 in 2011 and he had just 38 walks in 181 major-leagues games (633 AB, 684 PA) before this season.

In 2012, Thames played in 40 games for Seattle in which he had 130 plate appearances -- the same amount as he has entering Tuesday's game against Boston. With the Mariners, he had a slash line of .220/.256/.439 with six home runs and six walks. With the Brewers, .324/.438/.731 with 12 homers and 20 walks.

If Thames maintains his current pace and plays in at least 150 games, he'd be just the second Brewers player to amass 100 walks in a season. Prince Fielder did it three times -- 110 in 2009, 114 in 2010 (becoming the only Milwaukee player to ever lead the league in walks) and 107 in 2011. Intentional walks helped Fielder reach triple-digits in each of those years -- he had 21 in 2009, 17 in 2010 and 32 in 2011.

No Milwaukee player has ever had 100 unintentional walks in a season. Thames has just two intentional walks so far, leaving his pace just short of being the first Brewer to hit this mark.

All those walks have helped Thames produce a .438 on-base percentage. Only eight Brewers have ever had an on-base percentage of .400 or higher (note: those who qualified for the batting title) and it has been done just 11 times in franchise history.

Just more reasons to appreciate every Thames at-bat and why he's not just some early season phenomenon.

Dave Heller is the author of Ken Williams: A Slugger in Ruth's Shadow, Facing Ted Williams Players From the Golden Age of Baseball Recall the Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived and As Good As It Got: The 1944 St. Louis Browns

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Eric Thames

Milwaukee Brewers