Matt Thornton

Matt Thornton
Chicago White Sox – No. 37
Relief pitcher
Born: September 15, 1976 (1976-09-15) Three Rivers, Michigan
Bats: Left	Throws: Left
MLB debut
July 27, 2004 for the Seattle Mariners
Career statistics (through 2011)
Win–loss record	28–28
Earned run average	3.52
Strikeouts	499
Saves	20
Teams
Seattle Mariners (2004–2005) Chicago White Sox (2006–present)
Career highlights and awards
All-Star selection (2010)

Matthew J. Thornton (born September 15, 1976, in Three Rivers, Michigan), is a left-handed Major League Baseball relief pitcher for the Chicago White Sox. Before the 2006 season, Thornton was with the Seattle Mariners.

College and minor league baseball

In the 1995 Major League Baseball Draft, Thornton was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 27th round but decided not to sign with them. Thornton played college baseball for Grand Valley State University and was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the first round as the 22nd overall pick in 1998 Major League Baseball Draft.

Thornton played briefly (only pitched 1 inning) with the Single A Everett AquaSox in the Northwest League. In 1999 and 2000, Thornton was a starting pitcher with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in the Midwest League and showed improvement with his ball control and accuracy, striking out nearly 1 batter an inning. 2001 was probably Thornton's breakout year. Thornton started for San Bernardino Stampede in the California League (high-A ball) and had a 14–7 record, along with a stellar 2.52 ERA and 192 strikeouts in only 157 innings pitched.

Thornton was then promoted to AA baseball and played with the San Antonio Missions of the Texas League in 2002. Thornton, still a starting pitcher, pitched well with a 3.63 ERA and 44 strikeouts in 62 innings pitched. In 2003, Thornton was briefly sent back down to high-A ball with the Inland Empire 66ers of the California League, but was quickly promoted back up AA ball with the San Antonio Missions again. He started only 4 games, but posted an incredible 0.36 ERA, with a 3–1 record, gave up only 8 hits in 25.1 innings of work and struck out 18 batters. His performance got him promoted that same year to AAA ball with the Tacoma Rainiers in the Pacific Coast League. Thornton had a shaky start to his career in Triple-A ball, starting 2 games and posting an 0–2 record and a 8.00 ERA.

Regardless of his performance in those two final games of his 2003 season, Thornton stayed with the Tacoma Rainiers in 2004. He posted a 7–5 record, along with a 5.20 ERA and 74 strikeouts in 83 innings pitched.

Major League

Thornton made his MLB debut on June 27, 2004, with the Mariners in a game against the San Diego Padres, pitching brilliantly over 4 innings, only allowing 3 hits and striking out one batter. Throughout the season, the Mariners used Thornton for mostly middle reliever duty, except for one game when Thornton started and pitched 8 innings, allowing 4 runs on 8 hits and walking and striking out 7 batters. Thornton finished the 2004 season with a 1–2 record and 4.13 ERA, striking out 30 batters in 32.2 innings of work.

The following year, Thornton served his reliever duties, pitching in 55 games with 57 innings pitched and posting a 5.21 ERA and striking out 57.

On March 21, 2006, Thornton was traded from the Seattle Mariners to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for outfielder Joe Borchard. Under the tutelage of pitching coach Don Cooper, Thornton has emerged as a dominant bullpen force since joining the White Sox and is widely regarded as the best left-handed reliever in baseball.^{[citation needed]} In 327 relief appearances with the White Sox spanning 299 innings, Thornton has compiled a 3.18 ERA, including a 2.55 mark in 2010. As of September 12 he led all eligible American League relievers with 12.3 strikeouts per nine innings.

Thornton was selected by the coaches' vote to the American League All-Star team in 2010, the first All-Star selection of his career.

Repertoire

Since transitioning to the bullpen with the White Sox, Thornton has scrapped his secondary pitches and now relies heavily on a mid- to upper-90s four-seam fastball. In 2010, Thornton has thrown the fastball over 90% of the time. He also occasionally throws a slider, which he uses most effectively against right-handed batters. His fastball command is considered excellent.

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• Matt Thornton Yahoo Stats