Notes: Thames has been center of national attention
No major-league player has made the rounds on more baseball television and radio shows than Eric Thames this season.
Just in recent days, Thames has appeared on the MLB Network’s “Intentional Talk,” ESPN’s "Baseball Tonight" and "SportsCenter," Jim Rome Radio and MLB Network Radio. It’s the price of fame and the Milwaukee Brewers’ new sensation is handling it all quite well.
“It’s been OK,” Thames said Tuesday after doing a local television interview on the field at Miller Park before batting practice. “I don’t have that much else to do. It’s easy. I’m not doing commercials or anything like that. I’m enjoying it.”
Thames got the attention of the entire baseball world with his incredible debut with the Brewers after spending the previous three seasons playing in South Korea. Entering Tuesday, he led the majors with 10 home runs, 24 runs scored, a .910 slugging percentage, 61 total bases, 16 extra-base hits and a 1.392 OPS.
Thames then went out and ripped his 11th homer of April to break Carlos Lee’s club record. And his 25 runs scored in the month are the most for any Brewer. It was impossible to ignore the damage he had done to Cincinnati, with homers in all six meetings and a total of eight.
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That kind of damage does open eyes, so Thames has spent much of his spare time in front of cameras, microphones and media members taking notes. His messages also are stacking up, including one that arrived via Potato Parcel.
That’s right, a message written on a potato.
“I’m keeping it,” Thames said. “It might be good luck.”
The avalanche of attention might be a bit heady if he were a 21-year-old rookie, but Thames is literally a man of the world after playing three years overseas. He is 30 years old, well-grounded and generally at peace after adopting Eastern philosophies and meditation techniques.
The way manager Craig Counsell sees it, Thames is in perfect position to take all of it in stride.
“He has already handled it,” Counsell said. “He handled it in a different country. It’s probably harder in a different country. He has been through this already. He was MVP of that league, so there was all of that attention. He is well-equipped to handle it. He is handling it all beautifully.
“A big part of the story is this is a 30-year-old doing this. He has taken this journey that’s different than everybody else to get to a place like this. We didn’t see it. So, there’s this part of all of us that says, 'I didn’t see it, so it can’t happen.’ He was playing baseball the last three years at a high level.”
As for the remarkable numbers that Thames has compiled, Counsell said, “He’s on a great run. We’re all enjoying watching it. You want it to continue. You know it’s not going to continue at this pace. But he’s already shown what he’s capable of. So, maybe he can continue it.
“It’s (11) home runs in a month. You can do the math; we know how many months there are in a season. It’s impressive.”
Cleaning up: Despite Thames' impressive start, he wasn’t the RBI leader on his own team entering Tuesday. That honor went to another newcomer, Travis Shaw, who had 18 RBI batting cleanup.
Shaw has been impressive in his own way, with 14 of his 18 hits for extra bases (eight doubles, one triple, five homers). And, like Thames, he is seeing new pitchers every night after playing for Boston the previous year-plus.
“I’m looking at some video of the pitchers but I don’t study too hard because it gets me thinking too much at the plate instead of just reacting,” Shaw said. “Information overload can be bad. I just like a general idea of what their pitches do, what they like to do in 3-2 counts.”
Getting off to a strong run-production start has Shaw optimistic about reaching a personal goal this season.
“I’d like to drive in 100 runs,” he said. “That’s my No. 1 goal. I think I can do it because Thames and (Ryan) Braun are always on base in front of me.”