Reports indicate that New York Yankees hitting coach Marcus Thames will be considered for Detroit Tigers managerial vacancy. Ron Gardenhire was previously the manager of the Tigers, but abruptly retired on Saturday. He was expected to retire after the season, but didn’t feel well in terms of health, leading to him calling it quits early.
Thames played parts of 10 seasons in the MLB. He made his debut in 2002 with the Yankees, before playing the 2003 season for the Rangers. Thames spent six seasons with the Tigers beginning in 2004, then went back to the Yankees in 2010. 2011, his final season, was spent with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
He finished his career with a .246 average, 115 home runs, and a 1.9 career WAR.
Thames began his coaching career in 2013 with the Yankees as the hitting coach for high-A Tampa. He was promoted to the hitting coach of the AA affiliate Trenton Thunder in 2014, and moved to AAA Scranton in 2015.
In 2016, Thames was named the assistant hitting coach under manager Joe Girardi, and kept that role through 2017. Once Girardi was fired, Thames was named the head hitting coach under current manager Aaron Boone.
Thames has been credited with improving a lot of the Yankees current stars. Under Thames coaching, players like Gleyber Torres, Aaron Judge, Luke Voit, Gio Urshela, Clint Frazier, and many others have been huge breakouts with the Yankees. Many of those guys had high potential, but Thames helped them maximize it.
If Thames were to go to Detroit, he would reunite with Austin Romine, the Yankees former backup catcher. Romine spent 2016-2019 as the backup, and bat .281 in 2019, leading to his departure to chase a starting catching job.
If the Yankees were to lose Thames, it would be a devastating loss to the coaching staff.