2010 V2 - Black Sox's Thorne making some noise

[kestu]

The Black Sox opened the 2010 season with several options at 2B/3B and the only certainty was that team leader and perrenial gold glove candidate John Wilkinson was going to be manning the hot corner. Despite that, he had to feel youngsters Jimmy Brennan and Eric Thorne nipping at his heels. Both Thorne and Brennan were highly regarded infield prospects that seemed to be natural third baseman. Both were coming off solid seasons in AAA and both were deemed by many to be 'major-league ready' at the end of last season.

Over at second base, following the trade of Duncan Harvey to Vancouver, Brennan and Thorne were both competing with another rookie - natural second baseman Enrico Torres who had a great season in AAA last year, batting .302 with a .373 OBP and was also deemed to be 'major league ready'.

Following a hard-fought spring battle, both Torres and Brennan made the squad with Thorne being sent down to AAA for more seasoning. "Torres plays a great second base and despite his struggles in March we had confidence his bat would come around. We also wanted to see Thorne really excel at AAA before bringing him up," said manager Joey Cahill. "He had a decent AAA season last year (.786 OPS) but we knew he was capable of much more - and we hoped he would respond to the challenge."

Did he ever - Thorne responded to the demotion by hitting .320/.377/.546 with 36 extra base hits in 269 at bats while playing primarily at second base. "He was a major-league ready corner infielder a couple seasons ago," said GM Keith Stuart, "but we wanted him to focus on the middle infield with the knowledge that Brennan is going to excel defensively at 3rd."

While Thorne was tearing up AAA, Torres saw his offensive number regress on a monthly basis - from .281 in April to .210 in May and .195 in June. His defense continued to be a huge strength (as evidenced by his 4.0 ZR and 5.25 RF along with 50 DP's), but following the trade of Brennan to Carolina, Thorne was called up to Chicago and didn't take long to make an impact by going 3/4 in his major league debut. His hot hitting has continued and his .314/.357/.524 numbers in 105 at bats have earned him the starting role for the forseeable future. His defense is not near the level of Torres' but his bat has made it tough to take him out of the lineup.

[felipe]

is jimmy brennan named after THE jimmy brennan? Of Notts Forest and Toronto FC and Canadian national team fame?