Justin Ray Thompson (born March 8, 1973) is a former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

pitcher who played for the Detroit Tigers from 1996 to 1999 and the Texas Rangers in 2005.

Career

Thompson was drafted out of high school in the first round of the

1991 MLB draft First round selections The following are the first round picks in the 1991 Major League Baseball draft. Supplemental first round selections Compensation picks Other notable players *Kevin Stocker, 2nd round, 54th overall by the Philade ...

and started his career in Detroit Tigers minor league system. Thompson started his professional career with the rookie-level

Bristol Tigers Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in S ...

of the Appalachian League in 1991. Thompson moved up to Class A the next year joining the

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its ...

Fayetteville Generals The Fayetteville Generals were a minor league baseball team located in Fayetteville, North Carolina. The last minor league baseball team to play before the Generals were the Fayetteville Highlanders of the Carolina League, they ceased play aft ...

in 1992. In 1993, Thompson split time in Class A and Double-A, playing with the

Lakeland Tigers Lakeland is primarily a toponym. It may refer to: Places Australia * Lakeland, Queensland Canada * Lakeland (electoral district), a federal electoral district in Alberta * Lakeland County, a former municipal district in Alberta * District of ...

of the Florida State League and the Eastern League's

London Tigers The London Tigers were a professional Double-A Minor League Baseball team that played in the Eastern League from 1989 to 1993. They played at Labatt Memorial Park in London, Ontario, and were affiliated with the Detroit Tigers. At the time i ...

. Thompson made his major-league debut in 1996. He was selected to the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

(AL) All-Star team in 1997, at the age of 24, during a season in which he won 15 games and finished fifth in the AL with a 3.02

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

. He continued to pitch well in 1998, finishing second in the AL in games started, with 34. Injury problems, however, derailed his 1999 season. Thompson was traded by the Tigers to the Texas Rangers in an eight-player trade after the 1999 season that involved Juan González being sent to Detroit. Thompson spent six seasons in Minor League Baseball with the Rangers organization, including a missed 2001 season due to a torn

rotator cuff The rotator cuff is a group of muscles and their tendons that act to stabilize the human shoulder and allow for its extensive range of motion. Of the seven scapulohumeral muscles, four make up the rotator cuff. The four muscles are the supraspi ...

suffered in 2000, before playing in MLB again for two games in 2005. Thompson elected free agency after the 2005 season and subsequently signed a minor-league contract with the Milwaukee Brewers in December 2005. In May 2006, Thompson retired after playing eight games for Milwaukee's Triple-A affiliate, the Nashville Sounds.

External links

*, o
The Baseball Cube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Justin 1973 births Living people American League All-Stars Detroit Tigers players Texas Rangers players Major League Baseball pitchers Baseball players from San Antonio Bristol Tigers players Fayetteville Generals players Lakeland Tigers players London Tigers players Jacksonville Suns players Visalia Oaks players Toledo Mud Hens players Oklahoma RedHawks players Charlotte Rangers players Tulsa Drillers players Gulf Coast Rangers players Spokane Indians players Frisco RoughRiders players Nashville Sounds players American expatriate baseball players in Canada