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Matt Thornton

Matthew J. Thornton

Position: Pitcher
Bats: Left, Throws: Left
Height: 6' 6", Weight: 235 lb.

Born: September 15, 1976 in Three Rivers, MI
High Schools: Centerville HS (Sturgis, MI), Centreville HS (Centreville, MI)
School: Grand Valley State University (Allendale, MI)
Drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the 1st round (22nd pick) of the 1998 amateur draft.
Signed July 3, 1998. (All Transactions)
Debut: June 27, 2004 (Age 27)
Teams (by GP): WhiteSox/Mariners 2004-2013
2013 Contract Status: Signed thru 2013, 2 yrs/$12M (12-13) & 14 team option (details) [*]
Service Time (01/2013): 8.129, Free Agent: 2014 [*], Agents: Adam Hubble [*]
    About biographical information

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Fan EloRater

Fine Details  · Last updated May 15, 2013 6:17PM
All-Time Rank (among pitchers): #1055. Bruce Chen… #1056. Connie Johnson… #1057. Bill Wight… #1058. MATT THORNTON… #1059. Tony Cloninger… #1060. Red Barrett… #1061. Elmer Dessens… 

Standard Pitching

More Stats

Year Age Tm Lg W L W-L% ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO HBP BK WP BF ERA+ WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9 SO/BB Awards
2004 27 SEA AL 1 2 .333 4.13 19 1 8 0 0 0 32.2 30 15 15 2 25 1 30 0 0 2 148 110 1.684 8.3 0.6 6.9 8.3 1.20
2005 28 SEA AL 0 4 .000 5.21 55 0 15 0 0 0 57.0 54 33 33 13 42 2 57 0 0 7 262 81 1.684 8.5 2.1 6.6 9.0 1.36
2006 29 CHW AL 5 3 .625 3.33 63 0 20 0 0 2 54.0 46 20 20 5 21 4 49 1 0 1 227 143 1.241 7.7 0.8 3.5 8.2 2.33
2007 30 CHW AL 4 4 .500 4.79 68 0 13 0 0 2 56.1 59 31 30 4 26 6 55 2 0 3 249 99 1.509 9.4 0.6 4.2 8.8 2.12
2008 31 CHW AL 5 3 .625 2.67 74 0 12 0 0 1 67.1 48 20 20 5 19 2 77 2 0 3 268 172 0.995 6.4 0.7 2.5 10.3 4.05
2009 32 CHW AL 6 3 .667 2.74 70 0 17 0 0 4 72.1 58 22 22 5 20 2 87 1 0 4 291 172 1.078 7.2 0.6 2.5 10.8 4.35
2010 33 CHW AL 5 4 .556 2.67 61 0 13 0 0 8 60.2 41 18 18 3 20 5 81 2 0 1 239 161 1.005 6.1 0.4 3.0 12.0 4.05 AS
2011 34 CHW AL 2 5 .286 3.32 62 0 20 0 0 3 59.2 60 34 22 3 21 5 63 0 0 2 262 131 1.358 9.1 0.5 3.2 9.5 3.00
2012 35 CHW AL 4 10 .286 3.46 74 0 18 0 0 3 65.0 63 27 25 4 17 4 53 3 0 2 266 126 1.231 8.7 0.6 2.4 7.3 3.12
2013 36 CHW AL 0 1 .000 2.38 18 0 2 0 0 0 11.1 13 5 3 2 2 1 5 1 0 0 48 189 1.324 10.3 1.6 1.6 4.0 2.50
10 Yrs 32 39 .451 3.49 564 1 138 0 0 23 536.1 472 225 208 46 213 32 557 12 0 25 2260 129 1.277 7.9 0.8 3.6 9.3 2.62
162 Game Avg. 4 5 .451 3.49 68 0 17 0 0 3 65 57 27 25 6 26 4 67 1 0 3 272 129 1.277 7.9 0.8 3.6 9.3 2.62
CHW (8 yrs) 31 33 .484 3.22 490 0 115 0 0 23 446.2 388 177 160 31 146 29 470 12 0 16 1850 141 1.196 7.8 0.6 2.9 9.5 3.22
SEA (2 yrs) 1 6 .143 4.82 74 1 23 0 0 0 89.2 84 48 48 15 67 3 87 0 0 9 410 90 1.684 8.4 1.5 6.7 8.7 1.30

Player Value--Pitchers

WAR Explained (v2.2): 8+ MVP, 5+ A-S, 2+ Starter, 0-2 Sub, < 0 Repl
Year Age Tm Lg IP G GS R RA9 RA9opp RA9def RA9role PPFp RA9avg RAA WAA gmLI WAAadj WAR RAR waaWL% 162WL% Salary Awards
2004 27 SEA AL 32.2 19 1 15 4.13 5.20 0.11 -0.30 98.5 4.72 2 0.2 .4 -0.1 0.4 6 .509 .501
2005 28 SEA AL 57.0 55 0 33 5.21 5.01 -0.02 -0.38 95.4 4.44 -5 -0.5 .8 -0.1 -0.0 1 .490 .497 $323,000
2006 29 CHW AL 54.0 63 0 20 3.33 5.06 -0.20 -0.37 104.5 5.10 10 1.0 1.5 0.1 1.7 17 .516 .506 $355,000
2007 30 CHW AL 56.1 68 0 31 4.95 5.10 -0.38 -0.38 103.8 5.29 2 0.2 1.6 -0.1 0.7 8 .502 .501 $425,000
2008 31 CHW AL 67.1 74 0 20 2.67 4.88 -0.16 -0.36 105.0 4.91 16 1.6 1.4 0.1 2.4 24 .521 .510 $875,000
2009 32 CHW AL 72.1 70 0 22 2.74 4.88 -0.13 -0.36 104.6 4.86 16 1.7 1.6 0.3 2.7 25 .524 .510 $1,325,000
2010 33 CHW AL 60.2 61 0 18 2.67 4.47 -0.28 -0.34 104.1 4.58 12 1.3 1.6 0.3 2.2 19 .522 .508 $2,250,000 AS
2011 34 CHW AL 59.2 62 0 34 5.13 4.45 -0.08 -0.34 103.5 4.33 -5 -0.6 1.5 -0.3 -0.2 1 .491 .496 $3,000,000
2012 35 CHW AL 65.0 74 0 27 3.74 4.49 0.04 -0.33 105.5 4.34 4 0.5 1.6 -0.0 1.1 11 .506 .503 $5,500,000
2013 36 CHW AL 11.1 18 0 5 3.97 4.71 -0.46 -0.35 106.1 5.12 1 0.1 1.8 0.0 0.2 3 .507 .501 $5,500,000
10 Seasons 536.1 564 1 225 3.78 4.81 -0.14 -0.35 103.2 4.74 52 5.4 1.4 0.2 11.3 115 .509 .503 $19,553,000
CHW (8 yrs) 446.2 490 0 177 3.57 4.75 -0.17 -0.35 104.5 4.77 56 5.7 1.6 0.4 10.9 108 .512 .504 $19,230,000
SEA (2 yrs) 89.2 74 1 48 4.82 5.08 0.03 -0.35 96.5 4.54 -4 -0.4 .7 -0.2 0.4 7 .495 .499 $323,000

Postseason Pitching

Postseason Gamelog
Year Age Tm Lg Series Rslt Opp W L W-L% ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO HBP BK WP BF WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9 SO/BB
2008 31 CHW AL ALDS L TBR 0 0 0.00 3 0 1 0 0 0 3.1 2 0 0 0 2 1 2 0 0 0 14 1.200 5.4 0.0 5.4 5.4 1.00
1 ALDS 0 0 0.00 3 0 1 0 0 0 3.1 2 0 0 0 2 1 2 0 0 0 14 1.200 5.4 0.0 5.4 5.4 1.00

Standard Batting

More Stats

Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB Pos Awards
2004 27 SEA AL 19 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
2005 28 SEA AL 55 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
2006 29 CHW AL 63 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
2007 30 CHW AL 68 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 -100 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
2008 31 CHW AL 74 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
2009 32 CHW AL 70 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
2010 33 CHW AL 61 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 AS
2011 34 CHW AL 62 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
2012 35 CHW AL 74 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
2013 36 CHW AL 18 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
10 Yrs 564 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 -100 0 0 0 0 0 0
162 Game Avg. 162 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 -100 0 0 0 0 0 0
CHW (8 yrs) 490 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 -100 0 0 0 0 0 0
SEA (2 yrs) 74 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Player Value--Batters

WAR Explained (v2.2): 8+ MVP, 5+ A-S, 2+ Starter, 0-2 Sub, < 0 Repl
Year Age Tm Lg G PA Rbat Rbaser Rdp Rfield Rpos RAA WAA Rrep RAR WAR waaWL% 162WL% oWAR dWAR oRAR Salary Pos Awards
2004 27 SEA AL 19 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 .501 .500 0.0 0.0 0 1
2005 28 SEA AL 55 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 .501 .500 0.0 0.1 0 $323,000 1
2006 29 CHW AL 63 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 .500 .500 0.0 0.1 0 $355,000 1
2007 30 CHW AL 68 1 -0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 .500 .500 0.0 0.1 0 $425,000 1
2008 31 CHW AL 74 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 .501 .500 0.0 0.1 0 $875,000 1
2009 32 CHW AL 70 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 .500 .500 0.0 0.1 0 $1,325,000 1
2010 33 CHW AL 61 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 .501 .500 0.0 0.1 0 $2,250,000 1 AS
2011 34 CHW AL 62 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 .501 .500 0.0 0.0 0 $3,000,000 1
2012 35 CHW AL 74 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 .501 .500 0.0 0.0 0 $5,500,000 1
2013 36 CHW AL 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 .501 .500 0.0 0.0 0 $5,500,000 1
10 Seasons 548 1 -0 0 0 0 3 2 0.2 0 2 0.2 .500 .500 0.2 0.5 2 $19,553,000
CHW (8 yrs) 474 1 -0 0 0 0 2 2 0.2 0 2 0.2 .500 .500 0.2 0.4 2 $19,230,000
SEA (2 yrs) 74 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 .501 .500 0.0 0.1 0 $323,000

Postseason Batting

Postseason Gamelog
Year Age Tm Lg Series Opp Rslt G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB
2008 31 CHW AL ALDS TBR L 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1 ALDS 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Standard Fielding

More Stats

Year Tm Lg Age Pos G GS CG Inn Ch PO A E DP Fld% Rdrs Rdrs/yr RF/9 RF/G lgFld% lgRF9 lgRFG SB CS CS% lgCS% PO Awards
2004 SEA AL 27 P 19 1 0 32.2 4 0 4 0 1 1.000 0 0 1.10 0.21 .948 1.65 1.65 1 2 67% 32% 0
2005 SEA AL 28 P 55 0 0 57.0 6 0 6 0 1 1.000 -3 -11 0.95 0.11 .953 1.71 1.68 6 0 0% 30% 0
2006 CHW AL 29 P 63 0 0 54.0 11 2 8 1 0 .909 0 0 1.67 0.16 .958 1.57 1.54 4 0 0% 30% 0
2007 CHW AL 30 P 68 0 0 56.1 13 5 8 0 2 1.000 3 11 2.08 0.19 .955 1.60 1.59 1 1 50% 26% 0
2008 CHW AL 31 P 74 0 0 67.1 9 1 8 0 1 1.000 0 0 1.20 0.12 .952 1.60 1.59 4 0 0% 27% 0
2009 CHW AL 32 P 70 0 0 72.1 12 2 9 1 2 .917 1 3 1.37 0.16 .953 1.53 1.51 4 5 56% 26% 1
2010 CHW AL 33 P 61 0 0 60.2 6 0 6 0 0 1.000 0 0 0.89 0.10 .953 1.63 1.61 3 0 0% 26% 0 AS
2011 CHW AL 34 P 62 0 0 59.2 12 5 7 0 0 1.000 -3 -10 1.81 0.19 .949 1.60 1.59 13 2 13% 28% 1
2012 CHW AL 35 P 74 0 0 65.0 16 2 14 0 2 1.000 3 9 2.22 0.22 .954 1.56 1.56 4 2 33% 26% 2
2013 CHW AL 36 P 18 0 0 11.1 6 2 3 1 0 .833 1 19 3.97 0.28 .968 1.51 1.53 2 0 0% 24% 0
10 Seasons P 564 1 0 536.1 95 19 73 3 9 .968 2 0 1.54 0.16 .954 1.60 1.58 42 12 22% 28% 4
10 Seasons TOT 564 1 0 536.1 95 19 73 3 9 .968 2 4 1.54 0.16 .954 1.60 1.58 42 12 22% 28% 4
Note: Fielding stats are a combination of official records and RetroSheet records. Both are likely to have substantial errors and will not match perfectly.
View Complete Notes on Fielding Data
Leagues historically made no effort to balance team, league, and player fielding stats. Since 1990 or so, computers have made this feasible, but prior to that there are hundreds or thousands of discrepancies each year in games played (even whether a player played a position), putouts, assists, double plays and errors.
  • Pre-1945 SB & CS data for catchers is estimated from catcher assists, games started and opposition stolen bases.
  • From 1945 on SB, CS, Pickoff, & WP data for catchers and pitchers is taken from play-by-play accounts in the retrosheet files. There are several hundred games without pbp from 1945 to 1973 and for those we may not have any data.
  • CG & GS come from the retrosheet data and should be complete and pretty accurate from 1916 on.
  • Innings played (like SB and CS) come from the retrosheet play-by-play data and should be considered mostly complete from 1945 to 1973 and complete from then on.
  • Stats (PO,A,G, etc) for LF-CF-RF positions (since 1916) is taken from play-by-play or box score data as available.
  • Stats (PO,A,G,etc) for C,P,1B,2B,3B,SS,OF positions is taken from the official reported totals and may have been corrected at various times since their publication.
  • For detailed information on which games retrosheet is missing play-by-play from 1945 to 1973, please see their most wanted games list
  • For detailed information on the availability of data on this site by year, see our data coverage page

Appearances on Leader Boards, Awards, and Honors

Stats are Year-Value-Rank · Glossary

All-Star Games
2010 *

Games Played s c a p y
2008 AL  74 (5th)
2012 AL  74 (6th)
2013 AL  18 (9th)
Active  564 (19th)
Career  564 (243rd)

Games Finished s c a p y
Active  138 (44th)

Adj. Pitching Runs s c a p y
Active  58 (49th)

Win Probability Added (WPA)† s c a p y
2009 AL  3.3 (9th)
2010 AL  2.8 (9th)

Sit. Wins Saved (WPA/LI)† s c a p y
Active  6.0 (45th)

Def. Games as P s c a p y
2008 AL  74 (5th)
Active  564 (19th)

Range Factor/9Inn as P† s c a p y
Active  1.54 (23rd)

Fielding % as P s c a p y
Active  .968 (12th)
Career  .968 (96th)

                                         

† Statistics like WPA, REW and RE24 are computed from play-by-play data which is only complete from 1974 to the present. From 1945-1973, the data is incomplete, though for most seasons only less than 20 games per season total are missing. Please see our page on data coverage for a full view of the data used to create these leaderboards.

Hall Of Fame Statistics

Player rank in (·)

Gray InkPitching - 3 (2156), Average HOFer ≈ 185
Hall of Fame MonitorPitching - 6 (1215), Likely HOFer ≈ 100
Hall of Fame StandardsPitching - 9 (943), Average HOFer ≈ 50
JAWS Relief Pitcher (179th), 11.2 career WAR/11.5 7yr-peak WAR/11.3 JAWS
Average HOF RP (out of 5) = 40.6 career WAR/27.9 7yr-peak WAR/34.3 JAWS

Similarity Scores

Explanation of Similarity Scores
Similar Pitchers 
 View Similar Player Links in Pop-up
 Compare Stats to Similars
  1. Rob Murphy (976)
  2. Damaso Marte (972)
  3. Scott Downs (970)
  4. Ricardo Rincon (964)
  5. Ken Dayley (954)
  6. Graeme Lloyd (950)
  7. Scott Radinsky (950)
  8. Frank DiPino (949)
  9. Ray King (948)
  10. Steve Kline (947)
Similar Pitchers through 35 
 View Similar Player Links in Pop-up
 Compare Stats to Similars
  1. Rob Murphy (976)
  2. Damaso Marte (972)
  3. Ricardo Rincon (967)
  4. Scott Downs (966)
  5. Frank DiPino (954)
  6. Graeme Lloyd (948)
  7. Jim Mecir (940)
  8. Steve Reed (938)
  9. Juan Agosto (937)
  10. Tony Castillo (933)
Most Similar by Ages 
 View Similar Player Links in Pop-up
 Hold mouse over #'s to see names
  1. Valerio De Los Santos (989)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  2. Mike Matthews (986)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  3. Gary Wayne (982)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  4. Scott Sauerbeck (984)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  5. Ricardo Rincon (971)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  6. Damaso Marte (971)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  7. Rob Murphy (976)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C

Transactions

The transaction information used here was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet. We attempt to update transactions throughout the season.

Salaries

 Salaries may not be complete (especially pre-1985) and may not include some earned bonuses
Year Age Team Salary Sources Notes/Other Sources
200528Seattle Mariners$323,000
200629Chicago White Sox$355,000
200730Chicago White Sox$425,000
200831Chicago White Sox$875,000
200932Chicago White Sox$1,325,000
201033Chicago White Sox$2,250,000
201134Chicago White Sox$3,000,000
201235Chicago White Sox$5,500,000contracts
201336Chicago White Sox$5,500,000
201437Chicago White Sox*$6,000,000$6M Team Option, $1M Buyout
Earliest Free Agent: 2014
Career to date (may be incomplete)$19,553,000Does not include future salaries
Primary salary Data (about) courtesy Doug Pappas, and the Society for American Baseball Research.
Additional 1915-1969 salaries researched via Baseball Hall of Fame contract archives by Dr. Michael Haupert of UW-LaCrosse.
Salaries for mid-season call-ups or traded players may not be shown.
Salaries converted to alternate years using Consumer Price Index (CPI) data courtesty of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Board.

Other Resources & Links

Error?     Compare     Search SABR's Baseball Index     Other Links@google.com     Baseball-Almanac.com     CNN/SI     ESPN     Retrosheet     The Baseball Cube     WahooSam.com     WhatIfSports: Matt Thornton    

Viewed 55,400 times through May 15, 2013.
Name and misspellings: Matthew J. Matt matthew Thornton thorton thronton

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