Thompson's focus outside family game

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA- The plot elements seemed to be in place for overwrought, hand-wringing drama. Our tortured protagonist had to choose: expand the family legacy, or blaze his own trail and pursue a separate dream.

But those who know Trayce Thompson knew better. His father, Mychal, played 12 seasons in the NBA and won two championships with the Lakers, before starting a new career as a Lakers broadcaster. His brothers, Mychal Jr. and Klay, attached themselves to the pursuit of hoops, eventually leaving home for Division I ball.

Would Trayce, now a senior at Santa Margarita, really drop the family sport in favor of baseball?

Of course he would.

"Even during basketball season, he walked around with a bat in his hand," said Mychal Jr., a rising senior at Pepperdine. "You could tell he missed it."

After basketball practice, when his brothers would find a place to hone their jump shots, Trayce made his way to a pitching machine. Scott Wallis, a longtime family friend and current Santa Margarita assistant, would open his batting cages for Trayce at 9 p.m., after closing the facility to the public.

The pursuit had begun much earlier.

"When he started playing tee ball, he would walk around the house with his bat all day," Mychal Sr. said. "Sometimes you had to be careful walking around a corner, because you might get hit."

The swings never connected with anyone's joints or limbs - an early sign that the youngster had a talent with bats. He knocked a light fixture once, but it didn't break.

Trayce played basketball through his junior year, sticking around for one more season, with hopes of winning a championship alongside Klay. After Santa Margarita captured a state title in 2008 and Klay prepared to leave for Washington State, Trayce, a center fielder, returned to baseball. The season was nearly halfway over, and as usual, he was behind.

Athleticism and raw ability kept Thompson afloat, but "he was overmatched," Eagles coach Kris Jondle said. "The pitching in the (Trinity) League is legit."

Thompson's talent always had been tantalizing, and his 6-foot-3, 195-pound frame looks good in a uniform. Yet, he lacked consistency and was as good as out if someone threw an off-speed pitch.

In 17 games as a junior, Thompson batted .233 with two home runs and seven runs batted in. Today, 12 months into life as a full-time baseball player, Thompson has heard from representatives from every Major League Baseball organization, he said. Tommy Lasorda has shown up to watch him play.

UCLA secured Thompson's commitment in the fall, after watching him homer and smash a ball off the 400-foot sign at Mt. San Antonio College, in a showcase of top area talents. The Bruins also might have seen him face Gerrit Cole (the first-round pick out of Orange Lutheran who turned down the Yankees to attend UCLA) in 2008. Whereas most high school hitters couldn't touch Cole with a frying pan, the righty Thompson pulled Cole's mid-90s fastball over the fence in left-centerfield. It was the lone home run Cole allowed in 75 2/3 innings.

Between Thompson's junior and senior seasons - without basketball commitments for the first time - he played on five different baseball teams. Plus, he took up private instruction with former Major Leaguer Chris Gwynn, brother of Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn.

"That helped me tremendously," Thompson said. "I never thought I could hit like that in my life."

This season with Santa Margarita, Thompson has seven home runs among his 14 extra-base hits. His batting average has dipped in the past couple of weeks to .309, but he's still slugging .765, even though he rarely sees a fastball.

The Eagles, vying for their first postseason berth in Thompson's three varsity seasons, are tied with Orange Lutheran for third place in the Trinity League. They play the Lancers on Wednesday and Friday.

"We're still not going to see, in high school, anything near what he's going to be like three or four years down the line," Jondle said of Thompson. "He's a great athlete. He's raw. He's got a lot of things to work on. But you're not starting from scratch. … His baseball IQ, or savvy, is pretty good. He just needs to play more."

But where?

Scouts have told him he could be drafted in the first three rounds, as his stock has skyrocketed. But, "If it doesn't work out, college is a great secondary (option)," Thompson said.

Sure, he was a pretty good basketball player, too. But the people whose heckling drove him out of the student section this past season - he eventually began sitting with friends' parents during Eagles basketball games - should have seen that he was the "stump of the family," as he put it, standing 4 inches below his brothers and 6 below his father.

They wouldn't have known about the front yard games at the Thompson's old Portland home, which inevitably ended with one of the older brothers running off, believing Mychal pitched extra slow to Trayce and made all the calls in his favor. And they would have been oblivious to the Thompson's family history in baseball.

Mychal grew up in the Bahamas, where his oldest brother, Colin, "was our Willie Mays and Hank Aaron," he said. The Dodgers invited Colin to spring training about 40 years ago, and after a standout spring, they assigned him to double-A ball. Colin declined the invitation, believing he deserved an assignment at triple-A.

"He regrets it," said Mychal, who relayed the story. "He got impatient and didn't realize the opportunity he blew."

If Trayce's career is to be derailed, it won't be from any sense of entitlement.

"I don't think I'm hitting it that good at all," he said. "I expect much more out of myself."

"And," said the boy who grew up watching the Mariners and idolizing Ken Griffey Jr., "I definitely need to work on my speed if I want to stay in center field."

"That's where he always stood out from everybody else," said Wallis, the Santa Margarita assistant and family friend. "It wasn't just because of his name or who his dad was. He very easily could have just gone out and just showed up and still been pretty good. But he works harder than anybody else out here."

Contact the writer: jkay@ocregister.com