On March 31, 2019, Trent Thornton made his major league debut as a starting pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays against the Detroit Tigers.
In the first three games of the season, the three members of the starting rotation who had gone before him on the mound had all pitched shutout ball, totaling 19 innings.
Trent got off to a shaky start, giving up a broken-bat single to Jeimer Candelario, the first batter he faced, but he recovered to strike out the side.
Even though the Jays lost the game in extra innings, he pitched five innings and extended his scoreless streak to 24 innings.
He only gave up one other hit, did not walk anybody, and struck out eight batters. For a pitcher making his debut, the 8 strikeouts set a new franchise record.
After a successful career at the University of North Carolina, where he played in the 2013 College World Series, he was picked in the fifth round of the 2015 amateur draft by the Houston Astros.
In 2015, he went 4-0 with a 3.27 ERA for the Tri-City ValleyCats of the New York-Penn League, and then went 10-5 with a 3.52 ERA between two clubs in 2016, reaching AA with the Corpus Christi Hooks.
Over the next two seasons in AAA, he was hit a little harder, with ERAs of 5.09 and 4.42 for the Fresno Grizzlies of the Pacific Coast League in 2017 and 2018, respectively, but he still went 8-4 and 9-8.
How Old Is Trent Thornton?
Trent Thornton is 28 years old. He was born on September 30, 1993.