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Thames, minors: .50 batting eye, 4.50 AB:K, .222 ISO, 1290 PAsCatricala, minors: .55 batting eye, 5.35 AB:K, .192 ISO, 1840 PAs
I'm not a big fan of the Alfonso Soriano (or Adam Jones) method of hacking, but for some people it provides results.  Thames has also shown he's willing to stand on the plate and supplement his iffy eye with HBP to get on base, as Soriano did in the first half of his career.
He, like Robinson, is an attempt to get a plus performer out of a rawer talent with an issue to overcome.
Like you, I'm really curious to see if Thames can adjust once teams work him hard inside instead of letting him extend those arms.  He's hitting .340+ in AAA; yes, Vegas is a bit of a launching pad, but that's still pretty darn good, and shows that minor league pitchers aren't attacking him where he's weak.  He's very early in his career arc and is probably gonna need to grow in the bigs if his contact / average skills remain that high. 
Another guy on a rushed learning curve who picked things up late:Joey Bats - .55 batting eye, .182 ISO, 4.35 AB:K, got hit a bunch to up his OBP
Bautista's first 2 years in Pitt looked pretty meh, so he was moved to Toronto, still looked meh...and then clicked.  Like you said, Doc, three years on and the guy with the wow-strong and wow-quick bat started using Toronto as his own personal launching pad.
So do you let Thames play and see if he can figure out his pitch recognition and put his offensive package together?  Or should he Mike Morse his way to success without walks on some other club in 2014?
Personally, I want to see a LOT of Thames coming down the stretch.  Get that man plenty of at-bats.
~G