{"id":99446,"date":"2025-04-21T15:11:28","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T19:11:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=99446"},"modified":"2025-04-21T15:11:28","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T19:11:28","slug":"alek-thomas-putting-on-a-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/04\/21\/alek-thomas-putting-on-a-show\/","title":{"rendered":"Alek Thomas Putting on a Show"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arizona Diamondbacks<\/a>\u2019 Alek Thomas<\/a> is putting on a show so far this 2025 season. With both his offensive and defensive skills on display, he has everyone believing he can be the highly regarded player coming out of the 2018 MLB draft<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Disappointing 2024 <\/strong><\/h3>\n

After just four games into last season, Thomas was placed on the 10-day injured list due to a strained left hamstring. That kept him out until July. After struggling upon his return, he was sent to Triple-A Reno. An oblique injury kept him out another four weeks. Those injuries affected him, and he wound up playing in just 39 games and hitting just .189.<\/p>\n

Bounce Back Wanted<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In the 2025 season, Thomas looked to improve after that discouraging 2024 campaign. He entered Spring Training healthy and emphasized being well both physically and mentally, as well as rebuilding his self-confidence. His desire to improve his batting and proficiency with driving the ball to all outfield areas had him working with hitting coach Joe Mather. Together, they changed his pre-swing adjustments. Those included a slightly lower leg kick and focused on a consistent stride and direction with his body.<\/p>\n

Clutch Hits So Far<\/strong><\/h3>\n

So far, he has made several clutch hits. During a game against the Milwaukee Brewers<\/a>, the Diamondbacks trailed 4-0 when Thomas came up in the bottom of the ninth inning with one out and a runner on first. The lefty hit the ball to the deepest part of Chase Field for a triple to drive in the team\u2019s first run and set the offense in motion. The Diamondbacks won the game 5-4 on two subsequent hits and a sacrifice. Thomas kept it going the next day when another big moment came in the eighth inning, a two-run RBI single to widen the Diamondbacks\u2019 lead, and they went on to win 5-2.<\/p>\n

Starting Well<\/strong><\/h3>\n

So far, Thomas has 53 at-bats with 15 hits and seven runs scored. He leads the National League with two triples. Again, showing both his offensive and defensive speed, Thomas has reported no issues from his previous injuries. He has started 13 games in centerfield and chased down multiple hits in the power alleys between left and center field and between right and center field. He has been perfect in his fielding, with 20 putouts against 20 chances.<\/p>\n

Has Potential \u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Arizona Diamondbacks\u2019 Alek Thomas is putting on a show and has the potential to be an all-around player. He rarely strikes out, hits the ball hard, and shows excellent speed on the base paths. Focusing on quality swings and making contact instead of trying to hit for power has been a key to his success. He is already respected around the league for his defense and wants to win a Gold Glove.<\/p>\n

More Playing Time\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/h3>\n

With Jake McCarthy<\/a> starting slowly, manager Torey Lovullo<\/a> has been playing Thomas more. He is healthy and building confidence, which is contributing to his strong performance and what could be a breakout year for him. If Thomas continues to display, he will be an essential and significant contributor as the Diamondbacks look to return to the playoffs and make a World Series run.<\/p>\n

Main Photo Credits: Allan Henry-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arizona Diamondbacks\u2019 Alek Thomas is putting on a show so far this 2025 season. With both his offensive and defensive skills on display, he has everyone believing he can be the highly regarded player coming out of the 2018 MLB draft. Disappointing 2024 After just four games into last season, Thomas was placed on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3026,"featured_media":99451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[3403,2862,1597,2513,5147,5221,296,4573,582],"class_list":["post-99446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diamondbacks","tag-alek-thomas","tag-defense","tag-gold-glove","tag-injured-list","tag-jake-mccarthy","tag-joe-mather","tag-mlb-playoffs","tag-speed","tag-torey-lovullo"],"modified_by":"Evan Mazza, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3026"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99446"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99453,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99446\/revisions\/99453"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}