Alek Thomas is Heating Up in August

With some hitting adjustments, Alek Thomas has helped lead the offensive charge for the D-backs in August.

The Arizona Diamondbacks need Alek Thomas on the field as much as possible. However, back when he was struggling at the plate, the team couldn't justify having his defense over the lack of offense he was providing. Now? He's pushing for everyday work and showing the team that there's still an All-Star level player in him. This is especially true after a terrific August as he helped lead the D-backs offense to find their mojo at the plate.

Let's start at the beginning as from Opening Day to May 16th, Alek Thomas was in an awful slump with multiple hitting mechanic issues, mostly due to his feet. After 39 games, the team sent him down to Triple-A Reno Aces after he had a batting line of .195/.252/.327/.579 with five doubles, two triples, two home runs, 10 RBI, eight walks, and a whopping 27 strikeouts. The time in Reno did him quite well. He adjusted his swing and batting stance. The team worked with him and he came back up on June 19th.

Since June 19th, Thomas has hit .281/.316/.455/.772 with 10 doubles, two triples, five home runs, 15 RBI, seven walks, and 40 strikeouts over 58 games and 178 plate appearances. Combine that with his elite defense and that's a great player. The team has been hiding him from left-handed pitching, but even so, he's been a far superior batter than he was the first month of the season.

And in August, he's been even better. He's helped lead the D-backs offense with clutch hitting, getting on-base, and cutting way down on the strikeouts. While the baseline numbers sag just a bit under his stats since June, he's still hitting .279/.348/.393/.741 with four extra-base hits, six RBI, two steals, five walks, and just 11 strikeouts over 70 plate appearances. Focus not on the average but on the On-Base Percentage and walks/strikeout ratio. In June, his OBP was .317, fueled by a high-average. However, he walked once to striking out 10 times. In July, his OBP was a below-average .284 as again he walked just once to 19 strikeouts. However, in August, he's been a patient hitter. He has an OBP of .348 and a much better 5/11 walk-strikeout ratio. The team needs him on base. They need his speed on base to create their "trademark" chaos on the base-paths.

D-backs Manager Torey Lovullo remarked on Alek Thomas' recent hitting below.

"He's barreling up the baseball, especially against right-handed pitching. I think the at-bats have been very quality...He's been swinging the bat good."

This patient approach has really worked for Thomas. Thomas has learned to be a far more patient hitter. When he takes the first pitch of an at-bat, regardless if it's a strike or ball, he's hitting .262/.314/.447/.761 over 223 plate appearances. When he swings at the first pitch, he's hitting just .203/.221/.284/.505 with 78 plate appearances. His patient approach is paying off in large ways for the D-backs and him.

Alek Thomas has been dominant versus fastballs. Statcast finds that he has an xBA of .291with an xSLG of .511, and xWOBA of .357. That's far improved from 2022 when he had numbers nearly a hundred points lower. However, he's continued to struggle versus off-speed pitches. This is a key area that Thomas must improve upon. He's got just an xBA of .199 versus breaking pitches and an xBA of .240 against offspeed pitches. Those are not good enough to survive everyday in the MLB. However, he has improved against offspeed pitches from 2022. So, there's still hope that Thomas will continue to develop his swing and approach against these pitches. When he does this, he will be much closer to being an everyday player and an All-Star.

One more key area that Alek Thomas has been helping the Diamondbacks a lot with lately is late-inning hitting. He's been a force to be reckoned with from the seventh to the ninth innings. Thomas has become a clutch hitter for a team that has struggled lately to get timely late-game hits to put the game away. From the 7-9 innings, Thomas has hit .281/.320/.469/.789 with five doubles, two triples, three home runs, nine RBI, and three stolen bases over 103 plate appearances. His sOPS+ is a great 120 (league average is 100). Thomas must love the pressure situations or his patient calm approach works best late in games.

Some other key statistics that are driving Alek Thomas' production at the plate to the best season of his short career is that he's hitting the ball with more authority. He's increased his hard hit% from 35.1% last year to 40.7%. He's decreased his ground ball rate from 57.7% to a much better 53.2%. Meanwhile, he's hitting over 4% more line drives and one percent more fly balls. This is helping him get those extra base hits and home runs that he struggled with earlier this season.

However, Alek Thomas has still yet to figure out left-handed pitching. While he has experienced some success recently versus lefties, the D-backs and Manager Torey Lovullo continue to limit Thomas' at-bats versus lefties. This is understandable as Thomas has hit just .098/.127/.164/.291 over 63 plate appearances against them this year. That's just not playable. While he is improving as the season goes on, the team has to have at-bats that can help the team win right now. This late into a playoff chase, the team can't afford to have a batter work through their struggles right now.

That's why Alek Thomas usually has nights off versus left-handed starters. Yet, he's in there for every right-handed starting pitcher because he's excelled against them. Over 238 plate appearances, Thomas is hitting .288/.333/.470/.804 against them. That's an above-average batting line that would put Thomas into the All-Star Game when combined with base running and defense. There is still hope for Thomas to play more against left-handed pitchers in the future. Manager Torey Lovullo remarked that that is something that might happen next season.

"I want to play him all the time for sure, but I'm just going to play the match-ups right now at this point in the season...Maybe it is a conversation this off-season, a different conversation I could have with him...because I do want to have him be an everyday player... that's not to say that Alek isn't capable of doing that, he's on his way, and he's learning every single day. "

When taking into account his early season struggles, he has an 89 OPS+ on the season. You combine that with his outstanding defense and that's an above-average player. On the season so far, he's been worth 1.6 bWAR and has eight defensive runs saved. On the season, Alek Thomas is hitting .246/.290/.404/.694 with 15 doubles, four triples, seven home runs, 25 RBI, seven stolen bases, 15 walks, and 67 strikeouts over 97 games.

One last flurry to cap off how great of an August Alek Thomas is having. While this article is mostly about his bat, one can't forget that the Arizona Diamondbacks wouldn't be where they are without his glove. He probably saved the game for the D-backs last week against the Texas Rangers when he made a Catch of the Year play in the 9th inning, robbing Adolis Garcia of extra bases. That won him Play of the Week by the MLB. You can see the magnificent play below.

Alek Thomas sprinted his way to the @Chevrolet Play of the Week. pic.twitter.com/h9oQkw74pj

— MLB (@MLB) August 28, 2023

Arizona Diamondbacks Manager Torey Lovullo couldn't be more happier for his young outfielder. He had this to say about Alek Thomas winning Play of the Week.

"It means that he's doing a lot right and he's in a good spot, growing and learning. Accepting the coaching and having great results because he's working hard and expecting to have great results. He's a phenomenally talented player. He can do unbelievable things with his barrel, he can do unbelievable things with his defensive ability. It's about being consistent, I think what we've seen over the past, not just this week but many before this, is that he's been very consistent on both sides of the ball."

There's one more month left in the season as the page turns to September and the D-backs fight for the playoffs. Alek Thomas will be a crucial piece of the puzzle as they seek to end their six-year playoff drought.