Diamondbacks 2022 Season Player Reviews: Alek Thomas

Despite great defense a promising season ends in a demotion to AAA and question marks.

© Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Status: Rookie league minimum

Alek Thomas 2022 Stats / Baseball Reference

2022 Diamondbacks Season Reviews

Season Review

Alek Thomas was drafted out of Mount Caramel High School in Chicago by the Diamondbacks in the second round of the 2018 draft, 63rd overall. The son of Chicago White Sox strength and conditioning coach Allen Thomas, Alek grew up around the game and the White clubhouse reveling in the opportunity to be mentored by many major league players. 

The left handed hitting Thomas hit the ground running in the Diamondbacks organization, batting .333 with a .858 OPS in his first season of pro ball in. He did it again in 2019, batting an even .300 with an .829 OPS and making it all the way to Advanced class A+ as a 19 year old. He was invited to the 2020 alt site during the lost minor league season due to the pandemic. While there he got to play together in the outfield with Corbin Carroll and impressed the coaches with his glove as well as his bat.

He had another stellar minor league season in 2021 between AA and AAA batting .313 with a .959 OPS. His power emerged as he rapped 29 doubles, 12 triples and 18 homers in just 435 at bats. The only flaw in his game  seemingly was his high ground ball rate, well above 50%. But when he got the ball off the ground, he hit with authority, posting very good home run per fly ball rates and opposite field gap power. The average, power, speed and defense were everything you could ask for in a prospect. It was not a question of if, but when Thomas would be playing in the majors in 2022.

He started the year in AAA Reno, and was called up to the majors on May 8th, collecting his first hit that day, an opposite field double to the left centerfield gap. He went 7 for his first 16, and hit his first major league home run on May 11th, also an opposite field shot to left center. Through May 20th he was hitting .333/.349/.643 with a .992 OPS including four doubles and three homers. He was taking an aggressive approach, drawing just one walk in his first 13 games. Teams began to take notice and pitched him accordingly. 

The inevitable periods of back and forth adjustment that rookies must go through followed. Thomas slumped for the next few weeks, seeing his average drop all the way to .233. Then he went on a twelve game hitting streak in which he hit .364. However many of those hits were infield hits, displaying little of the power he was showing earlier in the season. The tendency to hit the ball on the ground became an issue, as he rose to the top of the table in ground ball percentage. Still through June 22nd he was more than holding his own, batting .275 with a .788 OPS. His average and OPS would never be that high again for the rest of the season. 

Over the next three months  through September 25th Thomas would play in 72 games and bat just .205 with 2 homers, 10 walks and 46 strikeouts, dropping him to the underwhelming batting line shown in the chart at the top of this article. He seemed to lose both his approach and his batting mechanics. Frequently pulling off the ball and knocking it straight into the ground, Thomas simply could not get it going again. A few of these issues can be seen in some telltale season end numbers

• Pitches Per PA: 3.60 vs. MLB Avg 3.89, resulting in
• Walks 22, strikeouts 74
• Launch Angle: 2.6%, second lowest in MLB, resulting in
• Ground Ball Percentage: 58% vs. league average 43% which was second highest in MLB

After the game on September 25th, Thomas was optioned to AAA Reno to work on things for the rest of year. It was a very disappointing end to a very promising season. 

Defense:

Thomas was terrific in centerfield defensively from the day he arrived. Showing great speed, instincts, and closing ability, he covered a tremendous amount of ground and made numerous highlight reel catches.

Remember when Alek Thomas broke Joey Votto's heart?https://t.co/kVOs7YY89o #MLBFilmRoom via @MLB

— Jack Sommers (@shoewizard59) October 20, 2022

Thomas' +6 defensive runs saved in centerfield were tied for 4th best in the NL despite starting just 102 games after being called up in May. Likewise, his +6 Outs Above average were the 5th highest total among NL centerfielders. This made him a Gold Glove Finalist in his rookie season

2023 Outlook:

The Diamondbacks have a log jam of left handed hitting outfielders. Daulton Varsho established himself as a five WAR player in 2022, rapping 27 homers and putting up +18 fielding runs in center and right field. Jake McCarthy hit .283 with a .349 OPS and stole 23 bases while showing power.  Corbin Carroll excelled in his late season call up posting an .830 OPS and recording the fastest sprint speeds in MLB.  In addition they have two more left handed outfield options knocking on the door in Dominic Fletcher and Dominic Canzone.

It's been widely speculated that the Diamondbacks may trade from their depth at the outfield position to improve other areas. Mike Hazen hinted as much on October 6th and more recent comments have only served to reinforce the possibility. Whether the player traded becomes Thomas is speculative of course. However it would be a very risky move for Hazen to give up on a player with Thomas' pedigree and past track record based on a three month slump at age 22 in his rookie season. 

For that reason the team may well decide to hold on to Thomas and let the outfield log jam sort itself out as these things often do.