D-backs' Alek Thomas Focused On Health, Confidence in 2025

The young outfielder is looking for a bounce-back year after an injury-marred 2024.

Diamondbacks Alek Thomas (5) celebrates a home run against the Rockies during a game at Chase Field. / Patrick Breen/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Arizona Diamondbacks are in the early stages of Spring Training, and with that comes the chance for new beginnings. Those who missed time in 2024 are now healthy.

One such renewed player is young outfielder Alek Thomas. Thomas suffered a hamstring injury in early 2024; a myriad of setbacks later, he had only seen 39 games of action. He hit just .189/.245/.358 with a trio of home runs in those 39 games.

But on Thursday, Thomas told Jack Sommers of Arizona Diamondbacks On SI at Salt River Fields that he's feeling 100%, and that the focus is to stay healthy and rebuild his confidence.

"Just getting back healthy and making sure my body's in the right position to come into spring training and feel good. And then hitting-wise, just what I had worked on going into 2024, because that seemed like I was on the right path," Thomas said.

"[The hamstring injury] has never really happened to me before during a season, and really just in my whole life. So, yeah, definitely was weird and a lot more mentally challenging than physically."

Thomas said he had to take a week off during 2024's Spring Training for a wrist injury, and that week of downtime might have been a factor in the hamstring issue. He said getting in the weight room is the way to be prepared for the wear and tear that baseball can be.

"I think going forward, just making sure that I continue to do what I need to do in the weight room... So just continuing to be consistent in the weight room and making sure that I'm doing all the things necessary to be prepared."

"So just to be able to try to mimic that endurance in the weight room or if I ever do have some downtime, just trying to do whatever I can to make sure I can keep that stamina up," Thomas said.

He emphasized that his health was the main focus during the season. The offensive and defensive aspects of his game came second to his desire to maintain his strength and health.

"During the season, I felt like I was only worried about one thing and that was just being able to go out on the field. So I felt like I didn't really focus in on hitting or even fielding. So it was just my main focus was to be strong enough to go out there and play.

"So yeah, my mind was not on hitting. It was on whether or not I'm going to be okay for the day."

But it's not just health. Thomas said he'd also like to improve his confidence in himself, and keep his mental game consistent across all levels.

"I would like for my confidence to be where it needs to be and the trust in myself," said Thomas, "and the difference between my mentality in Triple-A and the big leagues is different. So I think I just want to have the same mentality that I have when I was in the minor leagues versus the big leagues".

"I don't know why it changes, maybe because there's more stress involved. But I think once I figure out how to have that confidence and be confident in myself, I think that's when good things happen," Thomas said.

From an offensive perspective, Thomas has had a tendency to hit ground balls. While the MLB league average ground ball rate was 42.9% in 2024, Thomas' own was 60.5%. His career rate is 57.2%.

With that in mind, Thomas said he's not necessarily focused on "elevating" the ball, but rather just putting a quality swing on the ball. The results will speak for themselves when hard contact is made.

"It's more just trying to hit line drives and stay through the ball. And not even mention the ground balls or the fly balls. When you take good swings and you're in a good position to hit, I don't think ground balls will happen."

"I think line drives and gap-to-gap stuff will take place. When I'm in the cage, I'm not worried about hitting ground balls. I'm worried about hitting the back of the net. So that was my main focus."

The Diamondbacks could certainly use some pop out of Thomas this season. When hard contact is made, the young lefty can be a legitimate power threat. Fully healthy, and, hopefully, fully confident, Thomas could be ready for a solid season.

"I think some of the coaches have seen the improvements I've made based on what I've been working on. So yeah, I'm happy for where I'm at right now," he said.