Stephen Vogt Reacts To Lane Thomas, Cleveland Guardians' Offensive Troubles

Stephen Vogt reiterates that the Cleveland Guardians must stick with their process.

Aug 23, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians manager Stephen Vogt, left, gets between center fielder Lane Thomas (8) and home plate umpire Adam Hamari after Thomas struck out during the eighth inning against the Texas Rangers at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports / Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

The Cleveland Guardians continue to look to get back on track with their bats. Their loss to the Texas Rangers on Friday night was reminiscent of many of their past games, with many strikeouts and weak contact no matter who pitched against them.

Stephen Vogt was specifically asked about Lane Thomas' at-bats against the Rangers. The right-handed hitter was 0-for-3 from the plate and struck out twice but was responsible for one of Cleveland's runs with a sacrifice fly.

"Lane's at-bats [on Friday night] were phenomenal. I thought He worked the count really well," said Vogt.

"He had the sac fly and struck out on a couple of borderline calls, and that's frustrating, especially when you're going through it like Lane is. But man, this kid works tremendously hard. He's putting himself into good positions and just isn't getting results right now, and that can be really frustrating."

Unfortunately for Thomas, he was on the wrong end of multiple calls that could have affected the outcome of the game. Vogt even had to come out to separate Thomas from home plate umpire Adam Hamari following his final strikeout of the night.

Thomas now has a .111/.197/.159 slash line as a member of the Guardians. This certainly isn't the hitter the Guardians traded for at the deadline, and it's not the player Thomas has been during his career.

Aug 18, 2024; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Cleveland Guardians center fielder Lane Thomas (8) reacts after striking out in the second inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports / Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

So, how does Thomas get back to being the contact-hitter he was as a member of the Washington Nationals?

Vogt's message to Thomas is the same as the rest of the team: Stick with the process because it has worked in the past, and at some point, things will turn around.

"That's why I continue to say 'We have to continue the course.' There's things we can clean up, there's always things we can be working on, but we just hae to contniue to be ourselves because this is the same team we've been all year and it's going to break, we just have to push through."