Alek Thomas, the Diamondbacks’ rookie center fielder, started his career with a bang, driving balls with authority during his first few weeks in the majors in May. The league appeared to adjust.
LOS ANGELES — The Diamondbacks’ Alek Thomas sat in front of his locker on Monday afternoon and fiddled with a bat emblazoned with teammate Josh Rojas’ name. He had just used it in the batting cage and liked how it felt. He figured it wouldn’t hurt to try bringing it into a game.It is not hard to imagine why. Thomas, the Diamondbacks’ rookie center fielder, started his career with a bang, driving balls with authority during his first few weeks in the majors in May.
But, more than anything, he realizes that a developmental focus the Diamondbacks had for him during his time in the minors is proving true here in the majors. He is swinging at too many pitchers’ pitches. When Thomas was in the minor leagues, the Diamondbacks wanted him to lock in on what pitches he can drive and to try to lay off the rest, at least before getting to two strikes. But because pitchers are less refined in the minors -- that is, they miss over the plate far more often than they do in the majors -- that sort of skill can be harder for a hitter to refine.
Thomas’ chase rate is 35 percent, well above the major league average of 28.4 percent. His ground-ball rate of 57.2 percent would be the second-highest in the majors if he had enough plate appearances to qualify among league leaders. Mather said Thomas could benefit from taking the pitch and forcing the pitcher to try to hit that spot again. He called it the sort of adjustment every hitter has to learn to make at some point upon reaching the majors.
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