MILWAUKEE — Maybe Alek Thomas was too modest when requested how he felt on the plate just lately whereas taking part in in Triple-A.
“We were playing in Vegas and the ball flew there, so it was great,” Thomas stated Monday afternoon, after being recalled from Triple-A Reno. “I used to be placing collectively some fairly good at-bats there, too.
“Rolling [last] week to now, it feels pretty good. So we’ll see how it translates.”
Thomas went 2-for-4 for the D-backs on Monday night time in a 9-1 victory at American Family Field. His first sport again within the Majors included a two-run homer off Brewers ace Corbin Burnes to cap the D-backs’ six-run first inning.
“It felt pretty good,” Thomas stated afterward. “All the stuff we worked on in the Minor Leagues, just getting the head out and hitting a home run to the pull side felt really good — against a dude that’s really good. It was cool.”
When the D-backs optioned Thomas to the Minors on May 17, he had a slash line of .195/.252/.327 in 39 video games. He had only one hit in 38 plate appearances towards left-handed pitchers.
The stint in Reno offered him a possibility to work on some changes on the plate, in a much less pressure-packed atmosphere than the large leagues.
“The beginning was a little tough,” Thomas stated of his Minors stint. “It’s always difficult to do something new, but I got adjusted to it and changed a few things. It seemed to work out pretty well.”
Thomas’ work included delicate changes, together with what he known as a “modified leg kick, where it’s not as high and it’s more controlled.” He tried utilizing no leg kick fully, however contemplating he’s had one his total baseball life, it wasn’t snug.
Another adjustment is to remain extra open in his stance, which permits him to see the ball higher, particularly towards lefties. He and the D-backs’ employees in contrast video from this season to final and seen his entrance leg was extra closed this season.
“We tried to just over exaggerate that a little bit,” Thomas stated.
The stance adjustment was noticeable when Thomas stepped up within the first inning Monday, with the D-backs already main 4-0.
Thomas took a pair of pitches from Burnes to get to a 1-1 rely. Burnes then got here again with a very good pitch — a cutter down and in — that Thomas hit to the second deck, past the right-field fence. Statcast measured it at a projected 412 ft with 104.6 mph exit velocity.
“[It] was down and in, almost off the plate in,” Burnes said. “He put a good swing on it.”
As he trotted across the bases, Thomas gave a thumbs as much as the D-backs’ dugout, additionally flashing a smile.
“Awesome,” stated beginning pitcher Merrill Kelly, who allowed one run in seven innings. … “A.T. is a superb child. Everybody loves him, all people likes to see him again.
“I went back and looked at the pitch. It wasn’t a terrible pitch — a hard cut down and in. He just dropped the head on it, and everybody went nuts. It’s awesome to see when a guy comes back like that and makes an instant impact.”
Thomas added a single, and even one among his outs was spectacular. He hit a 356-foot flyout to the warning monitor in left-center within the sixth inning. Before the sport, D-backs supervisor Torey Lovullo stated one of many issues he needs to see is Thomas be much less one-dimensional to the pull facet.
As in, if the ball is pitched outdoors, take it the opposite means, and if it’s inside, activate it. Thomas did each on Monday.
“You can see, he just has touch powers,” Lovullo stated postgame. “It was a pure swing on the house run, and he simply continued to make high quality changes pitch to pitch and at-bat to at-bat.
“It was a good day for him. I was very impressed by what I saw.”
After he received recalled, Thomas flew to Chicago and arrived at 4:30 a.m. Monday. He stayed at his girlfriend’s brother’s home and received to mattress round 5. He awoke and received a experience to Milwaukee, arriving round 12:30 p.m.
It was a protracted day, however it proved to be a memorable one.
“When everything is going right, I do what I did today,” Thomas stated. “And each time I’m not my regular self, I’m pulling off the ball and never staying via the ball — it is positively going proper to the second baseman or the primary baseman.
“I’m glad that I did what I did. That means the swing is where needs to be.”
Content Source: www.mlb.com