The viral video of former Royals outfielder Lane Thomas leaving during the fourth inning of a game at Coors Field in Denver on Saturday, a video which includes footage of Thomas shaking hands and giving hugs to teammates, speaks to Thomas’ value as a teammate and in the clubhouse.
The Braves are hoping he brings that value, and more on the field, the last two months of the season to the NL East’s first-place team.
Thomas, wearing No. 20, was in the Braves’ clubhouse Tuesday preparing to play his first game with his new team after being traded to Atlanta on Saturday during that aforementioned Royals game. He took a flight Sunday morning to get back to his native Knoxville, where he grew up watching the Braves and admiring Chipper Jones, then drove to Smyrna on Monday to begin getting reacclimated with Truist Park.
“Best-case scenario for me, being close to home and go to a first place-team,” Thomas said. “Just excited to be here and you know be a part of it. It’s always been a cool place you think about coming. I live 2 1/2 hours from here, so it’s exciting. Got a lot of family close and, like I said, excited to be here.”
Thomas, who said his father would be attendance Tuesday to watch his (possible) Braves debut, was not in the starting lineup in the first of three games against the Marlins. That’s because the Marlins were sending right-hander Ryan Gusto to the mound — and Thomas’ forte is hitting left-handed pitcher.
The 30-year-old outfielder (who turns 31 on Aug. 23) is a career .288 hitter against lefties, a full 69 points higher than his career average against right-handers. His OPS is 181 points higher against southpaws than right-handers.
The Marlins have three right-handed starters penciled in to start the series this week, but if and when they bring a left-handed reliever in, that’s when Thomas will be asked to grab a bat.
“I think everybody when they first get in the league expects to, you expect to be an everyday player at some point in your career,” Thomas said. “I got a long time of (doing) that, and as you go along, man, the only thing that matters is winning. So I think to come to a place where you have a chance to do that, I think it’s a lot easier to accept that role.”
Said Braves’ manager Walt Weiss: “Obviously, one of his strengths is against left-handed pitching. We’ve been very targeted with left-handed pitching, whether it’s been starters, or relievers, openers, all those things.
“So I think he certainly moves the needle for us there. Good athlete, runs well, defends, can throw, all those things. It’s a nice pickup.”
Thomas played at Bearden High School, just west of Knoxville, and was committed to play at Tennessee before the Blue Jays took him in the fifth round of the 2014 MLB draft. Five years later, he got his first at-bat playing for the Cardinals against the Mets and hit the second MLB pitch he saw for a pinch-hit, two-run homer.
A flair for the dramatic.
“Seems like a great guy, that’s always gonna kinda be No. 1,” Braves’ first baseman Matt Olson said Saturday. “A good righty bat. I know in the past he’s made a living hitting lefties well and got some thump to it.”
Thomas is three games shy of having played in 700 for his career, one that includes 86 home runs, 291 runs driven in and an OPS of .726. Thomas also spent the better part of four seasons with the Nationals, and in 27 games at Truist Park he has hit .245.
The Braves are hopeful Thomas can do a bit more offensively than that, and so does Thomas, because that will likely mean more wins for his new team.
“I played in this division for a long time in D.C. so I’m excited to not be on the receiving end of some of those losses,” Thomas said. “They (the Braves), they seem to just win every year and compete. What was it, ’21 they won the World Series? So I think that’s the goal is to get back to that point. Hopefully we can do that.”
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