Lane Thomas

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Lane Michael Thomas

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Biographical Information[edit]

Outfielder Lane Thomas is the son of Mike Thomas, who was a professional drag racer in the National Hot Rod Association circuit. He was originally drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 5th round of the 2014 amateur draft, then on July 2, 2017, was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in return for future considerations.

He was called up to St. Louis on April 17, 2019 and made his debut that same day playing the final 2 innings as a defensive replacement in center field in a 6-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. He made the shuffle between St. Louis and the AAA Memphis Redbirds on a regular basis that season, mainly being used late in games in the big leagues. On August 11th, however, he got a rare start in center field and made the most of it as he hit his first career grand slam off Kyle Crick in the 7th inning to put the Cards ahead to stay on their way to an 11-9 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. He had just 38 at-bats in 34 games, hitting .316. In 2020, he appeared in 20 games for the Cardinals in the pandemic-shortened season. He did not go to bat much more often than in his first season, with 36 at-bats and an average of .111. He was not used in the postseason either year.

In 2021, he had just 48 at-bats in his 32 games with St. Louis, but finally got a chance to play more regularly when he was traded to the Washington Nationals in return for Jon Lester on July 30th. Over the final two months of the season, he appeared in 45 games and had 178 at-bats. After batting .104 with the Cards, he hit .270 with Washington to finish at .235 with 7 homers and 28 RBIs in 77 games, also scoring 35 runs. His OPS+ with Washington was 134, a sign that he could be a useful major league player. However, now in possession of a regular job, he started 2022 slowly, as he was hitting just .195 in 43 games at the end of May. However, he had a career game in his first game in June, on June 3rd, when he had a three-homer game, doubling his season's total, in an 8-5 win over the Cincinnati Reds. It was the first multi-homer game of his career. He ended up hitting .241 in 146 games, with 26 doubles, 17 homers, 62 runs and 52 RBIs for an OPS+ of 102. In 2023, he improved on all of these numbers as the Nats' regular right fielder, hitting .268 in 156 games, with 36 doubles and 28 homers, scoring 101 runs and driving in 86 for an OPS+ of 116. He was one of the best offensive players on an improving Washington team.

In 2024, he couldn't reproduce his power numbers from the previous season during the first half, but was still a productive offensive player as in 77 games for Washington, his OPS+ was 113 as he batted .253 with 8 homers and 40 RBIs. He had managed to steal 28 bases over that span, but was also leading the NL with 12 caught stealing when he was traded to the Cleveland Guardians on July 29th. He headed to AL Central leaders in return for three prospects - P Alex Clemmey, SS Rafael Ramirez Jr., and IF José Tena.

Notable Achievements[edit]

  • 20-Home Run Seasons: 1 (2023)
  • 100 Runs Scored Seasons: 1 (2023)

Further Reading[edit]

  • Will Aldrich: "Living in the fast Lane: Thomas drives 3 HRs", mlb.com, June 4. 2022. [1]
  • Mandy Bell: "Guardians get Lane Thomas, trade 3 prospects to Nats", mlb.com, July 29, 2024. [2]
  • Mandy Bell: "'He's a competitor': Lane quickly settling into Guardians' lineup", mlb.com, August 1, 2024. [3]
  • Mandy bell: "It took time, but Game 1 star found his lane with Guardians", mlb.com, October 6, 2024. [4]

Related Sites[edit]

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