Alek

Thomas

It seems like a possibility that Hernández will require a trip to the injured list, depending on the severity. The 33-year-old veteran slugger suffered the injury while attempting to beat out attempting to beat out a second-inning grounder. He was replaced in left field by Hyeseong Kim. There should be some additional clarity on his status prior to Friday’s series opener against the Phillies. There’s no shortage of options for the Dodgers in the upper minors with Ryan Ward and Alek Thomas representing in-house options already on the 40-man roster while prospect James Tibbs III might be a consideration as a potential solution. Tommy Edman (ankle) is at least another week or two away from returning from the injured list.

Thomas was designated for assignment over the weekend so that the Diamondbacks could add top prospect Ryan Waldschmidt to the 40-man roster. Thomas was hitting .181/.222/.340 as Arizona’s center fielder against right-handers. However, he has two years of team control remaining on his contract and was once a top 100 outfield prospect, so it makes sense for the Dodgers to take a gamble. He’ll head to the minors for now. Requena is a 17-year-old outfielder who signed with the Dodgers in January for a $372,500 bonus.

It’s understandable that the D-backs were frustrated with Thomas, but they might regret jettisoning him instead of Jorge Barrosa to make room for Ryan Waldschmidt. Thomas was hitting .181/.222/.340 as Arizona’s center fielder against right-handers, but Statcast thinks he was pretty unlucky in the process. He had a lower strikeout rate (23 percent) and a higher hard-hit rate (43 percent) in the majors than Waldschmidt did in Triple-A. With a $1.962 million salary and two years of control after this one, Thomas should draw interest as a trade candidate.

Thomas knocked a base hit in the third inning, then later took Sean Burke deep for a solo homer in the fifth for his first of the season. The 25-year-old outfielder has struggled so far on the year, hitting .185/.221/.338 with seven runs scored, eight RBI, and three steals across 69 plate appearances.

Thomas opened the scoring in the contest with a run-scoring double off of Emmet Sheehan in the second inning. He then added a two-run double in the fourth that tied the game at four runs apiece. He also drew a one-out walk in the ninth inning and swiped second base to get himself into scoring position, but the Diamondbacks were unable to cash him in. As long as he’s seeing regular at-bats for the D’Backs, his dynamic skillset makes him a viable option in deeper mixed leagues.

While Lourdes Gurriel is sidelined, the 23-year-old will have a chance to see regular at-bats for the Diamondbacks — essentially battling Alek Thomas to see who sticks in the lineup upon Gurriel’s return. Here’s the full lineup that the Diamondbacks will use against Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the Dodgers on Friday evening in Los Angeles: Ketel Marte (2B), Corbin Carroll (RF), Geraldo Perdomo (SS), Gabriel Moreno (C), Pavin Smith (DH), Nolan Arenado (3B), Carlos Santana (1B), Alex Thomas (CF) and Jordan Lawlar (LF).

Thomas shellacked a three-run blast off off Austin Gomber. The 25-year-old has raked in the Cactus League with a pair of homers and a .370/.452/.778 slash. He’s slated to play in left to begin the year, but while he is a former prospect of note, he hasn’t produced enoug hto trust as a fantasy option yet.

Interestingly, the Diamondbacks had Thomas in center and played Jordan Lawlar in left field for the first time today. Thomas is definitely Arizona’s safer option in center, but it has sounded like Lawlar was going get a chance to start there in the regular season. It has ramifications down the line, since the D-backs seem confident Lourdes Gurriel Jr. is going to make an earlier return from a torn ACL than originally expected. Of course, the D-backs could just use Gurriel primarily as a DH and keep playing both Lawlar and Thomas in the outfield.

Thomas stayed healthy last season, but he managed only a .249/.289/.370 line with his strikeout rate taking a big jump to 26%. He’s also already showing signs of decline on defense at age 25. This is probably a make-or-break season for him if he wants to be taken seriously as a starting outfielder. He’s looked more like a reserve of late.

Both players are arbitration-eligible, so this would be a move to free up salary cap space; however, Piecoro also notes that the Diamondbacks believe they have plenty of options to move into that vacated outfield role, including Jorge Barossa, Tim Tawa, Blaze Alexander, and even Jordan Lawlar, who has been playing center field this winter. Nothing is imminent, but this remains a story to watch because of what it could mean for Lawlar or Tawa’s playing time.