TAMPA -- Colby Thomas was still in a bit of a daze on Sunday morning when he was awoken by a call from Triple-A Las Vegas manager Fran Riordan well before the team’s game scheduled for later that night.
“I was like, ‘What is Fran calling me for?’” Thomas said. “He was like, ‘Hey, we’re going to give you the day off. We want you to have back-to-back off-days.”
Riordan paused for dramatic effect before finishing his sentence: “So you can get ready to play in The Show.’”
“I was like, ‘Oh [shoot]!’” Thomas said. “The whole day was an exciting day.”
Instead of getting ready for a series finale against Sugar Land in Las Vegas, Thomas, ranked as the Athletics’ No. 2 prospect by MLB Pipeline, boarded a cross-country flight to join the big league club on Monday night, immediately contributing to a 6-4 win over the Rays at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
Entering as a pinch-hitter for Tyler Soderstrom in the eighth inning for his Major League debut, Thomas popped out to first to end the frame. Remaining in the game as the left fielder, Thomas made an incredible run-saving throw on a single by Josh Lowe by firing a seed to catcher Shea Langeliers at home to nab Brandon Lowe, who was trying to score from second base, ending the inning to preserve a 4-4 tie.
Thomas’ tremendous throw generated momentum for the A’s offense, which went out in the top of the ninth and pieced together a rally highlighted by Lawrence Butler’s two-run triple that put them ahead for good.
“That’s really the play of the game,” manager Mark Kotsay said of Thomas’ first MLB assist. “If they go ahead there, it puts a lot more pressure on our hitters and changes the whole dynamic of the ninth inning. … To make that play in his first game says a lot about what he’s done to get here.”
Thomas has mashed his way through each level of the A’s system with 66 home runs and 104 doubles across 334 career Minor League games. It’s a hit tool so tantalizing that it often overshadows his defense, which also grades out as a plus with his strong arm and good speed that helps him cover ground at all three outfield spots.
“I love to play hard,” Thomas said. “I’ll run into that wall if I need to. I want to save as many runs as I can. … I want to play as hard as I can for as long as I can.”
Entering Monday, the 24-year-old out of Mercer University was hitting .297 with a .907 OPS, 17 homers and 70 RBIs in 76 games at Triple-A, leading all of Minor League Baseball in RBIs and tied for the lead in extra-base hits with 40.
“I think it’s been good,” Thomas said of his season thus far. “I’ve worked on some things that I needed to work on. … I’ve made some adjustments that I’m really happy about, and I’m looking forward to making adjustments at this level.”
For as good a hitter as Thomas has shown to be so far as a professional, he is still somewhat of a polarizing prospect amongst scouts for his swing-and-miss issues, evidenced by his 33.7% chase rate and 26.3% strikeout rate.
For his part, Thomas has worked hard to identify his weaknesses and address those shortcomings. He knows he can generate an impressive amount of hard contact with his swing, and neither he nor the A’s want to do anything that might take away from that power. For Thomas, the solution to cutting down that swing-and-miss lies in his ability to work counts.
“I always swing hard,” Thomas said. “But I want to get better at, when it comes to getting deeper into counts, not letting that pitcher’s pitch beat me or that setup pitch. Something I’ve been working on is getting to the next pitch. ... Sometimes you want to get to that next pitch. Maybe that next pitch is going to be the mistake.”
Thomas added: “I want to do damage. I want to be on second base so I can score a run, or I want to hit a home run so I can score the guys on base. With that comes the swing and miss. There’s a fine line, and I don’t want to get over that fine line. I’ve just got to see how they’re pitching me here. I’m sure they’re going to go sliders away and heaters up, just like everybody else does. I’ve just got to make the adjustment.”