Another Dodgers outfielder found himself in a bizarre minor league mishap Saturday, this time at Triple-A Oklahoma City.
Alek Thomas was coming out of the dugout before the club’s game against the Sacramento River Cats when the River Cats mascot, riding a scooter around the field, collided with him. Thomas was able to continue, finished 0-for-4 that day, and did not play Sunday.
Thomas’ run-in with the mascot was the latest odd setback involving a Dodgers minor league outfielder this season. In May, Kendall George was injured while trying to avoid a bat dog after scoring and heading back into the dugout. The Double-A Tulsa Drillers outfielder ended up with a patellar tendon injury that kept him out for more than a month before he returned earlier this month.
Thomas, 26, joined the Dodgers in mid-May in a trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks. A second-round pick by Arizona in 2018, he had spent his entire career with the Diamondbacks before the deal. He made his major league debut in 2022 and played in 448 games over parts of five seasons with Arizona, hitting .230 with 31 home runs, 143 RBIs and a .634 OPS.
The Dodgers have been hoping there’s more offense in Thomas’ bat. As president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman told the Los Angeles Times in May, “A lot of the swing components have looked the same for a long, extended period of time, and we feel like there are some levers in there to partner with [Thomas] and potentially unlock a little bit more,” he said. “But even as is, we feel like he’s a good extra outfielder, with the upside for even more than that.”
At Triple-A Oklahoma City, Thomas has put together a .263 average with five home runs, 21 RBIs and a .766 OPS across 35 games. He has 23 strikeouts and 15 walks.
A call-up doesn’t appear likely unless injuries hit the big league roster, and even then the Dodgers could lean toward promoting one of their younger outfield prospects. For now, Thomas remains in Oklahoma City, continuing his development and potentially giving the organization another trade piece if his offensive gains catch another team’s eye.
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