Nats' new leadoff hitter Lane Thomas worth a look
Washington Nationals OF Lane Thomas' recent surge since his move to the leadoff spot is reason for fantasy consideration in deep leagues for Drew Silva.
Video Transcript
- It looks like the Nationals may have found something in Lane Thomas. The 26-year-old outfielder that they acquired from the Cardinals four veteran left hander Jon Lester just before the July trade deadline.
As of August 26th, 11 days since the Nationals called Thomas up from triple-a Rochester, he had racked up 10 hits and 23 at bats to go along with six walks for an overall on base percentage of 552. The early spark of production has caught the eye of manager Dave Martinez who has plugged Thomas into the leadoff spot in several consecutive games.
Maybe this is all a fluke. There's a reason Thomas never established a regular role in St. Louis because he didn't hit much at least with any consistency, and also made some bad blunders defensively.
But the upper minor league numbers do tell us somewhat encouraging story between the 2018 and 2019 seasons at double A and triple A. Thomas posted 37 home runs and 28 stolen bases, and 207 games with an OPS around 8/20.
He's worth a shot for the suddenly rebuilding Nationals and maybe worth a try as well in deeper mixed. And now only fantasy formats.
