As the Labor Day weekend beckons (as of writing… just in case you read this after and wonder why I’m still talking about Labor Day) and the baseball season winds down towards the playoffs, fantasy partakers are left with an interesting bag to hold. And what is this metaphorical bag? Is it Coco Chanel? Does it have an available supply of lip balm and scented lotions? These are the real questions, but perhaps not the right ones. To bring us back to where the point should be (this early?), either you’re vying for a fantasy playoff run, the season is over, or you are beginning to think about next year. And a player that might garner interest in all three of those categories could be Lane Thomas…
Hardly rostered on any of the main platforms, this Washington Nationals outfielder has an interesting if not subdued profile. First, he’s a strong defender, and I get this out of the way first since generally defense isn’t really something we pay attention to in the world of fantasy. However, since Thomas has been commonly thought of as a potential fourth outfielder, knowing that he can navigate the field and be a plus defensive asset bodes well for his overall playing time. So while his range and reaction time won’t be seen in your stat sheets, it might certainly garner him some more plate appearances which is never a bad thing.
On the offensive side of the plate, Thomas has a wide range of talent, but admittedly none of that talent reaches elite levels. Scouts have rated him in the 50s across the board; his hit tool, his power, and even his speed. But you wouldn’t be blamed for never hearing about him. The Itch recently blurbed him a few weeks ago:
Lane Thomas might be leading off as he has the last few games. He’s on fire at the moment, and I’m sure you’ll be shocked to recall he’s a former Cardinals farm hand hitting well for a team that’s not the Cardinals. Fairly similar team color scheme though. Probably doesn’t count for much in the grand scheme of things. – The Itch, 8/25/21.
And of course Grey has blurbed him twice now in the past week, both on September 3rd and 6th. And if you garner the attention of both the mustache and the itch, you might want to talk to your doctor. But you also might say; wow, both Grey and The Itch are talking about Thomas, now that Jay is, I’m in! And you should be. Not just because of the blurbings, which is totally not a made up word. But because of the three categories I mentioned above.
First, if you are in it to win it, Lane Thomas is hitting the ball right now and hitting it well. Thomas entered this past Sunday with a six-game hit streak and is currently leading off after the Nationals demoted Victor Robles. During that mini-hit streak, he’s hit .333 with two homeruns and a .292 ISO. With a respectable 11% walk rate fueling a very solid 1.081 OPS in the same time frame, it’s never not a bad thing to get on base in front of Juan Soto. But that’s just a Lieutenant Obvious type of statement, can’t even get promoted to Captain. So if you need a bit of a spark from a player who does a little bit of everything on a team that wants to see the same things you do, there might be a match.
Now, for the other two aspects, whether or not you’ve won (congrats) or made an early exit (my bad), there isn’t really much that you can do with Lane Thomas right now… or can you? Well, for those in redrafts, it’s basically just a wait and see. Keep an eye on Thomas, while this post is riddled with warnings about his ceiling not being projected at a very high level, I find these takes to be a bit unfair to players with such a wide array of skills. That is to say that if he can only be average in hitting, speed, and power, then you’ve got yourself a very above-average producer. And if he can carve out a niche in the lead-off spot, he becomes that much more attractive as a pick-up next season.
And if you’re not in a redraft, if you have some keeper mechanism in your league, Lane Thomas offers you a chance to gain value next season. Look at it this way, even if his hit-tool does not develop as robustly as we’d like, his power and speed are already established aspects of his game and will provide some value if he gets the at-bats. And like both Grey and The Itch have said, if Thomas couldn’t hit with the Cardinals, how bad could he possibly hit for anyone else?
Need a player for now or later? Maybe you just need to change lanes. Hey-ooo! (I’m so bad at this…)
Jay is a longtime Razzball everything who consumes an egregious amount of Makers Mark as a vehicle to gain wisdom and augment his natural glow. Living in the D.C. area, he also likes spending time visiting the local parks and feeding lettuce to any turtles he encounters, including Mitch McConnell. You can follow him on Twitter @jaywrong.
