Before Friday’s game with the Detroit Tigers, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo gave an update on the status of injured center fielder Alek Thomas. Lovullo told reporters, including Theo Mackie of the Arizona Republic, that Thomas’ hamstring soreness has subsided and will resume some baseball activities in the next few days. Mackie also reports that Thomas took live at-bats at the team’s Spring Training complex.
Thomas took live ABs at Salt River Fields today, so he has already resumed baseball activities
— Theo Mackie (@theo_mackie) May 17, 2024
Alek Thomas has been out since March 31 with a left hamstring strain. He was placed on the 10-day injured list the following day. It looked like he was close to coming back, playing in three rehab games with Triple-A Reno May 3-5, but complained of discomfort in the injured hamstring, in a setback. He had received second opinions on the subsequent MRI.
On Monday, Thomas had a PRP (platlet-rich plasma) injection on the injured hamstring, so him resuming baseball activities is a positive sign. Lovullo said then that Thomas wasn’t able to get on his legs and do the running they wanted and they wanted to hold off on the running, standing up, and firing on his legs when hitting. The fact he’s taking at-bats in any capacity is an encouraging sign on Thomas’ recovery.
Joc Pederson was also scratched from the initial lineup, which had him as the designated hitter and Randal Grichuk in right field. The new lineup has Grichuk sliding down to DH and Jake McCarthy playing right field. Lovullo explained that he preferred the option to use Pederson off the bench and that his DH is fine.
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