This story was excerpted from Martín Gallegos’ A’s Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
BALTIMORE -- If you’ve taken a look at Colby Thomas in the batter’s box at any point over the past week, you will notice a huge difference with his legs.
For most of his professional career since the Athletics drafted him in 2022, Thomas has spread out at the plate with a rather extreme wide stance before squaring up to swing. This helps him utilize his legs to generate his power, which showed up in abundance throughout the Minors with 66 home runs in a little over two seasons at the time of his big league debut on June 30.
Seeing limited playing time in his first big league stint, Thomas went 1-for-11 with six strikeouts in his first five games before getting optioned back to Triple-A Las Vegas. After he was recalled on July 22, his struggles resumed, as he went 2-for-14 with 10 strikeouts through the first eight games of his second and current stint with the A’s.
Fast forward to Thursday’s 6-0 A’s win over the Nationals at Nationals Park. Thomas, ranked as the club’s No. 4 prospect by MLB Pipeline, slugged his first Major League home run -- a 402-foot two-run blast to center -- and drove in another run with a sacrifice fly. If you look at the video of both of those plate appearances, Thomas’ stance was significantly less exaggerated.
That wasn't by accident.
The A's identified Thomas' wide stance as a possible factor contributing to his slumping start. In the week leading up to that series against the Nationals, Thomas had been discussing potential changes to his stance with A’s director of hitting Darren Bush and manager Mark Kotsay. Before Thursday’s series in D.C., Kotsay pulled Thomas and Bush into his office, and the three put those conversations to action.
“Darren and I sat with him and we made some adjustments,” Kotsay said. “I wanted him to get a little bit more athletic in the box.”
What exactly does “more athletic in the box” mean?
“Well, I’m usually really wide,” Thomas said. “I’ve skinnied up a little bit just so I can be a little more adjustable with my legs. A little more athletic.”
In addition to practicing the new stance in batting practice, Thomas said he worked with Bush one-on-one in the batting cage a few hours before Thursday’s game. Later, in his first at-bat of the game, Thomas crushed his first homer.
“It’s good to see those changes and adjustments play into results,” said Thomas, who before the homer was batting .129 with a .423 OPS, one RBI and 19 strikeouts. “It’s not all about results sometimes, but it’s really nice to see the results.”
Kotsay noted that he observed vast improvements in how Thomas looked at the plate from the first day he began to make the adjustments on Tuesday, when he went 1-for-5 with a walk.
“I felt like he could go back to the way he was swinging the bat when we drafted him if we get him a little less spread out,” Kotsay said. “Even the at-bats on Tuesday were good. The swing looked faster. The barrel was getting out in front a little more. We saw that [Thursday] with the barrel getting out front on that fastball.”
Time will tell whether Thomas’ new stance will get him going on a long-term basis. Swing decisions have also been an issue, with opposing Major League pitchers attacking the 24-year-old outfielder with fastballs up in the zone and sliders away, and improving that will be key.
At the very least, that meeting with Kotsay and Bush, along with hitting his first home run, has provided a much-needed confidence boost.
“We kind of just talked about taking a little pressure off,” Thomas said. “We made some swing adjustments and they started to work. The more at-bats I get, the better I feel.
“Every at-bat, I feel a little better. … It’s tough going up there and punching out in a tight game when you want to score a guy. It feels really good to do something positive where I feel like I helped the team.”