A's prospect 'Crank' Thomas kicks off Players' Weekend with HR

WEST SACRAMENTO -- Colby Thomas lived up to his nickname on the first day of Players’ Weekend.

Going by the alias of “Crank” – a nickname given to him by teammates while playing in the Cape Cod League for his prodigious power – for the entirety of the weekend, Thomas fittingly “cranked” his second Major League home run on Friday night, launching a booming 433-foot go-ahead three-run blast for the Athletics in a 10-3 victory over the Halos at Sutter Health Park.

Thomas, rated the A’s No. 5 prospect by MLB Pipeline, continued what has been a surge at the plate that coincides with some adjustments he’s been working on. Last week, Thomas discussed some changes he made to his batting stance, which led to his first big league homer shortly after.

“The biggest comment that Colby made in talking to [A’s director of hitting Darren Bush] and I was, he’s an accomplished Minor League hitter, and he wants to be an accomplished big league hitter,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “He was open to making a change. You don’t get that all the time from young hitters, especially those who have had success in Triple-A, which Colby had.”

Following Friday’s 3-for-3 effort, Thomas is now batting .409 (9-for-22) with two homers, a double and nine RBIs in eight games since the day he implemented the new stance on Aug. 5.

“The results are starting to show,” Kotsay said. “That’s only going to build more confidence in the change.”

When Thomas was first called up by the A’s in June, his legs were noticeably spread out wide while standing in the batter’s box. It was never an issue for most of his career in the Minors, where he stood out as a top slugger at every level. In the big leagues, though, that wide stance -- along with poor swing decisions -- contributed to a rough 3-for-25 skid with 16 strikeouts through his first 13 games.

Part of it is feeling more comfortable at the highest level, but Thomas said he does believe that his recent success does have a direct correlation with narrowing his stance.

“Really, these adjustments have helped,” Thomas said. “I’m way more free. I don’t have to be perfectly on time to hit the ball. It’s been really good. [The coaching staff] has worked with me every day, and it’s showing.”

Thomas’ homer was one of three on the night by the A’s. Shea Langeliers led off the bottom of the first with a solo shot, while Nick Kurtz broke his homerless stretch since his historic four-homer game on July 25 by clubbing a 424-foot three-run blast to center in the eighth for his 24th of the year.

For Kurtz, while the power has been down -- a large part of that reason being a decrease in strikes thrown to him -- the rookie slugger has still contributed plenty without the long ball. Including Friday’s 3-for-5 game, Kurtz is now batting .305 (18-for-59) with 11 walks since that night in Houston.

On Friday, Kurtz’s non-homers were just as impactful. He first worked an eight-pitch battle against Angels starter Yusei Kikuchi before going the opposite way for a single to left to set up Thomas’ homer in the third, then belted a double to right in the fifth that led to him scoring on a sacrifice fly by Darell Hernaiz two batters later.

“The [single] was what really got him locked back in,” Kotsay said. “He stayed on a good slider from Kikuchi down and away to hit a single to left, and I kind of looked at Darren and said, ‘OK, he’s back.’”

The A’s were never truly worried about Kurtz’s power outage. Thomas’ power display as of late, though, brings hope that another young slugger could be emerging to place alongside Kurtz in the starting lineup.

“It’s great to see him up here in the bigs having success,” said A’s rookie starter Jack Perkins, who earned his second big league win after limiting the Angels to three runs in five innings with seven strikeouts. “He deserves it all. He’s worked his tail off to get here. To have this success, it wasn’t a matter of if, but when. He’s getting some more consistent at-bats and you’re starting to see it all come together for him.”