Thud. Thud. Thud. That’s the sound of fans jumping on the Lane Thomas bandwagon. Thomas is a bit of an icon already in Washington Nationals lore. He is the player General Manager Mike Rizzo coaxed away from the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for Jon Lester at the trade deadline.
Yes, Lester wasn’t designated for assignment, wasn’t sent out to pasture, after his rough stretch with the Nationals. Someone out there in baseball land wanted him, and gave up something decent in return.
While the jury didn’t need to deliberate on Lester’s tenure with the Nationals (it stunk), the jury is still out on Lane Thomas. The Nats may find out sooner than later what they have in this guy some call a AAAA player.
Based on his heroics in the Nationals organization thus far, and news that Juan Soto felt something in his knee after scoring in the ninth inning, we may be seeing Lane Thomas in a big league park near you, real soon.
Regardless, Nationals fans have found themselves someone to follow, someone to root for, someone to hoop and hollar about. Hey, it’s Lane Thomas’ world, and we are all just living in it.
Nationals minor leaguer Lane Thomas is developing quite a following after just a few days in the organization.
Thomas has played in parts of three Major League seasons (including hitting .104 in 48 at-bats this year) and hasn’t really shown much. Maybe he just needed a chance of scenery. He made his Triple-A Rochester debut at the start of the week, and slid right into the leadoff spot in the batting order.
The spotlight that night was shinning firmly on Keibert Ruiz, the Nationals catcher of the future, though Thomas smacked a couple of hits and drove in a run to have an impressive showing as well.
He followed that up the next night with a home run, then added two more hits and the walk-off winner in his third game with the Red Wings, to really get Nats faithful talking.
if lane thomas turns into a superstar man...
— hog rida (@H0GRlDER) August 6, 2021
People keep talking about calling up Palka, but Lane Thomas might be the better move in a rebuild. Both should get the call sooner rather than though
— Washington Sports Gang (@WashSportsGang) August 6, 2021
https://twitter.com/JAVisorSZN/status/1423482155724853251
whenever yadiel stops hitting well call up lane thomas. he’s raking in AAA and i want to see him in the majors.
— m 🌋 (@RoblesTruther) August 4, 2021
Lane Thomas has a future with the Nats. https://t.co/u8sHMep7zH
— Minor League Sports Town (@DCSportsCast) August 6, 2021
if Soto misses time (he probably will), Lane Thomas should take his place on the lineup. please no Parra or Stevenson. i’m begging
— vi 🐼 (@FreeJuwann) August 6, 2021
For a guy who has been in the system three games and has all of five hits to his name, the excitement surrounding him is pretty astonishing. Is it, we can’t believe the Nationals received something of value for Jon Lester? Is it, Nationals fans are just trying to entertain ourselves knowing we have two more months of rough baseball to watch?
Regardless of what it is, the Lane Thomas bandwagon is filling up quickly. Time to get on, or miss out.