Alek Thomas, Gold Glove Caliber Center Fielder

When Alek Thomas took off running for a smash in the right center gap off the bat of Marcus Semien to lead off the ninth, nobody in the ballpark thought it would be an out. Well, except Alek Thomas

“Yeah, definitely had a good bead on it,” Thomas said. “Put my head down and just ran where I thought it was gonna be and looked up and I knew I had a chance and I lunged for it.”

His pitcher, Paul Sewald, as well as teammates Kevin Ginkel and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. were captured on camera with the purest of stunned and amazed reactions to the catch. It was not only spectacular, but came in a critical moment, helping preserve a 6-3 victory to vault the Diamondbacks into a playoff position in the Wild Card Standings.

D-backs fans have been spoiled with great centerfield defense throughout franchise history. From Devon White, to Steve Finley, to Chris Young and then A.J. Pollack in his prime, great defense in the middle of outfield has been something of a tradition for this franchise. Alek Thomas may be the best of any of them however. His ability to get a good jump and run to the spot has been tested time and time again and he keeps coming up big.

Thomas currently is credited with +9 defensive runs saved according Sports Info Solutions, which is the defensive metric used by Baseball Reference. He ranks second in the National League in that category and is chasing his first Gold Glove award. If he gets the first one, he may not give it up for a while. He's been continually excellent since he entered the league. Here are just 10 examples over the last 12+ months of what D-backs fans have been treated to.

Alek Thomas 10 great plays over the last 12 months https://t.co/P48mFXRqmS #MLBFilmRoom via @MLB
— Jack Sommers (@shoewizard59) August 23, 2023

Thomas' bat has also been coming around. Optioned out earlier in the year due to struggling at the plate, since coming back on June 19th he's hit .287/.321/.480, .801 OPS in 52 games, 159 PA. That's raised his season .247 with .705 OPS. If he keeps improving on offense like this the days of him losing playing time will be a thing of the past, and will allow him achieve the volume needed to capture a Gold Glove as well.