Cleveland Baseball Insider

Guardians Skipper Discloses Critical Injury Update on Playoff Hero

Cleveland Guardians manager Stephen Vogt has unveiled a major injury update on a playoff hero.

Matthew Schmidt

Apr 6, 2025; Anaheim, California, USA; Cleveland Guardians center fielder Lane Thomas (8) hits a sacrifice RBI against the Los Angeles Angels during the first inning at Angel Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images
Apr 6, 2025; Anaheim, California, USA; Cleveland Guardians center fielder Lane Thomas (8) hits a sacrifice RBI against the Los Angeles Angels during the first inning at Angel Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images / Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images
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The Cleveland Guardians have been on quite a roll, having won eight of their last 10 games heading into Saturday evening's matchup against the Philadelphia Phillies.

However, the Guardians are still dealing with the injury bug, and one of the victims of it has been outfielder Lane Thomas.

Thomas has been sidelined with a bruised wrist since April 20, leaving somewhat of a hole in Cleveland's outfield rotation.

The good news is that Thomas is progressing well, as manager Stephen Vogt has revealed that Thomas is no longer experiencing any pain and should begin a rehab assignment next week.

Thomas was struggling before the injury, slashing just .156/.188/.178 with two RBI over 48 plate appearances, but that is obviously an incredibly small sample size.

The Guardians acquired the 29-year-old at the trade deadline last summer, and while Thomas' numbers didn't look great on the surface (.209/.267/.390 after joining Cleveland in 2024), he came on very strong late in the season.

Thomas caught fire in September, smashing seven home runs with 20 RBI across 95 trips to the dish that month. He then had a strong playoff showing, hitting a couple of long balls to go along with nine RBI and a solid .766 OPS.

Of course, most Cleveland fans will remember Thomas for his crucial grand slam in the fifth inning of the Guardians' Game 5 victory over the Detroit Tigers in the ALDS last October.

Cleveland could definitely use Thomas' bat in right field, as the platoon of Jhonkensy Noel and Nolan Jones has not exactly delivered great results thus far in 2025.

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Matthew Schmidt
MATTHEW SCHMIDT

Matthew Schmidt is a sportswriter who covers NFL, MLB, NBA and college football and basketball. He has been writing professionally since 2011 and has also worked for Bleacher Report, FanRag Sports, ClutchPoints, NFLAnalysis.net and NBAAnalysis.net. He was born and raised in New Jersey and has a rather eclectic group of favorite teams: the Boston Celtics, New York Giants and Miami Marlins.

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