LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers on Tuesday acquired center fielder Alek Thomas from the Arizona Diamondbacks for 17-year-old minor league outfielder Jose Requena.
The calling card for Thomas is his defense, with 13 career Outs Above Average in center field, though 12 of those came in 2022-23, his first two seasons. At the plate, conversely, Thomas is a career .230/.273/.361 hitter with a 73 wRC+. That includes .181/.222/.340 with a 54 wRC+ in 100 plate appearances this year before Arizona designated him for assignment last Friday.
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There’s not much room in the major league outfield for the Dodgers, given that Andy Pages, Kyle Tucker, and Teoscar Hernández have covered 115 of the 123 outfield starts this season. Alex Call, who accounted for the other eight outfield starts for the Dodgers this season, does have minor league options and bats right-handed, while Thomas is left-handed.
In his career against right-handed pitching, Thomas is a career .240/.286/.382 hitter with a 82 wRC+. The 26-year-old entered this season with three years, 103 days of major league service time. Thomas does have an option year remaining, having used options in 2023 and 2024.
Requena is a 17-year-old outfielder signed out of Venezuela in January as part of the Dodgers international class. He has yet to make his professional debut.
To make room on the 40-man roster for Thomas, the Dodgers designated Michael Siani — another defense-forward outfielder — for assignment. Siani was claimed off waivers by the Dodgers twice during the offseason. He didn’t get called up to Los Angeles, but the 26-year-old was hitting .225/.355/.303 with an 84 wRC+ for Triple-A Oklahoma City.
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