Thomas 'getting comfortable' with Guards

This story was excerpted from Mandy Bell’s Guardians Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CHICAGO -- You can tell when someone fits into a group by how much they get picked on.

On paper, that sounds ridiculous, but we’ve all experienced it. Some of our closest friends are the people we like to joke with the most. It made sense that the players in the Guardians' clubhouse were going over to Lane Thomas on July 30 and introducing themselves along with having polite exchanges. It was the first day they met him. But six weeks later, it’s a much different story.

Thomas went from hitting in the cages, running to his locker and then to a hitting meeting on Tuesday before the Guardians’ matchup with the White Sox. As he was scrambling to get his shoes on while the meeting -- 30 feet away -- was just about to get started, a teammate joked with Thomas, calling him “Complane Thomas.” Thomas looked over at the media standing at the far side of the room and just shook his head and laughed.

They also like to call the 29-year-old outfielder “Lane the Train.” So as he made his way through the dugout to do his pregame routine on the field, his teammates took turns yelling, “Choo choo,” as he passed them.

A sense of belonging is critical to everyone in any environment. But when you were the centerpiece of a trade to try to make a team better in the thick of a playoff push, feeling comfortable is essential to finding success.

When Thomas first came to the Guardians, he scuffled. In his first 20 games, he hit .111 with a .356 OPS and 30 strikeouts.

“You definitely just want to come in and do what they traded for you to do, so I think that’s part of it,” Thomas said. “You add a little pressure to some of those situations.”

This wasn’t the guy they knew Thomas could be. It definitely wasn’t the hitter he wanted to be. But the longer Thomas was in this new environment and the more he got to know and work with his new coaches, the more his bat started to come alive.

Thomas entered Tuesday carrying a .319 average and a .904 OPS in his past 16 games. Guardians manager Stephen Vogt was asked about what he’d seen from Thomas before that night’s game.

“I think any time you get traded or you go to a new place, it takes a lot of time for you to truly get comfortable in all areas of life,” Vogt said. “But for Lane, we feel like he’s back on the fastball, looking like himself. He’s comfortable, he’s confident and he’s had some really good at-bats.”

As if he wanted to back up what his skipper had said a few hours prior, Thomas came out swinging against the White Sox, adding another double and a three-run homer to his recent hot stretch.

“I feel like I’m getting comfortable,” Thomas said. “It’s been really fun.”

Thomas said he hasn’t made any dramatic swing changes and that he wasn’t desperately searching for an answer. Thomas was simply hopping in the cage with the Guardians’ hitting coaches and letting the answers come to him as he started to make better contact.

“I feel like the game kind of kicks you in the teeth quite a bit and you just got to work through those little stretches [where] it’s not rewarding,” Thomas said. “Hopefully it can be a good end of the month here soon.”

There’s no better time than now to get some extra offensive reinforcements. The Guardians are closing in on clinching a playoff berth. They continue to have their sights set on then winning the division title. After that, they’ll attempt to earn a first-round bye.

This is a group that many doubted at the beginning of the season. They immediately turned heads by starting the year on a high note. Now, Thomas is just excited to help this group finish strong.

“I said from Day 1, you see why they’ve been successful all year,” Thomas said. “They have a really tight clubhouse, and I’ve just tried my best to be a part of it and kind of fit in.”