Alek Thomas spoke to reporters on August 22, 2026 after being called up by the Los Angeles Dodgers to fill in for injured outfielder Andy Pages.
Thomas said he does not plan to imitate Pages' approach in the outfield. "I'm going to try and and play my friend of baseball and, um, you know, that's why the Dodgers got me," he said during a press conference. He added that staying true to his own game matters most, noting, "remember who you are and not try to repeat or try to be Andy Pahz out there." Thomas also wished Pages a speedy recovery.
Thomas described feeling grateful for the opportunity to be back in the majors. "Super blessed to be back and, you know, happy to help the team in any way, shape, or form," he said. He explained that his path back included a stretch working on his swing at a facility called Maven in Atlanta, where he spent about a week. "I went to a place uh in Atlanta called Maven and um you know they dove into my swing and I was there for uh a week and uh it was all good stuff," Thomas stated.
According to Thomas, the work at Maven focused on getting into a good position at the plate and correcting certain issues, though he acknowledged some adjustments would have to wait. "There's some things that obviously um get better at um that we couldn't just you know fix overnight that needs to be um you know adjusted in the in the offseason," he said. Thomas also mentioned that his time in Triple-A allowed him to sharpen his outfield defense, saying the coaching staff there showed him things to work on and that his metrics for getting off the ball and making good jumps had improved.
Thomas noted he plans to lean on familiarity with Pittsburgh pitchers he has faced previously as he adjusts to receiving their game plans, saying, "I think they'll they'll trust me. and um and I'll trust them too." He also recalled being welcomed into his new role, recounting that he was told, "he just told me what my role is and also like, you know, I'm here if you need anything and uh you know, I'm excited to have you and you know, let's let's get to it." Thomas added that during his time away from the majors, he got to know teammates who were rehabbing as well as players moving between Triple-A and the big leagues.