The Road to The Show™: Alek Thomas

Each week, MiLB.com profiles an elite prospect by chronicling the steps he's taken to reach the brink of realizing his Major League dream. Here's a look at Arizona D-backs outfielder Alek Thomas. For more player journeys on The Road to The Show, click here.

Family is deeply important to baseball. Some players, like Vladimir Guerrero Jr., are the offspring of Hall of Famers, but there are many ways in which the game gets passed down from generation to generation.

Arizona's No. 2 prospect Alek Thomas grew up with baseball because his father, Allen, serves as the strength and conditioning coach of the White Sox. A high school star in football and basketball as well as baseball, coming of age around the White Sox helped him choose a path.

"Todd Frazier was one of the players who influenced me the most," Thomas told MLB.com. "He taught me that you can go 1-for-40 [at the plate], but you need to continue to be the same dude day in and day out.

"Adam Engel taught me about the Minor League lifestyle. He had a kid during his time in the Minor Leagues, had to rent an apartment, struggled, and then it all paid off once he made it to the Majors."

Thomas was named Gatorade's Illinois Baseball Player of the Year in 2017 and chose baseball with no regrets after being selected by Arizona with the 63rd overall pick in the 2018 First-Year Player Draft, turning down a scholarship offer to play football at Texas Christian.

Thomas didn't miss a beat jumping straight from Chicago's Mount Carmel High School to the pro ranks. The left-handed outfielder hit .325 in 28 Arizona Rookie League games and was even better after a promotion to Rookie Advanced Missoula in the Pioneer League. Overall, the 18-year-old batted .333/.395/.463 with a pair of homers and 12 stolen bases in 56 games.

The Thomas family had a touching and hilarious moment in Spring Training the following March when the D-backs and White Sox met up for a Cactus League game. With his dad in the opposing dugout, Alek went deep off Lucas Giolito while his father steadfastly ignored him -- until eventually breaking into a smile caught by the White Sox broadcast team.

“That was one of those great baseball days that you don’t get very often,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said after the game. “I think if we could all go back to that place in our own childhood where if we had an opportunity to do that with our father, it would be spectacular. But to do something even more special by hitting a home run and making his dad feel as proud as I’m sure he did, that day was amazing.”

Returning to the Chicago area to begin the 2019 season, Thomas got off to a slow start with Class A Kane County in the Midwest League. Nearly testing Todd Frazier's advice, he went 1-for-19 in his first six games with the Cougars before settling into gear. By the end of May, he was hitting .300, and in late June, he earned an invitation to the All-Star Futures Game in Cleveland -- the third-youngest prospect to do so.

After a particularly torrid three-game series in Peoria at the end of July -- he went 8-for-14 with four runs scored -- Thomas earned a promotion to Class A Advanced Visalia. At 19, he was three-and-a-half years younger than the average California League player.

The Cal League was a little less kind to Thomas -- after compiling a slash line of .312/.393/.479 with Kane County, he posted a .255/.327/.340 line in 23 games with the Rawhide -- but no one has any doubt that he'll make the necessary adjustments.

Scouts love the 5-foot-11, 175-pound Thomas' athleticism and approach, giving him 60 grades for his hitting, running and fielding tools. A below-average arm will likely keep him in center or left field, but his advanced hitting ability bodes well all around and has drawn comparisons to players such as Andrew Benintendi and Jacoby Ellsbury.

After turning 20 in April, Thomas spent the summer months at the D-backs alternate training site in Scottsdale, Arizona. He'll be ticketed when Minor League Baseball returns for at least Double-A ball and perhaps more. As MLB.com's No. 45 overall prospect, expectations are high for the young outfielder.