The Rockaway Wave
Originally published August 4, 2023
On May 5, 2022, D’Andre Smith and Rhylan Thomas played their final game together as teammates at the University of Southern California. About 13 months later, the two were back in the same lineup, only this time for the Brooklyn Cyclones.
“You can’t ask for a better situation,” Thomas said. “It’s a blessing, honestly. He’s helped me with this transition into professional baseball. It’s been awesome to have him and go through the system, as of right now, with him. It’s been awesome.”
The Mets selected Smith in the 5th round of the 2022 MLB draft, and then six rounds later took Thomas, his USC teammate.
“He actually texted me as soon as he heard his name called,” Smith said. “And he texted me, he said, ‘New York doesn’t sound too bad.’”
Both Smith and Thomas said they were close in college, and emphasized what an opportunity it is to continue their careers together in the same organization.
Smith has had a bit of an injury-plagued season. He missed the start of spring training with a back injury, worked his way back towards the end of the spring, and then got hit by a pitch and fractured his scapula — causing him to miss about the first two months of the minor league season. He returned the first week of June, but would end up missing about two more weeks at the beginning of July with what he described as a hamstring strain.
“Lots of ups and downs for me,” Smith said. “But you know, just like a learning experience, my first full season, so just kind of going with the wind a little bit this year, and taking the ups and the downs right now.”
He’s played 34 games this season, which is a little over a third of what the Cyclones have played so far this season. In 121 at-bats, he’s hit .215/.307/.306, good for a .613 OPS, with one home run, one triple and six doubles.
A shortstop in college, Smith has made the transition to second base, which is where he’s played exclusively since being drafted aside from a handful of starts at DH.
He said he played a little bit of second base growing up and through high school and college, but right now is just taking a lot of reps at the position every day.
“He’s a sponge,” Cyclones manager Chris Newell said. “He’s out every day for early work. When it’s optional, he’s still out there. He takes every advantage of every opportunity that he’s given, and gonna be given a lot of opportunities because he does things the right way.”
Thomas, an outfielder, started his season in Low-A St. Lucie, but quickly earned a promotion after hitting .303 with a .804 OPS over 36 games. He only got better once he got to Brooklyn, and through his first 22 games is hitting .342/.410/.397, good for a .807 OPS. He even had an 11- game hit streak at one point which was only recently snapped.
“I mean, can’t complain about stuff like that, but you also gotta keep in perspective that the game has highs and lows,” Thomas said. “Right now, I’m on one of those streaks where I’m doing well, but also I gotta compose myself and realize that things can change quick and I gotta just stick to my process.”
Newell praised his bat-to-ball skills and how important that is to a player’s development, which he thinks has been forgotten recently with the emphasis put on exit velocity.
“None of that stuff matters unless you get on base and score a run,” Newell said. “And Rhylan Thomas epitomizes good bat-to-ball skills, plays the game the right way, and if you look at our record when he’s in our lineup I think it’s pretty damn good, and that says everything to me.”
Thomas said he was blessed with good hand-eye coordination, but it was also something he worked on when he was younger. Growing up his, dad would make him hit with a smaller bat and would throw little whiffle balls to him for him to hit. Thomas said because of that, it’s now a little easier for him to see pitches coming in at him, especially at high velocity.
While he only has 83 plate appearances in High-A, he only has seven strikeouts, and his strikeout percentage ranks in the top-5 best in High-A among players with at least 50 plate appearances.
“All my life I’ve always hated striking out,” Thomas said. “It’s always a competition with the pitcher, and I want to win that every time. So just being able to minimize striking out as much as possible but also swinging at the right pitches is something I take pride in.”
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