The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

Tahnaj Thomas made his return to the mound for his first start in nearly a month and Lucius Fox Jr continued his efficiency on the basepaths to highlight the play of Bahamians in minor league baseball over the course of the week.

Thomas, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ No.6 ranked prospect in the organisation, missed his last two starts in the rotation but returned to help his Greensboro Grasshoppers to a 7-5 win over the Rome Braves in their series finale Sunday afternoon at State Mutual Stadium in Rome, Georgia.

In his first start since June 24, the 22-year-old 6’5” right hander finished with four strikeouts, and gave up one run on six hits in four innings. He threw just 59 pitches in the appearance.

In that June 24 start In Thomas recorded three strikeouts in innings of his Greensboro Grasshoppers’ 17-3 win over the Winston Salem Dash.

In five previous five starts, Thomas went three or fewer innings, walked 20 and struck out 10 in 11 and 1/3 innings.

He began his first AA season Thomas got off to a quick start. In his first two appearances, Thomas had 15 strikeouts in seven innings and allowed just three hits, one earned run and four walks.

In nine starts this season, Thomas is 0-2 with a 4.60 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 29.1 innings.

Last season with the Bristol Pirates of the Appalachian League. He finished with a 2-3 win-loss record which also included 59 strikeouts - the most for any Bristol pitcher since 2012. In 12 starts, he pitched 48.1 innings with a 3.17 ERA and 1.12 WHIP.

Lucius Fox flashed the brilliance on the basepaths that has been one of the trademarks of his minor league career thus far.

Fox finished with three stolen bases and scored two runs in his Omaha Storm Chasers 12-5 loss to the Indianapolis Indians Sunday night at Victory Field in Indianapolis, Indiana.

In June, Fox had his best stretch as a member of the Kansas City Royals organisation and produced several multi hit games for the Storm Chasers.

While on injury assignment with the ACL Royals in the Arizona Complex League, Fox hit his first home run of the season in a 4-3 loss to the ACL Padres. He returned to the AAA level on July 6.

On the season, Fox is hitting .229 with a .339 OBP, .664 OPS, 16 hits, 13 runs and eight RBI.

He was listed at No.26 for the Kansas City Royals in the team’s prospect pipeline.

Last season, Fox was traded for the second time in his career when the Tampa Bay Rays sent him to the Royals in exchange for outfielder Brett Phillips.

In 119 games last season he hit .221 with a .331 OBP and a .657 OPS. He totalled 90 hits including 16 doubles, nine triples, three home runs, 34 RBIs, and scored 66 runs.