Oh, the good old mascot! They are the furry guides who entertain fans, hopping onto the field and bringing energy to intense games. MLB already has plenty of beloved figures, including the Phillie Phanatic, Mr. Met, Wally the Green Monster, and Fredbird. And along the way, baseball has often seen mascots involved in some freak accidents, from crashing into walls to launching items into the crowd. Saturday brought another ‘ouch’ moment when Alek Thomas had a not-so-entertaining encounter with a mascot.

“Alek Thomas got run over by the Sacramento River Cats mascot and his scooter,” Jomboy Media wrote, sharing a 13-second viral clip via X. 

Thomas is currently playing for the Oklahoma City Comets, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate, and last Saturday, they faced the Sacramento River Cats. Before the game started, the 26-year-old was coming out of the dugout with his glove on while adjusting his cap. Distracted, he didn’t see the mascot speeding toward him on a scooter, and before either of them realized what was happening, they collided and fell to the ground.

Mascots have limited visibility due to their costumes, and while this individual should have been more careful, some fans are actually blaming Thomas.

One fan commented, “That is absolutely his fault🤣,” as another reflected the same idea, saying, “Looks like he ran into the mascot.”

Luckily, both the player and the mascot got out of the incident without any injuries. And sure, this was a harmless incident, but baseball has often experienced much harsher outcomes from mascot encounters.

On July 25, there was a nasty collision between a fan and a mascot during a Burlington Sock Puppets game. The fan had put on a wearable, human-sized bubble suit before running straight toward the sock puppet mascot. The two collided and fell to the ground. As the fan lay still for a moment, first responders rushed over and took the young man to the hospital.

Then there is another instance.

Back in 2018, the Phillie Phanatic’s famous duct-tape-wrapped hot dog cannon misfired, launching a hot dog directly into the face of a fan in the stands. The impact left her with a severe black eye.

Yes, such incidents have often occurred during baseball games, and in many other sports, but mascots remain one of the most fun parts of the experience. Having said that, Thomas would surely like to forget such an entrance onto the field. Thankfully, when it comes to his performance, he has actually been on an upward trend compared to earlier in the season.

Alek Thomas has been through a whirlwind

Alek Thomas started the season with the Arizona Diamondbacks. He was one of the top prospects for the D’backs before his major league debut in 2022. Unfortunately, the outfielder wasn’t able to carry over his hitting skills when he transitioned to MLB. Some reports say that Arizona had been trying to trade him away since last season. 

Thomas was batting .181 with a .563 OPS when the D’backs DFA’d him on May 8, and within 4 days, they sent him to the Dodgers. The LA side agreed to take over his remaining $1.4 million from his $1.96 million arbitration salary. 

The young OF has since been playing in Triple-A for the Comets, and it has actually turned in his favor. His MLB slash line of .181/.222/.340 from the game against the Pittsburgh Pirates has translated into .245/.316/.716 in the minors. He has managed to improve his number of hits, home runs, and stolen bases as well, and it shows why the Los Angeles Dodgers manager showed such high confidence when he first came to LA. 

“Really good defender, really good kid, [We] like the way he plays,” Dave Roberts said to the reporters. “We’ve seen him a lot, obviously from the other side.”

And now that he has emerged unharmed from the freak mishap with the mascot, the fans expect Alek Thomas to carry on with his improvement.