The legend of Jared Walsh continued to grow on Monday afternoon.
After a pair of run-scoring singles by Max Stassi and Andrelton Simmons gave the Angels the lead in the fourth inning, Walsh stepped to the plate with the bases loaded. A middle-middle fastball left Walsh’s bat at 109.9 mph and traveled 450 feet over the foliage beyond center field. Walsh’s 8th home run not only brought his hitting streak to 13 games but he also brought his slugging percentage over .700.
The story of Walsh, a former 39th-round pick, has been significant for both Walsh and the Angels. The 27-year-old has shown a rare blend of both superb power and bat-to-ball skills, lending hope to the idea that Walsh can be a bonafide starter heading into 2021. For what it’s worth, he’s gained some fans beyond the Angels-sphere, including Eric Longehagen of Fangraphs who said recently: “I think there’s a chance that Walsh is another late-breaking power bat who has a narrow window during which he performs like a good everyday first baseman.” Just like we all expected, Jared Walsh has been the Angels’ best hitter by wRC+ in 2020, ahead of Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon.
Beyond the Walsh slam, the Angels received five decent innings from Dylan Bundy, who has regressed a bit in the past two starts (7 earned runs in 7 2/3 innings). Still, the 27-year-old Bundy has a 3.29 ERA and 2.1 fWAR in 65 2/3 innings and is a top-10 starter in the sport by WAR, strikeouts (72), innings, and HR/9 (0.69). He’s very clearly the best starter on this team and should be an extension candidate this offseason (free agent after 2021).
OTHER NOTES
- Mike Mayers tossed another scoreless inning with two strikeouts. In 27 innings this year, he has a 1.67 ERA, 39 strikeouts, 6 walks, and 1.1 fWAR (tied with Liam Hendriks for second-best among relievers)
- Max Stassi had two hits today. In 93 plate appearances this year, Stassi is hitting .256/.344/.462 with a 120 wRC+.
- Anthony Rendon was ejected for arguing balls and strikes, the first ejection of his Angels career
Jared freaking Walsh.
Sooperman!
I am leaning towards the fact that Mike Trout’s career is being wasted.
LaRussa having Arte’s ear bothers me a great deal in how he might influence the next GM selection.
In his last two stops l’m sure he was not involved in the drafts or setting up the player development. But it is important that Tony can live in LA-OC and collect a nice paycheck. Arte is showing that he needs help because the folks in place are not getting it done. Time to clean house, it can’t get any worse.
I just read a NY Post article that Dave Dombrowski is a good who is buds with LaRussa and Arte is looking for a veteran GM. This causeD me to take off my Trout hat with the fish sticking out and scratch my scalp.
Dave Dombrowski has put together a couple of World Series clubs but like Jedi he trades the youth and his teams age quickly. But he is good for a quick fix.
Trout is getting old, and fat. Perfect
Is Tony still around?
I’m thinking, with the current promotion of the other Tony, Reagins, they, Arte, already has things lined up.
This f*cking team.
Thanks Jedi!!!
From all of us at former HH and now CTPG 😎 !!!
Little known fact is that Jared Walsh was picked after Jonah Dipoto. He was clearly not a valued pick and just an afterthought. Also if Jerry was only given 5 picks like this year, Fletcher doesn’t get picked. I don’t give to much thanks for pure luck, but I’m happy we lucked out
if Jerry was given 5 picks, or if Billy was given 5 picks Fletcher would not have been picked and he also would not have been looked at as an undrafted free agent, and if he had been looked at he wouldn’t have been signed.
Walsh may have been picked more for being a pitcher than a hitter.
The fact is Jedi is way better than his successor and the Mariners are in year two of a rebuild in Seattle. I don’t want analytics people deciding the direction of this team anymore. They’re like smoking in the 1950’s……ugh!!!
Congrats, you lost one fewer game than expected
Toronto we are coming for you!!!!
I mean, probably not, but maybe…
Celebrate the win
If I for told that Walsh would have over an 1.000 OPS and Stassi over .800, who among us wouldn’t believe the team would not make the WS.
Plus Ward plus Bundy plus Mayers plus Rendon plus Trout — these are all players having great or expected seasons!
The other side of that is… Walsh (and Ward) likely wouldn’t be playing (as much) if the team was in the hunt. Castro should have been taking most of the reps behind the plate as well, so Stassi’s stats wouldn’t have as much impact.
That said, offense in general isn’t the problem, nor starting pitching this year.
What I need to believe is some relief (and more starters).
Simply replacing Teheran with a legit SP should help a ton.
Bundy, Heaney, Barria, and Canning should be good enough to have us competitive in most games. Ideally, we can get a Bauer, or if not him, someone like Gausman who can likely be SP3 (or maybe even SP2) with us.
That will push Sandoval and Suarez to AAA depth, and hopefully, when called upon, they can provide serviceable starts.
The bullpen – well, for starters, hopefully we can fix Buttrey this offseason. Mayers has been amazing, while Pena and Andriese have looked pretty good. Obviously we need more beyond this, but let’s give the current coaching staff an offseason to work with some of our guys, and hopefully, we’ll see some strides made.
We can find a Sandy Koufax somewhere in a cave in Siberia.
I share your sentiments about giving the coaching staff time to implement their system/stuff.
I think that Callaway has already helped Bundy and Heaney, and who knows, perhaps the off-season and spring will focus on fixing the bullpen guys.
Well said.
Walsh has definitely earned a spot as our starting 1B next year. It’s promising that Maddon hasn’t platooned him, either. He’s been batting second whether it’s a RHP or LHP.
Mayers is finishing up a fantastic breakout season as well. There have been multiple breakout performances – we can only hope these guys can build upon what they did this year and bring it into next year.
Mayers is not the real deal
Ride the white lighting until it peters out.
He makes league minimum and is pre-arb eligible. I see no downside to Warfarin’s comment. He is playing great, and is young, and who knows 🙂
But but … Eppler
The fact is he isn’t that young…..except compared to Albert.
( 28 ) he’s young compared to a SCOTUS member or a Pope.
see Hansel Robles 2019 vs now! 😎 
So, at 28, while he is pitching well and making league minimum we need to be cautious? What is the downside really?
Only Buttrey (and Sandoval) are younger in our pen as it stands now. Mayers makes a sixth what Cam does (who would you rather pay moving forward?).