Let’s assemble the best possible Angels team by letter of the alphabet to begin a player’s last name. Today is A. 46 men whose last name started with “A” played major league baseball in an Angels uniform.
C – Earl Averill
1B – Joe Adcock
2B – Sandy Alomar
3B – George Arias
SS – Erick Aybar
OF – Garret Anderson
OF – Bobby Abreu
OF – Tony Armas
DH – Willie Aikens
The weakest links are Arias and Armas – and Armas had 103 OPS+ in 208 games over three seasons (87-89), not bad. The sleepers here are the two 1960s Angels, Averill (207 games in 1961-62) and Adcock (323 games in 1964-66) with OPS+ of 112 and 133 respectively.
SP – Jim Abbott
SP – Don Aase
SP – Kevin Appier
RP – Jose Alvarez
RP – Jose Arredondo
The starting staff has an ERA+ of 101, 99 and 99. Don’t @me that Aase was a reliever, he started 76 games with the Angels, second most by an Angel “A” pitcher. Billy Eppler’s black eye was letting Jose Alvarez go. Not a closer in reality… but on this “A” team he’s an ace reliever. Of course the question “What if…” will always linger around Nick Adenhart.
Did I skip an Angels “A” player you insist must be on the “A” Team?
