Last week I called the Angels gatekeepers. They responded to my slight by taking 2 of 3 from the Mariners and the first two of a four game set against the Rangers. Not enough to put them into contender status but handling business within the division is a big step.
Then Ohtani carried the team to 3 wins in 4 games against division leading Texas. 5 and 2 against the West this week. Oh yeah!
Speaking of Ohtani, he’s been killing the ball lately. He went 7 for 13 against Seattle before spraying bombs all over the Rangers new ballpark.
Quickly climbing my unofficial rankings of guys I most enjoy to watch is Zack Neto. Like Ohtani, it is hard to pick a single highlight each week. So I’ll do two here.
One with the glove:
And one with the bat.
I was at that game Sunday. I’d just explained to my Seattle transplant and Mariners fan friend that Neto plays a good shortstop and makes nice contact but doesn’t have a lot of power. Zack apparently heard me and hit two home runs to prove me wrong.
Unfortunately, we can’t have nice things.
Last year Julio Rodriguez took the AL West by storm and won the AL Rookie of the Year Award. This year, Neto and the Rangers Josh Jung are going head to head in the ROY battle. Some very interesting stats and comparisons in there.
In less favorable news, Mike Trout is getting blown away by fastballs this year. Since that K against Ohtani in the WBC it has looked to me like pitchers are putting Trout away with heat. Mike is seeing more fastballs than any other player in baseball and is doing no damage. Very good piece there.
One last kind of downer, FanGraphs took a look at the Angels top prospects. It isn’t that bad, but it definitely isn’t good.
From around baseball:
The Oakland A’s did a reverse boycott and made the Coliseum feel like the early 2000s again. Over 27,000 fans showed up on a weeknight to try to prove to the baseball world they exist and they care.
Here’s a nice snippet showing the activities and the fans.
Meanwhile the most tone deaf leader in the history of MLB had this to say:
Yankees owner Hank Steinbrenner made a controversial but correct statement at the owners meetings. Yes, income disparity is a problem in baseball but when owners pocket money intended to level the playing field, that exacerbates the problem.
The College World Series is in full effect. The bracket to this point has been stellar and I see no reason for that to change now. The LSU vs. Tennesse game on Saturday should be incredible.
What makes the CWS so fun is that beyond the great action on the field it offers the chance for fans to put on their GM hats and get a look at future pros. This tourney is chock full of talent.
The end of the college season means the 2023 MLB Draft is right around the corner. Take a look at some prospects lists. Here’s a top 30 from CBS. And if you are really into it, a top 200 from MLB.
Our Halos have the 11th spot in the draft. Rhett Lowder is a name circling around 11 that I really like. Then again, I’m a sucker for polished college pitchers. But the Angels could go in a lot of directions. It has been awhile since they’ve invested an early pick in an outfielder.
Have a great weekend. Happy Father’s Day to all you Dads out there. And link what I missed.
Man – a great article on Spiezio turning it around! Makes my heart happy!
Spiezio article
Geez, from the hype comments, it seems all we need to do is recall Fletcher, and WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP GUARANTEED!
These Royals are tanking….terrible looking team
We won’t be seeing Urshela for awhile. Fractured pelvis.
Holy shit! How did he manage to even limp off the field?
Can Sandy give us a decent start here ?
We’ll find out !
Last I heard, Fletcher had family business. Any update on when he might be available? He’s been on a tear lately, and should be brought up asap!
Funeral. He is not on the SLC roster as of yesterday.
If this season was like last season with injuries, oh wait! I think it is….. 😒 It’s crazy I know, but Renny is the best current option at 3rd. Lamb and Cabbage and Fletcher have had time at 3rd, so has Drury.
My point all season of the amount of “REST” given to everyone does not seemed to have worked out just yet, at least for injuries.
Let’s see, Neto, injured. Rendon, injured. Urshela, injured. Trout (Nobody is talking) injured. O’Hoppe, injured. 😅 Resting the stars once a week prevents nothing, not even
loses. Play your best player’s everyday while the weather is good, rest in July/ August.
Renfroe, Drury, Wallach & Thaiss, Renny, Ward, Walsh, all good to go.
If Walsh fails to return to par, then put Trout at first and Moniak in CF and bring Adell back.
Where is Wade when you need him 😂
For having such a poor minor league system, as I posted this AM, We sure do have a lot of the yuts up here, and we are very thankful that they are very, very good additions.
Fire anyone and everyone who is responsible for keeping the team members in shape, healthy, and agile.
The number and types of injuries cannot be just a matter of chance or bad luck.
Oblique Tommy John is trending this year. And shoulders, hips, now the pelvis, sleeping disorders, missing players, backs and cracks.
Urshela, Rendon, Trout, all have histories of injuries. Ohtani, Anderson, Sandoval, Detmers, have stayed healthy. Canning came in at the moment that he was needed and Barria has worked out great. O’Hoppe will be a good addition, Neto is really missed right now. Trout bouncing back is going to happen, the sooner the better. Playing the Royals is a bit of a break, don’t you think?
Ward may play 1B again tonight.
https://twitter.com/JeffFletcherOCR/status/1669834468457160707
Or Renfroe
#36 Top Prospect Cole Schoenwetter was just running a baseball camp this week that my son attended. We might sign up for some private pitching clinics with him too.
The A’s reverse boycott thing was so stupid. The definition of too little too late.
The 2023 MLB Draft is a hitters draft, let’s hope a nice OF, 3B or 1B falls to our lap
It’s that time of year where Perry finds us more MLB talent.
Ouch for Urshela. At least 6-8 weeks before he starts baseball activity. A huge loss.
https://twitter.com/LAAngelsPR/status/1669812784513826816
Huge loss. He was so versatile on defense and a good hitter.
I’ll buy some stock in Walsh picking up the slack at first.
we knew we’d have injuries at some point but we didn’t think they’d all be shortstops
Holy crap! Running down the 1st baseline and reaching for the bag with stiff leg can/is/was harmful. That is really too bad.
😭😭😭
The Pelvis has left the building. 😀
Bummer.
This answers partly who is going to play tonight.
https://twitter.com/JeffFletcherOCR/status/1669810240307568641
Free the Plumber!
Free Nelson Mandela!
Free October Baseball!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgcTvoWjZJU
Startling Lineup:
Moniak LF
Ohtani DH
Trout CF
Drury 2B
Thaiss C
Renfroe RF
Walsh 1B
Rengifo 3B
Velazquez SS
Can’t Plumber play 3B?
Ugly bottom third of the order. Hope they surprise us, also need Trout, Renfroe and Walsh to sacrifice a chicken to Jobu prior to the game.
I hope that Ippei brings the awesome Yoshida’s teriyaki sauce for the occasion. Yum!
Nice, they could use those guys bats for the fire wood. After all, they’re not using them.
It’s funny, when I lived in Tokyo, never saw teriyaki served, thought it was a gaijin thing.
You are absolutely right on that. I had never heard of it until I was in Hawaii, where awesome lunch plate thinly sliced beef and pork with two scoops of steamed rice and side of macaroni salad was my favorite. I later found out that the word teriyaki in Japan is mainly referred to seasoning used in cooking some fish.
I would not be surprised that the word teriyaki became popular in US when someone decided to glaze beef, pork and chicken with teriyaki sauce. That someone could very well be non Japanese.
I always figured yakitori with tare was what Americans were shooting for with teriyaki chicken
Actually 3-9 has been pretty ugly lately.
Definitely fugly. Most teams have producing 1B and 3B and are well ahead of those two.
Can’t Drury?
I have never seen him play 3B, doesn’t mean he can’t. I played 2B, but was OK 3B on adult baseball.
Drury has played 3B, but I think it is in the same way that Rengifo plays SS/3B – as a fill in when necessary.
That is a good call. Drury to 3rd, Rengifo (wincing) to SS and Plumber at 2nd. I’m interested to see Plumber. Thus far in 2023, Perry’s callups overall have performed well. Who knows, this time around Plumber knows what to expect on a daily basis.
.
Walsh, Rengifo, Velazquez? One inning’s worth of outs right there every time.
The Plumber is not know for his glove at any position, unfortunately.
But I thought he looked really good defensively at 2B in his short time here. His offensive looked anemic though
Unfortunately that this isn’t any certainty Rendon doesn’t end up on the IL. We know the injury drill around here. trAdition
Rendon is not starting.
Probably the largest supporter of Rendon on this site but man, I wanna see him ripping at the ball instead of flailing. F-me. Looking feeble.
Any news on Rendon? Negative x-ray? Day to day?
No report on Rendon yet. I am pretty certain that Rendon underwent x-ray immediately after the game. Rendon not being on IL probably means that x-ray was negative for fracture, and it was contusion. Lots of ice and rest until swelling goes down and pain is manageable is my estimation.
So six months is best case?
Good grief, reading through that prospects report isn’t really postive.
Hopefully Ohtani hasn’t read that report, for those of you wanting him to stay….
Put Ward on 1st
Put Walsh on 3rd
Play Moniak full time
There. I fixed it.
Other than being a complete defensive disaster, I actually don’t completely hate this idea.
Well that and we’d have the first the left handed third basemen since Don Mattingly played there for 18 innings in 1986.
I honestly didn’t know that was a thing. I knew it was preferable to have a lefty as a first baseman, but had never heard that about a third baseman.
Leftism.
Go to any adult league softball game and you’ll find out quickly that baseball was created by right-handers.
It’s why any “coach-dad” who dreams of his little Billy becoming a big leaguer attempts to make him bat left and throw right. See: Shohei – Crafted perfectly by the Gods
I’m left handed and my favorite position now is third base. My arm, ever since the shoulder thing, isn’t strong enough to make throws from the outfield. Softball, though, is different enough from baseball. I wouldn’t be able to make that throw with 90 ft between bases.
All I saw was you can play third base and assume your heart is beating. With all of our injuries, keep your phone with you at all times. Do you think you’d need time in SL before your call up?
Thanks,
Perry
And Thaiss 😂
Speaking from experience as a lefty, after about age 9 I NEVER played 3B, SS, 2B, or C.
My older son, lefty, played SS on 12 yo team when he was not pitching. It was awesome to see him catch grounder, turn about 90 degree left and throw dart to 1st base in one motion.
Translation: your son was the best player on the team. The kid that pitches then goes to short is always the best.
That’s what his 12 year old team coach said. Once he got to high school, with more competition and him being about 5′ 7″, he never got to even sniff infield. Although he made varsity as sophomore, he was never in regular line up until the last month of his senior year, when his bat got hot. Got to watch him play in the first round of state playoff, and he had two hits with 4RBIs, and his team won. Such exhilarating experience to see your kids play and succeed, although heart braking at times when they struggle.
But the Sporting Goods industrial complex still makes left handed catching gear only to let the left handed little leaguers hopes and dreams get crushed shortly thereafter.
Unless you’ve actually ever watched a left hander try to make that throw from the left side. It’s so ugly to see that there is no justification.
I don’t understand what would be different looking about it other than just being left handed.
This whole argument confuses the hell out of me.
A lefty playing third. Welp that’s sure “outside the box thinking!” A promotion for you!
I am smarter than Phillip!
😆 you thought I was serious? 🤣
Lol no, but I stand by my statement
Does that make you Soggy Joe Maddon?
Oh man, Angels can’t do that, please.
Next year, move Trout to LF, Moniak to CF and Ward back to RF. Renfroe is a goner (maybe trade deadline deal).
I wouldn’t rule out Renfroe in 2024 just yet . We might consider re-signing him if we jettison Adell and don’t re-sign Super Babe Ruth
It’s possible Mike’s struggles are tied to having to answer that he has a doppelganger on the team
That actually makes as much sense as anything else.
Walsh at 3rd ?????
https://twitter.com/SamBlum3/status/1669532787123302400?s=20
Yet another on the pleasant surprise list.
Neto
Devinski
Thaiss
Wallach
Soriano
It has been a good year on that front.
And Just Added by popular demand
Webb
Bachman
Moniak
wish we could add O’Hoppe and Joyce to that list
Canning probably still qualifies with the young up and comers.
A nice portion of the 26 man roster… yes, our farm systems sucks😀
You can
I say why not?
I’ve seen enough of them to think they are going to be bad ass for us int he future.
BTW here was O’Hoppe’s quote regarding Neto’s injury:
Here’s hoping those 2 will be able to play together in an Angel uniform for many years to come.
Just keep Soriano to 1-inning each appearance and not overuse, it is working now so don’t f$%k with it Phil. After a couple of serious arm injuries, be more prudent that Maddon’s flame out with C-Rod.
The Angel offense scored a solid 24 runs against the division leading Rangers, ESPN’s number two ranked team in all of baseball. Here’s the list of how many runs each individual Angel produced:
6.75 Ohtani
3.25 Wallach
2.50 Neto
2.00 Rendon
2.00 Trout
2.00 Ward
1.50 Moniak
1.50 Renfroe
0.75 Drury
0.50 Ghost Runner
0.50 Walsh
0.25 Thaiss
This is Ohtani’s eighth time this year leading the Angels in Actual Runs Produced. He has done it now in four of the past five series. Alright Mike Trout, with Neto, Rendon, and Urshela out, the Angels really need you to be at least decent against the Royals, like you were against the Rangers.
Here is the year-to-date list of the Angel pitchers’ Actual Runs Allowed per Batters Faced:
0.00 Soriano (25)
0.03 Bachman (40)
0.05 Moore (94)
0.06 Estevez (126)
0.08 Devenski (86)
0.09 Webb (54)
0.10 Ohtani (331)
0.10 Barria (176)
0.10 Joyce (21)
0.11 Sandoval (284)
0.11 Detmers (274)
0.11 Canning (226)
0.11 Weiss (9)
0.12 Wantz (85)
0.13 Silseth (84)
0.14 Anderson (290)
0.16 Davidson (122)
0.17 Loup (83)
0.17 Herget (69)
0.17 Reyes (6)
0.19 Suarez (123)
The biggest riser on this update is Devenski. The biggest faller on this update is Herget. Loving the performances from Soriano and Bachman.
Ohtani! Wow!
Thanks for this again. Very helpful. With the pitchers, how would you design a scale of
highly effective (for example 0 to 0.10), moderately effective (0.11 to 0.14??), and ineffective (0.15 and above?).
We’re just matching up our eye-test/gut feelings with the ARA/BF numbers, but I fully agree with your cutoff points. I would add one more category, though, called elite (0.00 to 0.05).
I would love to figure ARA/BF for all of the pitchers in the American League and have an ARA/BF+ stat, but I don’t have the time to do that.
So, using your addition to the scale
Elite: Soriano, Bachman, Moore
Highly Effective: Estevez, Devenski, Webb, Ohtani, Barria, Joyce
Moderately Effective: Sandoval, Detmers, Canning, Weiss, Wantz. Silseth, Anderson.
Ineffective:Davidson, Loup, Herget, Reyes, Suarez
This passes the eye ball test.
As far as the ineffective list….Loup and Davidson are garage hunter-gathers and Herget Reyes are in SL. Suarez? I’m assuming is in Suarez, Mexico vacationing.
since GG started this it’s felt, to me, like 0.12 is the cutoff. Good to see Detmers, Sandy, and Canning on the good side. This measure puts Anderson where he belongs. I wouldn’t call him moderately effective, more like barely effective.
Each category itself is scaled. So Anderson is at the very lowest end of moderately effective which is barely effective as you suggest.
Brady Singer is scheduled to start tonight for the Royals. I looked up all of his games this year, and his 2023 ARA/BF so far is 0.16 (295).
So the Angel hitters tonight will be going up against Tucker Davidson.
But a career ERA of 1.80 against the Angels
Whatever all this means, happy if it equates to playoffs
From the “Things I never thought I’d Say” department:
Steinbrenner is right.
We need a salary floor, and/or penalties for not spending the competitive balance money.
I wonder if Oakland’s move happens if this had been in place?
It’s still the Bay Area of California were they take joy in making development of property exceptionally difficult.
Even from Oregon, I can hear them squeal like little girls at the prospect of how many insanely bureaucratic roadblocks they can institute when some evil capitalist organization wants to build close to the water.
If no salary floor, then, any competitive balance money NOT spent on salaries MUST be returned to MLB.
Marcheco 6-3 – era 2.61- whip 0.87 – 58 Ks – 58.2 innings – and he’s 20.
https://www.milb.com/player/jorge-marcheco-703420
https://twitter.com/steve_wendt/status/1669558396205555714?s=20
Six “The Athletic” beat writers got pink slips. Seems their biz model isn’t working either.
https://awfulannouncing.com/athletic/layoffs-vicious-cycle-killing-sport-journalism.html
Not Sam the Hat! Evil Arte is behind all this.
No. Sam the Hat did not get DFA’d
https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/1669746525780553730
When you force people to subcribe it’s not going to work.
There are way to many other places to get the same info.
Makes me much more thankful for what the CtPG masthead provides for us
Aw, thanks.
I got year subscription for $12 over Christmas and have really enjoyed it.