LA Angels Wednesday News Crash: Free Falling

With all due respect, I think this overgeneralizes from a very small data set (14 games). Let’s recall that Livan Soto came up at the end of the 2022 season for 18 games, and slashed a mean .400/.414/.582, but has spent most of 2023 in AA and AAA with a .680 OPS.

What analysts are looking at – and why many other prospects are ranked higher despite Schanuel being atypically rushed to the Bigs – is that 63% of his balls in play are groundballs, and he has not barreled even a single pitch since he’s been called up to the MLB. The MLB average hard hit % is just north of 39%. Schanuel’s hard hit % is 20.5%.

Live by the BABIP, die by the BABIP. Schanuel can hit almost anything, but it’s mostly crap contact – barely even a hint of projectable power at this point – and as rival teams absorb the spray charts, those singles are going to turn into outs. Not least because he only uses half the field. Depending on your reference source only 10-20% of his batted balls go opposite field – he continues to turf-knock balls down the 1B line or predictably to 2b.

In 166 plate appearances, he’s hit one HR (in AA). The knock on Schanuel all along was that, while his plate discipline is otherwordly, his contact quality doesn’t translate to power in the Bigs, and could eventually impact his hit tool as well. Despite an impressive OBP, the early batting ball data confirms, rather than contradicts, the doubts of scouts and analysts to date.