It is draft time! The Angels have the 8th pick this time, and would have done better without the lottery, but whatever. What matters is that this is the first draft without Ohtani, and no real need to rush anyone for once. So, who will the Angels pick? Who are you rooting for?
Also, the Angels have picks 45 and 74. That is 3 in the top 75. Ooo. This will update with the draft picks.
Round 1, Pick 8: The Angels selected 13th ranked Christian Moore, a second baseman out of Tennessee.
Tennessee won the NCAA Championship this year, and Moore looks like the highly competitive type with his promise to “Win a ring in the next few years”. Here is a video with him on MLB Network after the win.
Round 2, pick 45: The Angels selected pitcher Chris Cortez from Texas A&M
Comp Round B, pick 74: Ryan Johnson RHP, Dallas Baptist (Texas)
MLB Draft returns on Monday at 11 AM
Round 3, pick 81:
Round 4, pick 110:
Round 5, pick 143:
So the Angels have tie ins to Tennessee with McIlvaine living close by. Our infield coach Ryan Goins is a DBU graduate so I’m sure he has a great relationship with the long time baseball coach there but what is the tie in with Texas A & M? Since cheap Arte doesn’t pay for anything but Greyhound bus tickets for the scouts somebody must be trapped down in College Station this year.
Round 3, Pick 81:
Ryan Prager – LHP
Go Aggies!
Alternative draft from Day One:
Trey Yesavage, Luke Holman, Drew Beam
Then focus on position players and a late reliever in rounds 3-6: guys like Gage Miller, Mike Sirota, Sean Keys, Cole Messina, Jared Jones among position players, and Thatcher Hurd and Michael Massey among potential relievers.
Perry drafting these relievers is to make up for the failure that was blowing starter money on Robert Stephenson. It makes sense why Perry is playing with drafting relief pitchers. The volatility of signing them and blowing a big chunk of his budget on them has made him believe it’s the thing he can do to shore up one aspect of the team via the draft. I guess after the failures of Bachman The deep developmental prospects are the Latin American guys like Lugo and Rada.
Not sure I follow your logic. What does not drafting high school and college pundit profiled starting pitchers have to do with the organizations renewed focus on international bonus baby money position players?
As always, wait and see. After talking myself into the all-pitcher draft and seeing that belly flop I’m done forming opinions one way or another. I’m not a scout.
Seeing us go this route even with Ohtani gone and the big league club in shambles does feel like there is some kind of fast-forward directive to form the next core of Angels as soon as possible rather than draft and develop for the best possible outcome.
I’m not sure what the apparent strategy is expected to achieve. With free agency, the team focuses on marginal RPs and re-treads hoping for comebacks. The draft seems to focus on below-slot players that can function on a team with below-average development capabilities.
Same ol’ song and dance.
Hours later, blood pressure cooled, I feel less annoyed than earlier.. and somehow (probably mistakenly) hopeful.
Kind of disappointing/mystifying to get no SPs with the first three picks, but… are we so sure Johnson is destined for the pen? Mike Clevinger was/is also a big RHP with a weird, high-effort delivery. If Johnson can sustain velo through multiple innings (scouting reports say he can) and refines his changeup, maybe he’s a rotation guy.
I don’t know who you guys are looking at with Ryan Johnson. Maybe there are two with that name.,
The Dallas Baptist guy is not a reliever. He appeared in 16 games this year, all starts. 106 innings, 11-3, 2.72ERA, 151 Ks, 14 walks, a 0.915 whip. What exactly needs “fixing”?
His freaky delivery scares scouts. Also doesn’t have a reliable third pitch, evidently… so he’s been slapped with the “reliever risk” label.
I wouldn’t conflate small school success in Conference USA with starter likelihood at the pro level. Many relievers began as college starters, and Dallas Baptist isn’t really an incubator for starting pitching. Not sure they’ve produced a single MLB starter in thirty years.
A small school successful program that plays in D1 against Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Arizona, Texas A & M as well as others?
Unfortunately in this draft the Angels were just outside the real good players, even at 8. But I think they are happy with Moore and he will be on the big club sooner than later. The two pitchers they drafted are perplexing, but if they end up in the bullpen and Moore becomes the starting 2B it will have been a success.
Day One: a second baseman and two late relievers.
Pretty Perry’s Angels.
So, you would give this draft an F?
Not at all. Maybe a B/B- at this point?
It’s a very weak draft class, so the Angels options are limited, but what they need more than anything is starting pitching, and they continue to avoid drafting that under Minasian. Minasian seems consistently bullpen-focused, and a little enamored with velocity, despite injury and control red flags.
Moore seems legit but just never understood drafting a 2b in 1st round, especially Top 8 pick. We’ll see but probably those two HS SSs picked right after will start for the NL and AL Allstar teams throughout the 2030s.
Cortez maybe has a good career but right now I’d think he’s behind Minacci.
Johnson needs a voodoo pitching coach to fix him, but he’s a big kid so who knows?
On the 2B point, you see who went first overall right?
First time in history that that’s happened, and Bazzana would probably be a #5-8 pick in a stronger year.
He seems intent on developing a complete bullpen but not a rotation.
Very odd.
Agree. I would have used the first two selections on SPs – Yesavage at #8 and Holman, Cunningham or Santucci at #45.
The Angels just have shown little success at acquiring starting pitching in free agency, and Moreno really allows no big swings in that department.
That Minasian doesn’t recognize that and adjust accordingly is to his discredit.
But alas, the new GM in 2025 will have a different strategy and it’ll start all over again.
Added more videos for the other 2 picks
Ryan Johnson #47 prospect in MLB:
Not sure where any of the cost savings from Moore is going.
Are you sure we’ll get any?
Keith Law reported that the Angels were picking Moore at a significant discount, but you’re right – the Angels have reached before while paying full slot nonetheless.
It’s not like we saved MILLIONS on him. We took him what? 5-8 spots over slot?
The difference between #8 and #13 slots is $1.3m, so not trivial.
A million there a million here and pretty soon we end up signing a couple of high schoolers with upside in the later rounds.
If history is any indication, rounds 8-12?
Rounds 11 & 12 in 2021 and 2022
Savings? Did you forget Arte’s cut of the expenditure?
Johnson at #74 works for me.
Love the FG summary:
“Perhaps the weirdest of all draft prospects. Had six double-digit strikeout starts in 2024 and in total amassed 151 strikeouts in 106 IP and walked only 14 guys. Funky low-slot delivery with high-effort delivery and huge head whack. East/west attack, throws a ton of low-80s sliders. Fastball sits 93-94 with tail. Horizontal divergence between fastball and slider was too much for college hitters to deal with. Often changes the pace of his delivery to home; frequent quick-pitches catch hitters off guard. Looks like a deceptive long reliever.”
Yep…. that’s our boy. I think he may even wear goggles when he pitches….
Must
Wear
Goggles
That, and room with Hans Crouse.
6’6” Dallas Baptist Patriots, Homeschooled
Was #4 RHP in Texas out of HS and #10 overall
His baseball conference is sus
Wait, is David Hagaman still undrafted?
Yep
Damn…. we shoulda taken him….
Ok. I was hoping for May at 81 but Johnson is a good pick
Oh. Ryan Johnson. Not one of “my guys” but hell, that may be a good thing.
That guy has a weird as fk delivery…. so i was like “nah:.
Its so Perry that it make sense
Ohtani Pick
Ryan Johnson RP
mmm. Twins took Dasan Hill. I woulda done that and thrown some money at him…
Damn, there goes your man Holman
Oh yeah. If it’s a pitcher I want a team in Ohio will draft him.
Or the Cardinals
Holman wasn’t lasting to our spot
With this quick-to-MLB draft strategy that the team is implementing, this signals to me that there will be no big spending by Arte any time soon.
Joyce is projected to be the closer once Esty is gone. Cortez going to be his setup guy next year?
Crous
Not necessarily- to me it’s a choice to win asap. Instead of getting HS kids and invest in the long haul, the front office wants a title this decade
Title, within the next 5 years? The Angels?
Damn…. what do the Snakes know that no one else does?
Yeah, Ivan Luciano was ranked like 220 on MLB