I’m a big fan of pageantry. I love a good college band playing before a football game, the fight song afterwards. I crave the electricity in the air during the ring walks before a fight.
So it should come as no surprise I absolutely love Opening Night at the Big A. That huge flag with the military flyover always gets me and being a part of a packed house during Mike Trout’s introduction is always great.
And we are welcoming a winning team home tonight. Yes, the Angels went 4 and 2 across the Midwest and a new star is emerging. On Sunday he hit an 8th inning home run after a long rain delay to get the Angels a win. And he was just getting started.
KP is definitely stealing the show, but Nolan Schanuel had some big moments in St. Louis and is driving the ball with more authority than we saw last season.
Like most of you I highly doubt Nolan turns into the 30 HR per year first baseman. But I wouldn’t put it past him to hit 30 doubles or something close to it on a routine basis. Do that, keep the OBP .350+ and carry a good glove and you’ve got a nice player.
Regular season games = the return of the Highlight of the Week. With the thrillers in St. Louis that is really difficult to select this week. But I’m going with Logan O’Hoppe’s grand slam on Wednesday. The kid competes so hard and is trying to will this team to the post season. He did his all, but he couldn’t pitch.
One last link about the kids before I move on. This group is missing one key member who is working his way back. Zach Neto is on a rehab assignment and absolutely crushed this ball.
As of now Neto is acting as a DH and still hasn’t been cleared to play defense. He’s been doing drills for over a month but has yet to see any game action at shortstop. I caught part of a Salt Lake game the other night and while the farm still has a ways to go the overall level of talent has risen significantly the last couple of years.
If you are wanting to follow the next wave of kids, here’s where the Angels prospects are playing. Most of the notable names are in Rocket City including most of the pitching prospects. Projecting prospects, especially on the pitching side, is tough but it isn’t hard to look at that roster and think we’ll have some solid MLB players on the way soon.
From around baseball:
The Braves just can’t buy a win right now. They are 0 and 7 and already taking a hit to their NL East chances.
MLB teams handed out tons of extensions on Wednesday. Here’s why extensions are becoming more common.
Young talent is the name of the game and the Angels have a prime chance to add some in the 2025 draft. Nolan is following the top NCAA prospects and the list is evolving. Make sure to keep up to speed as we head towards the draft.
I love defense. I live for Web Gems. Here are this week’s best defensive plays.
Enjoy your weekend and link what I missed. My farm team Angels play the Dodgers this Saturday. One of the Dodgers players is a kid I coached two years ago who gives me a huge hug before and after each game. We cheer for him to get a hit, his parents cheer for our son, and the kids will play together after the game. It is everything youth sports should be. That will be followed by Little League Day at the Big A on Sunday and me taking my squad on the field before the game. Family and baseball makes for a great weekend.
Also I am too old to remember trouts rookie season but how did he earn his. Starting spot
He came up in 2011 and started but struggled. He then was sick in spring training 2012 and was sent to SLC where he hit over .400 for a month before being called up and becoming a starter,
So he got hit and they called him up to start. Ok let’s see what happens in a month of Jo Adell doesn’t get going
Adell looked good last night.
Newman is the equivalent of having a pitcher hit.
Replace Newman with Paris last night and we win even with Moncada’s glove of stone.
Ok a question since a few of you think Paris should ride the pine and get his rookie splinters what has Jo Adell done to prove he is the starter and how long is his leash
Jo should play. It’s Newman , Moncada , Anderson and Lopez that are the issue. None of them are good or in the long term plans. Kyren Paris is both.
The Evil Empire finally lost ! Glad to see that ;
Phillies 3
Dodgers 2
No MLB in Los Angeles, if they come south wearing Blue, add a tariff on their tickets.
Nobody dropped the lineup ?
LF Ward
RF Trout
DH Soler
3B Moncada
C O’Hoppe
1B Schanuel
2B Rengifo
CF Adell
SS Newman
Trouty batting 2nd is ideal! Throw Neto in at SS and this lineup is mega 🔥.
Would Neto be a good choice to lead off? He certainly has the speed for it. Slide Ward to fourth and Moncada to ninth, and I think that lineup could be better than average.
I like that.
Paris must be worn out from carrying his team on his back during the win streak. I guess he needs multiple days off.
He must be wrong, right? Guy on Facebook claiming Dana has a locker in Anaheim.
https://x.com/laangelspr/status/1908294163717935558?s=46
Nope he’s right
Congratulations to the Johnsons and I hope Dana has a great game or two.
So why the hell couldn’t his wife had the kid 2 days ago so didn’t have to play with such a depleted bullpen on Wednesday?
TrAdition
From my past experience, kids arrive on their schedule, not what would be convenient for mom, dad or anybody else.
You sir have fallen into the chasm of sar.
Or planning the pregnancy during the offseason? Rookie move by handstand.
You don’t see Paris having kids during the season, that’s dedication
In all fairness to RJ he probably thought he’d be stuck in sweltering Alabamy or the dustbowl of southeast Washington when the kid was conceived and who wouldn’t want a short break from there?
From “Sell the team!” to “We want Paris!” make up your minds already.
LOL
both!
We are poly-polar.
How about sell the team and move to Paris.
Hey that worked for Frank McCourt.
Arte has to retain ownership of the parking lot and jack up the parking price terribly to mirror McCourt.
Can we get a sky tram to the stadium too? Maybe extend the one at Disney Land?
Or sell, and move them to Las Vegas. They have a Paris too
For a move to Vegas we’d have to play our games at Servite High School’s field for the next three years.
Did Wash explain in pre-game interviews why Paris is not starting tonight ?
Add in “fire the manager.”
AHAHAH I heard both chants in fairness.
No one has wanted Paris this bad since the 1940s.
Oh my, the rarely used (ON this site) highbrow level of quip.
(Nods head towards Mia)
This golden comment of yours…
Not mutually exclusive. The former is addressed to the owner, the latter addressed to the manager.
The underlying fan message is perfectly consistent: we’re tired of depending on over the hill mediocre veterans, and want investment in youth, scouting and player development. So the fans belch at the owner to sell, hoping to get an alternative that builds a sustainable youth movement, and they bark at the manager to play the hot young hands he’s got over the 47th run at redemption tours for NRIs and dumpster dives.
Bars… spot on
BTW-Crouse left a game with an apparent elbow injury……#^$#$^# it!!
Someone posted the tweet with video last night. Total bummer.
We can all hope against hope….
From the Mkay files;
Manny Ramirez has publicly stated that he is willing to mentor Rafael Devers through his recent troubles. I gotta funny feeling that no BoSox rep is gonna ring ManRam any time soon.
Manny has access to magic beans.
Yes, Devers will be able to swing and miss even harder than before.
Don’t forget ManRam’s son is in our org… and Man Ram Jr is down here at ELAC. Man Ram to the Angels FO next season?
Neto is penciled in at SS today for the Bees!
Will Neto have a ghost thrower?
Nicky Lopez is going to start buying plain wrap groceries starting today……
Nah, Washington will keep him as a bullpen piece.
Absolutely Criminal what this man is doing:
https://x.com/insidehalos/status/1908250448659964133?s=46&t=9okrAC405BGuMUJ9RAKfkg
OH MY STARS!
Why isn’t my fourth outfielder starting every game?
More accurately.. Why is our most productive player, and a potential building block of the future not starting every game in place of Anderson, Moncada, Newman and Lopez, when he can play all over the field.
We are still in the first week of the season. Guys won jobs in spring, you don’t just shake things up because your rookie had a hot few games.
Are we really calling Paris a building block of the future after a hot few weeks of baseball? I support the kid completely, but let’s not overreact so fast.
This is not a reactionary sport. He’s playing as much as you’d expect a 4th OF to play.
Give it 40 games, and let me know if you’re still upset with his playing time.
Thank goodness someone else has reasoning skills
But, Paris has a TED Talk in the works explaining his rise from a struggling, young, athletic, minor leaguer to over-night-must-start- can’t-miss-polished-soon-to-be-All-Star.
It will be like the 500th TED Talk of its kind.
Let me ask this: has anyone seen Ohtani and Paris in the same place at the same time?
Yeah, Like Michael/LaToya Jackson or World Meta Peace/Ron Artest
Disagree. Its been more than a ” few hot games” he’s been raking for 3 consecutive months. His performance was worthy of a job out of spring especially considering the alternatives. Not gonna tell you how to fan tho.
We can disagree, I have no issue with that.
Spring training stats don’t matter. Full stop.
If they don’t matter, then you can’t say guys won jobs in the spring.
They matter while you’re in spring, once rosters are set no one cares.
And no one is making position and starter changes based on one week of ball.
It’s Not just the stats, in his case.. It’s the mechanical swing changes and consistently landing on time and getting him in a position to diagnose pitch types early. He’s also embraced HLP in attacking the ball from from behind which leaves him in the zone longer and allows him to crush balls the other way, See St Louis clutch knock. This was a game changer for me personally although well too late in my Junior year to make much impact.
Simply put.. Bro is a different player than last year and ready to ascend but we are going to have to wait out the stubbornness of Wash to let it materialize. The frustration is that the people playing in his place are complete ass and not part of the team’s long term future. That’s unfortunate to me and others in our fan base. If you guys are ok with it that’s cool. Fan how you feel.
This is perfectly said. Exactly how I feel.
At the absolute least if he is only going to play 20% of the games then he’s better off in Rocket City so he can keep developing. Not developing him at all is absolutely criminal.
Yup. we didn’t see stretches like this against major league pitching, spring training or otherwise from any of our young core, yet the mandate for them to play everyday was readily understood by management and the fan base. I think being 5 years removed from being drafted is playing a role in not only fan perception but also the treatment of KP from Wash and the Org. The draft /trade capital doesn’t hit as hard from way back in 2019,
As someone who ascended to D1 starter from the PWO ranks my frame of reference for someone being overlooked is naturally high.
I really don’t know how else to state my position, without feeling like i’m repeating myself.
If guys struggle, I hope he gets more playing time. As the season goes on he naturally will. I hope he sets the league on fire, but I also don’t think it’s fair to the guys you handed the jobs to a week ago to kick them to the bench so fast.
I don’t want to bench Adell, Ward, or Trouty. Soler is also there as a back up OF who deserves reps when Mike is DH’ing.
Injuries will sort this all out in due time, don’t worry.
How about benching Anderson, Lopez and Newman then.?
+ Moncada
Wash is adamant Paris won’t play the IF so it’s a moot point.
But let’s play it out. Neto will be back soon. Rengifo deserves to play, and i’ve seen Moncada playing great defense and his bat might be waking up. Moncada was promised third, Neto and Rengifo deserve 2nd/SS. And Christian Moore will need playing time soon enough.
Maybe he can pitch?
‘Maybe he can catch’, Soth (probably)
I agree with your take if you are sticking to Paris as only being an outfielder.
I think the gripe from most of the folks here is Washington being inexplicably stubborn about this and playing dudes like Newman and Lopez over him.
Maybe Wash knows that the IF will be full once Neto comes back and wants Paris to get his reps in the OF because that’s where they will find playing time for him this year.
Bingo.. When the move makes you better in the short term and in the future that is the move. Gifo at 3rd , KP at 2B Neto at SS. Moncada is insurance for injury and in case any of those guys struggle. Newman , Lopez and TA should get the current KP treatment.
Spring training isn’t three months.
He had a good spring, but it’s spring training. He played quite a bit against minor league players fwiw, but success is success.
He has not had success the last few years in the minor leagues over full seasons. I’m glad he has found success in his limited time to start the season, but we really have to pump the breaks on thinking he is the second coming
Nice. The three months is what – 50 at bats? 45 of those at bats were in spring training often against minor league players.
If the argument was to play the “hot hand”, I’m there. However, Paris has proven nothing yet that aligns him to being a foundational piece of the future.
It’s not a singular argument which is why the frustration is compounded. It’s play the hot hand AND build for the future concurrently.
Age Reminder:
Nolan: 23
Paris: 23
Neto: 24
O’Hoppe: 25
Adell: 25
I’ll just say this. How did those players win jobs in spring training when he out performed them. He didn’t just show up 3 games ago, he’s been outperforming everyone since they’ve all been here. And Hatcher did not say building block, he said potential building block. He also has been the most productive player since he’s been here and he’s certainly the most exciting at least right now. People argued for Schanuel and Adell to play all the time when they did much less. He’s the player that people want to see play right now because for the last 6 weeks he has been our best player. If they don’t want to play him, that’s fine, but having him up here so he can sit is stupid. He may turn out to be nothing which is why he should be in AAA if you’re not going to play him. But from a marketing perspective, on a team that has very little for people to be excited about, sitting your most productive player is not a great move. I’m not saying he’s anything, but on a team going nowhere, I’d rather find out than spend time watching Anderson.
Yup. Spot on. Just a difference in fan opinion and Wash is with them right now so really all that matters. There are enough people in our camp mad about not playing KP for Wash to notice at least so that’s good. Not that he gives two sh**s anyway lol
Preach.
+1 – we gotta see how he adjusts once the book on his weaknesses are published. I’m all for playing him while he’s hot but it’s not going to last long until they figure out how to pitch him. Hope he can adjust quickly. But yeah – he’s gotta play to get to the point where we can see how he adjusts.
I definitely see your points as well as the others below. I’m a firm believer of riding the hot hand. If I’m wash I tell the vets the same thing and I’m having paris play. The vets on 1 year deals know the situation they’re in and have to understand. Once paris cools off back to the vets and slowly working in paris to play full time.
M-O-N-E-Y
How things have changed. I’d never heard people demanding Paris start in any previous season. Maybe Washington is trying not to overexpose his assets while determining if anyone signed this off season is worth keeping. Naw, this is the Angels we’re talking about, and they just do stuff to upset fans.
Bandwagon fans.
Always tough for me when we play Beavers. Rooting for a sweep with 3 hits every game for Kwanny. Going to both weekend games. Lets get it!
I think we can all agree with this: https://x.com/Jared_Tims/status/1908209855757992212
Yeah man… in particular interested to see what Gordon’s got. Kind of an overdraft last year in the fourth round. Or maybe not?
We haven’t seen him pitch at all yet. But I am sure Perry is stupid.
I haven’t followed the farm closely until recent years, but top to bottom that is the best organizational lineup I’ve seen.
Stupid Platypus. Those bird mammals are famous for loving kids.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/04/rockies-to-promote-chase-dollander.html A 7.13 ERA in 6 games in the Arizona sun?
And here I thought we were too aggressive. I’m sure things will be much better for him when he gets to experience that clean light air of the Rockies .
Interested but who would he replace?
Burke?
who is this in reference to?
I think he’s referring to Adam Ottavino who the Yankees released.
yes I am.
Any chance for a boxing match this weekend?
🥊
Ramirez vs Anderson
🛎️ ding ding!
“….oh Anderson is dropped like MySpace!”
Let’s have a strong (Albeit short) homestand and keep rollin’!!
Go Halos!!
Go Halos! Amen!
I am fairly sure this team’s not winning big this year. BUT that doesn’t mean they can’t get much better at bouncing back from losses and losing streaks. Maybe maintain a winning streak or two. Sure, the teams that are play off bound will likely beat on us, but if we can hold our own against similar teams like the Cardinals, A’s, Giants, etc etc that would be awesome. Though I’ll understand if things fall apart some if we trade a pile of guys.
Realistically, this year is a step in the plan towards the future. By that measure, the team record is irrelevant although we would all like to win every game we play. But if we see positive development in some of the young players and the acquisition of additional young players with potential, then the year will be a success overall and perhaps the club takes a significant step forward next year before having money to spend the following year.
In Kikuchi, Silent “C” and Soriano, we have 3/5s of a decent rotation. We could use another Soriano level starter and our rotation would look pretty good.
We have a really good SS and probably a C, an Schanuel and Parris who we don’t quite know about yet. Then we have Adell, who could go either way, and a bunch of minor league unknowns. We have some guys to trade and the 2nd slot in the draft. there is certainly reason to hope if some of these things go right along with the extra budget in 2027.
There is reason for optimism, mine is more guarded than others but I believe it will be a very interesting season for the organization from top to bottom and well worth watching for the surprises both good and bad. For me, this is the most interesting year in a while because I don’t really have any expectations so it can’t be disappointing unless we blow all of our trades and the draft, and none of the youngsters do well. which is highly unlikely. I’m going to sit back and enjoy the baseball and hope for good things.
And, there’s always the beer, soda, ice cream, hot dogs, nachos etc. I hope everyone here has an outstanding year both personally and professionally.
I am so D@mn tired of this torpedo bat drivel. Worst it was spawned by the Evil Empire I.
They are regulation bats that any franchise/player can buy/use, STFU already!!!
It’s not even the Evil Empire’s fault. It’s dumbshit fan’s fault. I saw several guys with them last year, like Lindor. I just thought “Oh, he’s got a weird bat.” and went on with life. But DUUUUHHHHH YANKEETH show up with a few and …. panic!
It might have been the combination of the weird bats and the 9 HR’s in one game.
The Brewers have been serving up meatballs like Mike Scioscia’s fantasy restaurant.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/04/yankees-designate-adam-ottavino-for-assignment.html
Any interest or are we still pissed off at him for calling the Unicorn a bitch?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rOUYS-RYTY
He would have to replace RJ, Jethro Tull, Burke, Detmers or GMickyD unless there is a phantom injury.
Only Detmers or RJ have minor league options
I hate him because he boasted he’d strike out Babe Ruth, not bothering to think that if he, Ottavino, had been born back then he’d have been shorter, had no access to modern health care or modern training, and would have had to work in a hardware store from April to February
I’m curbing my Hopium right now but I do enjoy the direction the franchise is headed.
I believe our bad luck and curse has now been shifted to the Braves for making so many trades with us.
Gotta be “realistically enthusiastic”. We can be under .500 because we are undermanned. But if Neto, O’Hoppe, Silent C, Joyce, Zeferjahn, Detmers, Soriano, Nolan and Adell (and yes, Paris) all look good and maybe Moore comes up and looks solid too later…. that’s a really good season for us. MOAR KIDZ!
That’s exactly how I view this season. And expect the weekend links to reflect that.
I’ll likely spill far more digital ink on the kids and the farm than I do the standings and veterans.
MOAR KIDZ