On Wednesday the Angels wrapped up a 13 game homestand by dropping the finale against the Tampa Bay Rays. Their overall record during the homestand was 6 wins and 7 losses, dropping the team to 5 games under .500.
Now the team faces back to back series against Detroit and Los Angeles, two of the best in all of baseball.
The homestand started off well with a 2-2 split against the Mariners then a series win against Texas. However, a disappointing series loss to the lowly White Sox precluded a series loss to Tampa Bay. The team simply let Wednesday’s game slip away thanks to 16 strikeouts on the day including 3 consecutive K’s with the bases loaded in the 8th inning.
As I pointed out yesterday, the team leads all of MLB in strikeouts. At the rate they are going, they might set an all time Top 10 finish in team K’s. If you’re looking to see just how much the game has changed, notice that every single team on that list comes from 2010 or later with most in the last 7 years.
If you play around with the first link, it will show you exactly what is good and bad about this year’s team. The Angels have hit the 3rd most home runs in all of baseball. Thanks to the longball, the team ranks 16th in MLB in runs scored.
However, the team’s .304 on base percentage ranks 24th in the league and their .262 batting average ranks 26th. The Angles have hit the second fewest doubles in the league and are nearly 200 hits behind the league leading Blue Jays.
Essentially, the team is pretty incapable of scoring runs without the ball leaving the yard and when it does, the Angels hit solo home runs at a higher than average rate. Meanwhile, the team excels at giving up free outs via the K.
In taking a look at the starting 9 on BB-Ref it is pretty easy to see the overall OBP of the starting 9 is weak but not horrible. However, every single depth piece has an OBP that starts with a 2 or below. Again, the lack of depth is killing this team.
That’s a lot of text without many pictures. Let’s get to our Highlight of the Week. Taylor Ward smashed a 3 run walk off bomb on Sunday, giving the Angels a come from behind win against Chicago.
There’s been a lot of talk about the farm and what help, if any, we might get in 2026 and beyond. So I’m going to spend some time there. I’m also setting up an interview with Taylor Blake Ward to discuss the Angels organization. Let’s take a look at a few recent updates on X/Twitter.
Teodosio is no longer on the farm, but he’s yet to establish himself at the MLB level. I remember Billy Eppler once saying a player needs to be great at something. In this case, Teodosio is great at defense, but can he hit? We should give him a month to find out.
Victor Mederos lowered his arm slot earlier this season and is starting to shine. You can see the new delivery if you watch that clip and his results this week were outstanding. He’s allowed a very respectable 3.55 ERA in the hitter friendly PCL across 83 innings this year. Look for him to get invited to big league camp in 2026.
Mederos was joined at the AAA level by shortstop Denzer Guzman, who is also hot as of late. He was the Southern League Player of the Month thanks to these numbers.
Guzman is known for his glove and he’s still only 21. July was his first and only truly great offensive month so his promotion is really aggressive, but perhaps he’s unlocked something offensively and this is the start of something good.
Nelson Rada also received an aggressive call up to AAA. He’s only 19 but plays great defense and wass getting on base at a .380 clip after 388 plate appearances in Rocket City. The kid also racked up 34 stolen bases in 93 games. The 12 caught stealings is a sign he’s not Rickey Henderson, but 34 stolen bags and counting is really intriguing.
This isn’t to say the Angels system is chock full of talent. Cavan Biggio was signed to AAA this week and replaced nobody of note on the team. He’s also blocking exactly zero prospects from getting promoted. No, the Angels have a handful of fairly realistic additions over the next couple of years. Fortunately, these guys play positions of dire need for the big league club.
From around baseball…
The Venezuelan Little League Team is no longer considered a terrorist threat and will be allowed to compete at the Little League World Series. Their slightly older peers weren’t so lucky, but ESPN doesn’t televise the 13 to 16 year olds so there wasn’t as much heat to get them in.
All the action from Williamsport, PA kicks off next Wednesday and the regional tournaments are already taking place. Here’s how to watch all of the action.
The Padres seem to be in a lot of dust ups over hit batsmen. Wilson Conteras was plunked 3 times last weekend and the benches cleared in a Padres vs. Cardinals game.
Those same Cardinals ruined an epic day for Shohei Ohtani. The dude hit a bomb, struck out 8 as a pitcher, only allowed 1 run, and the Dodgers still lost.
Saying I enjoy typing the words “the Dodgers lost” is like saying I enjoy a helmet sundae at the ballpark.
Boston keeps locking up young talent. Roman Anthony secured an 8 year extension this week and FanGraphs took a deep dive into it.
I’m not sure who Zach Neto’s agent is, but Perry should call him.
With over half the league looking towards 2026, here’s an early ranking of next year’s free agents.
Kenley Jansen is set to be a free agent. He’s been great here and says he wants to pitch for another 4 years. Considering his on field and clubhouse contributions, I’d love to extend him for 2 more with a vesting option for a third.
Hopium alert: Jansen, Joyce, Stephenson could make a pretty deadly back end trio. Put Burke, Brogdon, and Detmers in front of them and that unit looks really nice. Put Detmers back in the rotation and it is still pretty solid.
Enjoy your weekend and link what I missed. Summer is quickly coming to an end and I don’t feel as though I’ve done enough summer stuff with my family. So we’ll be having some sort of fun together but I’m not sure which kind.
