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LA Angels Wednesday News Crash: Soriano the Ace

April 1, 2026

Good morning Angels fans. Have some links.

Angels News

The Angels won last night, getting back to .500 on the year. Soriano pitched another gem, and the bullpen did not blow it.

It is also the first win on Gubie Tuesday. 1-0 to start the season.

We almost had an Angels record. Neto scored 6 runs in the team’s first 5 games, tied for 2nd with many others like HK47, Figgy, Wally World, and Reggie Jackson. Fregosi still has it though with 7.

A fan made a wallpaper schedule for April and May. Let’s hope we see W’s on it and not lots of L’s.

Around Baseball

The new challenge system has some fun moments already. Like the Yankees making 5 correct challenges, angering the ump. Or how the Blue Jays lost theirs by less than a tenth of an inch.

Umps being wrong is why people call for robo umps. Players prefer this challenge system though, perhaps to humiliate them? Even with regular replay calls umps are messing up big time like not being able to tell that a runner touched the bag in the most obvious way ever.

Korea decided to go full robo however, which could be the other reason why MLB chose the challange system. Catchers do not need to try to frame at all anymore in Korea.

Speaking of umps, they may just forget the count, as they allowed Cam Smith to walk after he struckout. Yes, that is walking on a 3-6 count. Perhaps the first time in history.

For the first time in MLB history, every team has won a game in March. Yeah, I am shocked too.

Anything I missed? Post below for upvotes!

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Legend

Turk's Teeth

20 days ago

Another Angels news crash farm link… Baseball America profiled the 50 prospects that the scouting community was most abuzz about this spring training, and there were two Angels on the list: Hayden Alvarez and Nate Snead.

(Hayden) Alvarez was an up-arrow player in a 2025 season spent mostly in the Arizona Complex League, but scouts were a little bit split about how real he was as a prospect. No longer. Those with doubts are now more optimistic thanks to a body that has taken more strength and a swing that has gotten shorter and more direct. He’s also shown the knack for making solid contact with two strikes and lashing line drives the opposite way. He’ll need to pull the ball with more authority as he moves up the ladder, but he’s clearly made developmental strides. He has the burst to get to balls in all directions in center field, and there’s a chance he can stick at the position.

Look just about anywhere in the minor leagues and you can find a fireballer who played his college ball at Tennessee. (Nate) Snead fits that bill and was electric all spring, especially toward the end of minor league camp. The righthander utilizes an uptempo delivery to hammer hitters with overwhelming stuff, including four-seam, two-seam and cut fastballs that sit in the upper 90s and a wicked slider with both depth and sweep. Snead was almost exclusively a reliever in college—he made one start per season with Wichita State and Tennessee—and could move quickly in that role as a pro. The Angels, of course, will give Snead a chance to start, and he’ll begin the year as part of a prospect-packed rotation at High-A Tri-City. No matter the role, Snead has the stuff and mindset to one day take apart hitters at the highest level.

I was more comfortable taking Snead with the sandwich pick after the third round than I was taking Shores in the 2nd round (as a top 50 selection). In general, rounds 4-6 just outside the top 100 picks seem a fine zone to target a high-leverage reliever.

Editor

Legend

Turk's Teeth

20 days ago

Reply to Turk's Teeth

Two other players mentioned in this BA piece were also featured in my draft coverage last summer. Anthony Eyanson was a favorite of mine, and in my draft wrap-up I mentioned I thought he was good pickings even in the second round, but an absolute steal for the Angels when he was still available to them at pick #79. The idea of snaring both LSU weekend starters in Anderson and Eyanson was delicious, and was the route my board took me in my GM sim.

Eyanson has apparently taken significant strides forward in Boston’s org. FB velo up, splitter and slider looking nasty. Mid-rotation projection.

Another guy who is looking very good is JoJo Parker – really outplaying the kid everyone was drooling over, Ethan Holliday, at this point. I had made a note on my draft board that I liked JoJo in the first round if the Angels chose to go the discount route and wanted both a prep bat and bonus savings: “JoJo Parker … in Round One is a special case. The Angels have definitely been heavily scouting him, but I like him chiefly if (1) he comes at a steep discount, and (2) the Angels reallocate that savings to other prepsters, like his twin brother Jacob, and power upside guys like Taitn Gray or Josiah Hartshorn. If the team goes young in this draft, don’t make it a one-off, make it a movement.”

Glad to see my instincts were decent here, and Parker is playing to his upside. Here’s the scouting take from BA:

Toronto’s first-round pick from last summer has lived up to the hype heading into his first full season as a pro. The lefty-swinging infielder has knocked the stitches off the ball most days and shows a swing that should produce plenty of average and power. His early swing decisions have been outstanding, and he’s been unfazed against older, more wizened competition.