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.
😂 😂 😂 ……I’m seeing the comments down the thread about Arte realizing he’s getting old. Hello, you think he doesn’t already know that?
I’m of the opinion that he really wants to sell the team and the only reasons holding him back are MIKE TROUT AND ANTHONY RENDON, NOBODY ELSE EXCEPT THOSE TWO ARE MAKING A LOT OF MONEY…
Probably gonna sell to a out of town investor who wants to move the team to TN, TX or NC. Those 3 states have municipalities who want a MLB team, maybe TX might not because they already have the Rangers and Astros. SO YEAH, ARTE DOESN’T WANT TO WIN, THE MLB DRAFT PROVED THAT TO A TEE. Furthermore he probably isn’t even interested in being SMALL MARKET TEAM GOOD EITHER, (TB, CLEV, MILW) because all these teams have smart owners, and smart MLB baseball organizational people. The guy’s a stubborn old proud guy who’s set in his ways.
How about the fact that none of his 3 kids are interested in the team? No Jeanie Buss here. THAT SPEAKS VOLUMES ABOUT THE GUY TO ME!!
It’s why early to see any lineups coming out of ST ’26 but considering FA adds I would like to see Bo Bichette first and Kyle Tucker second.
Bo would make an excellent 3b/SS while having Neto at SS/3b. It would give us that pairing for years to come and solve a big long term problem at 3b. Bo is still under 30 and we know he can hit, and we need more of that.
Kyle Tucker in RF and Adell in CF does and defense and hitting to the lineup. Tucker is having for him a down second half in ’25 and would be a great addition with Bo to seeing more run scoring and less lobsters.
A cheap addition to the OF would be Austin Hays as I suggested last off season and he eventually ended up in Cincinnati whereas a backup he has produced in ’25.
Arte would have to spend more $ in ’26 for sure, he would save some of that in ’27 with Rendone coming off the books. Plus, we would hopefully have Guzman coming up and the offence would be one of the best in the AL.
I would love either addition. Another good fit (aside from his age) would be Alex Bregman. He fits the bill because he satisfies several of our needs.
1) He’s a 3b
2) Gets on base
3) Does not strike out
Looking at his underlying metrics, the hope is that his stats can be maintained as he ages due to his elite 96 percentile Chase % and 91 percentile Whiff %.
Overall, I do wonder when is the right time to spend big on free agents again. I’ve heard the idea is to spend the year that Rendon’s contract is off the books. However, I’m not so sure if that’s the ideal time. According to Baseball Reference, our projected salary for 2027 is actually higher than 2026 ($187 million vs $183 million) even though Rendon’s contract is off the books due to all our young players getting arbitration raises.
To me, I would consider spending big on free agents next year even though Rendon is still on the team for the additional fact that we simply don’t know how many productive years we have in Trout’s career.
At the end of the day, I think I would be very happy with either Tucker, Bichette, or Bregman, with Tucker being my last option since he will be the most expensive.
Exactly. I wouldn’t spend ANY of the money either of you are talking about on any of these guys until the the vast majority of the players on the roster have at least a .700 OPS or a Whip under 1.30. Otherwise you’re just buy a hobo a nice handbag and these guys will be old and expensive when the team is finally good.
And before anyone says it, no, you won’t be able to sign these guys for less years so that you’d be OK with it.
We should extend Neto and be looking at the 2027- 28 FA market. Or even better, trade prospects for a star with a long contract when it will push us over the top.
I would think that we should prioritize acquiring players at little to no cost to our already barren farm system? Such as free agents.
Essentially we need Arte to realize he’s getting old and that he should increase the payroll near the tax threshold if he wants any chance of winning before he passes away.
I think if we wait until 2027-2028 then we have already lost because I don’t see anyone currently on the roster who will be able to exceed an OPS of 850 aside from Mike Trout (and maybe only for a few more years). Aside from that, we are banking on future players who are not even in the organization yet.
Bregman would have to opt out of a contract that pays him $41m for ’26 and ’27.
I don’t see Arte pay that kind of money. I think the Hamilton/Pujols days are gone.
Arte had a chance last off season to sign contracts beyond 2028 and that didn’t happen. I don’t think it will happen this off season, either. But he may just hate me enough to prove me wrong.
A lot of these guys just want the guaranteed years and total contract value. Give him a 13 year contract and we’re good.
Yup. Kinda like I would like to have a frolic with Sydney Sweeney, but I’ll also give a nod to being realistic and settle for the more age appropriate Scarlet Johansson.
Age appropriate huh? I guess that’s between Michelle Pfeiffer and Sandra Bullock for me. I mean since we’re all indulging fantasies here.
Growing old is inevitable. Growing up is optional.
I’m a “Toys for Us” kid!
For today’s game:
Skubal has faced Angels 3 times, going 1-1, with 1.83 ERA, 24 Ks
For the season, he’s 11-3, ERA 2.18
Hendricks has faced Tigers 3 times, going 1-1, with 2.70 ERA
For the season, he’s 6-8, ERA 4.59
For today’s lineups, only Adell has had success against Skubal (1-3, no HR, no RBI)
Neto: 1-6 against Skubal
O’Hoppe: 1-5
Rengifo, Schanuel, Ward have no hits
Trout has never faced Skubal
The odds heavily favor a Tigers win.
Heck, I could be watching a perfect game today. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen one.
It would be a great day for Mike to hit #400.
what is the o/u for Angel Ks?
Good question, my guess to that would be 12.
I’ll take the over.
Is taking the over even gambling?
Like betting if the sun will rise in the morning.
14.5
Under for GPB 📥
Angels strike out 27 times.
If the Tigers have to win that game, then yes
go with them. As opposed to this team that never wins when they have to.
Patrick Sandoval when he was here was really really good at getting shelled when it mattered. Still hate that guy…..
Another fun pitching day in the farm 😇
AAA – Victor Mederos
AA – Bryce Osmond
A+ – Chris Clark
A – Dylan Jordan
Bryce Osmond has spawned back on the radar. 15th round pick in 2022. He had a decent 2023 season at A+ and has been out since with an undisclosed injury.
Jordan is the kid I’m most excited about.
He’s dope. I’m a Mederos Mania guy
I miss Tucky D.
Jordan’s delivery looks like those old Mets , Seaver, Koosman, dropping that knee low to the dirt and then driving to the plate.
That, and he looked angry every time he finished an inning.
I just looked at his scouting report numbers
30-50 is average 30-40 below average
55 fastball, curveball
control 45
SORRY ABOUT THAT REX
Imagine if we had Kade Anderson.
Didn’t link it but Victor Rojas called the West Regional of the Little League tourney. Was good to hear him again.
Spent this morning chatting with him via text. He’s doing well, family is well. Life is good but going by too quickly.
nice to hear the “Big Fly!” call again.
From calling games in the big leagues to the little leagues. What happened in Frisco, Tx?
He’s coaching out in Phoenix now. This is his off season.
He also called some college post season games, including the UCLA super regional.
The travel and time away from his family really wore on him his last year or two here. Especially considering his wife’s health issues at the time. He literally chose his family over the higher profile career.
Mederos seems to have a very easy delivery in the clips. That’s a good sign. And he was getting swings and missed on basic stuff.
I’ve been begging and continue to beg for us to put him in the rotation over Silent C or TA.
Soon enough. I think the “go for it” is just about gone after Detroit/Doyers.
I have seen several updated Top 100 prospect lists with the names of at least ten players selected after our strange top pick. I’m glad Minasian is so much smarter than every other GM and every other expert.in baseball. Has anybody seen anything explaining our pick besides saving Arturo a few bucks? Other teams have to sign later picks as well so that explanation doesn’t really hold water either.
Arte didn’t actually save any money. The money saved from signing Bremner went to signing some high school pitchers.
The only explanation is that Perry preferred Bremner + the high schooler to one of the bigger names.
You can literally tattoo the fact that teams spend their entire bonus pool and can’t “SAFE MONIES” by drafting cheap guys onto some people and they aren’t gonna stop bitching about cheap picks.
Man, still would have liked Seth or Holiday with the first pick but I can live with it. If signing Bremner allowed the Angels financial latitude to sign that kid from Johnson City, Texas, then I am Bremner ALL DAY LONG.
My actual bones of contention were not getting Turley or JQI when both were available at 105 and 109.
Perry could very well prove me wrong, though.
They had first round talents available at each of their first four selections, including high propensity starting pitching and outfielders. While I actually predicted they’d do it, I still can’t grok spending two of those four picks on high variance single inning relief arms, when they’re so desperately in need of a viable SP and OF pipeline.
So no, I dont question whether Arte is willing to spend money, I question how he chooses to spend it, and note that he often chooses a path that requires him to spend more to get less.
I think Slawinski has a real chance to be special. I’m down with that pick. Yes, OF were needed. 4-years have gone by without targeting an OF with their early selections, malpractice. Folks here are higher on Rada than I am but I guess he is the only OF in the top 25 prospects.
The Angels were second only to Baltimore in actual pool spending, due to extra pick and the fact they signed all draftees.
They clearly entered the draft with an intention to spend their unusually large pool on prep pitching, and chose a first round selection they were comfortable would accept the maximum 25% discount (another reason Ike Irish was also in the running for them). I don’t think one can draft that many expensive prep arms *and* sign them all if that wasn’t your primary strategy with enough runway to execute it. It’s a very large number of prep arms to draft.
So I don’t think it makes sense to call the strategy “cheap”. In fact, quite the opposite, it’s a very expensive, risky and potentially inefficient one, that makes the team more dependent on free agency in the short and medium term.
I’m not getting super tangled on that. That happens every year, and if you follow a couple generally crap teams like the Pirates and Reds you realize round 1 picks always just plop down in the top 100…. and then become James Allen while it turns out the magic pick wassssssss… Jackson Merill.
I’m most absorbed by Top 100 picks that are above A+ Ball. It seems like, below that it’s a few super prospects like Jackson Churio and a pile of hot maybe, even with college guys.
The draft is over and all the “experts” have scored it.
Now it’s just time to let them play and develop.
no sense looking back and evaluating it at this point
the real score will be posted in 5 years; everything else is meaningless at this point.
theres no crying in baseball.
Exactly. In 2018 I bet hardly anyone was thinking that the Tigers and Astros would come out of that draft happiest, much less the reasons why.
Hopium + Good Use of Funds?
Does it make sense to spend a little on a relief arm that basically has Detmers numbers from this year (or better) if it frees up Detmers to join the rotation at a reduced cost compared to other SP?
Like spending a a chunk of change on Chafin and Tyler Alexander or Taylor Rogers to provide LHRP innings? Gregory Soto? Tim Mayza? When you really look at it we don’t have to spend all that much to replace Detmers.
Exactly.
Chris Getz is a guy that intrigues me, too. He might be long relief, he might be a starter. But let’s say Detmers goes 4 innings then Getz gets one time through the order. Or flip it around.
Aaron Civale is quietly good, too. I’d like him as a back end option.
Uh oh. You’re hovering over my “I LOVE PITCHING CHAOS” button. If you’re not careful you’re gonna get me wanting to sign seven pitchers no one has heard of and using em all once through the order…..
We’re on the same wagon, I just don’t have a name for it.
Remember when we had Chris Rodriguez and I wanted 2 guys who could go 2-3 innings twice per week? I’ve never stopped wanting that.
How many more chances does Detmers get as a rotation piece before he permanently crosses over to the bullpen netherworld?
30+ starts in 2026
As many next year as Silent K gets this year.
At least one more year. He should show up to Tempe expecting to start.
I actually think that the overall OBP of the starting 9 is horrible and not weak. It’s difficult to adjust to today’s numbers. I remember when GA was referred to as the “Silent Assassin” because with his .330 OBA he made too many outs.
Fun fact: Even Ricky Henderson was not-Ricky-Henderson-like on the the basepaths… at least early in his career. He’s the all-time MLB leader in failed stolen base attempts and got caught at a 20-30 percent clip from 1979-84. Not disparaging his greatness. Just underlining that stealing bases is a fine skill like any other and Rada will hopefully get more efficient as he ages.
FWIW… Cy Young is also the all-time MLB loss leader. You have to be really good to fail that much.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/henderi01.shtml
Yes, only the greats get to fail a lot. Great point.
Piling on the farm news (because what else are we going to do as Angels fans during a pennant run?)… 8th round OF Isaiah Jackson debuted last night in Tri-City. Kind of odd they skipped him over low-A entirely but I guess they got a log-jam at IE in the outfield (including Hayden Alvarez, who had a three-hit game yesterday).
https://www.milb.com/gameday/dust-devils-vs-aquasox/2025/08/07/789052/final/box
You are burying the lead from that game — Yeferson Vargas!
6 innings
1 ER
3 hits
2 walks
6 strikeouts
See, those kid pitchers are working out the way I hoped. I am 100% sure 3/4 of them will end up in the pen or never passing AA. But this is what we need. Six or Seven young arms looking pretty damn good below AA so that the whole pile can be sifted and we end up with a couple pen arms and a SP.
And if we are really smart we don’t fall in love with every arm that looks good in A+. We are willing to trade a few of these guys. I’ll be less unhappy with Perry if he becomes the odd duck GM who starts actively pushing to trade prospects for prospects as his pile o’ pitchers gets bigger.
Find a masher LF who is blocked, even within a system, by a HUGE prospect at the same spot and trade a couple arms for him. Etc.
That’s the dual value of a pitching pipeline, right? Have some make an impact on our big league club and trade others to fill holes elsewhere in the org.
Starting pitching will always be a needed currency.
And some systems are built around bats. Take a look at the Cubs, and you’ll find 3 arms in the top 20
Granted Perry will have to actually develop arms that have value, but yes starting pitching is like gold in that it can be turned into anything of value.
And let’s be real, for as pitching dominant as the Angels farm has been in the past half dozen years, they’ve developed very little into impact starting pitching. Soriano was left unprotected and packaged off to the Pirates before turning into something useful for the team. There are several other teams with more balanced farms who have established homegrown rotations in the same time period.
The few places that have notched the Angels’ farm ranking up from #30 of late have done so on the strength of future value more than present value or likelihood of attaining to that future value. That is, there’s a lot of young raw talent at lower levels – whether the Angels can mold it into MLB caliber value is another question.
High schoolers. They are more projectable to be something better, glad to see Perry worming his way out of leaning heavy on the college approach.
Forks up! Jaxon is the highest level debut so far.
In general, kids from big college programs should debut at Hi A or AA. I wonder if/when/where we see Munroe this year.
TT did the heavy lifting detailing Rada and Guzman below. Exciting development happening with both players.
C – O’Hoppe
1B – Schanuel
2B – Moore
SS – Neto
3B – Guzman
LF – Ward
CF – Rada
RF – Adell
DH – Trout
Other than O’Hoppe, this would be a fully homegrown lineup. Maybe guys like Teodosio, Paris and Lugo can become cheap depth pieces too.
Teodosio as a 4th outfielder in that scenario would likely be ideal. We’d need some thump on the bench to add to him.
I like having a burner or two on the team to pinch run late in games. And the potential late game OF of Teodosio in LF, Rada in CF, and Adell in RF would be incredible.
That would be quite the end of the game defensive OF.
If you like speed, maybe Paris gets moved back permanently to the dirt and can become our utility infielder? His strikeout rate is less damaging in a limited role. Also, provides some thump off the bench.
I absolutely love speed. If I was old enough to see the 80s Cardinals in all their glory, I’d probably be a Cards fan.
Peraza and Paris both have plenty of talent and plenty of holes in their swings. We need one to figure it out. Add in Guzman and we have 3 talented guys that need to turn into 1 starter and 1 depth piece.
Two nights in a row with no losses-Woo hoo!!
Summer has officially ended in the steelgolf household. My wife is back to teaching, gets her new students on Monday, my kids start the following Monday but are already doing student activities at the school.
Now for Angels baseball thoughts. I keep seeing people mention Stephanson when talking about the future bullpen. I’m curious as to why? Has he even pitched 2 innings in 2 seasons? Injured again? Am I missing something? Nobody mentions Rendon at 3rd anymore because they realize he is a broken china doll. Did I miss news on Stephanson’s medical sir is he already on a rehab stint in the minors?
The last I’ve heard, Stephenson was throwing bullpen sessions and could be back before the end of the month, but I’m not holding my breath on that.
Brogdon, Burke, Fulmer, Bachman and Zeferjahn seem to be locks for next year’s bullpen with the possibility of Joyce and Stephenson joining them. Could definitely use Jansen until someone is ready to step into the closer’s role and one or two others, say Andrew Chafin and Shelby Miller or even Caleb Ferguson.
I thought Stephenson was moved to the 60 day on 7/24?
Per CBS Sports “Stephenson initially landed on the injured list June 2 with biceps inflammation, so his move to the 60-day IL has virtually no impact on his return timeline. The 32-year-old reliever began a throwing program Monday but has yet to begin mound work, and he’ll likely require a few rehab appearances in the minors before rejoining Los Angeles’ bullpen.”
Soooo, Spring Training 2026!
What’s the over/under?
I’d really enjoy it if Crouse comes back late in the season.
Is Hans still around? I haven’t heard anything about him since he got released after his injury.
Nope. I forgot we released him.
Look at it this way: the sooner he comes back, the sooner he’s eligible to go back on IR. It’s envitAble for Rendon Jr.
He’s under contract for next season and the option for 2027 is sure to be exercised.
He’s looking like Pitching Rendon at this point but I have to mention the potential he contributes.
Yeah, I don’t even think of him in regards to the bullpen. If he somehow makes an appearance and contributes, that would be great, I’m just going to factor it in when looking at the bullpen for 2026 and beyond.
It’s true. I watched him on the Rays. We don’t currently have an arm like that in our pen and if he comes back and is good it’ll be helpful.
Just the latest one-hit wonder!
Yup. At this point Stevenson is just a bonus arm. If he pitches and he’s good then hurray for us. But I wouldn’t plan on it. Clearly, since he got his first round pick money, he has stopped caring about baseball and has just started racking up fun and easy surgeries and playing just enough to get more money. Total dick. Cancer. Dick Cancer.
But I doubt the team’s plan is to have Dick Cancer.
I heard his arm fell off and they sent him to the “Pitching Lab” to try sewing it back on.
Also, a bit under the radar:
Two weeks ago the Angels DSL club was languishing with a sub-.500 record and in second to last place in their division. Since that time, they’ve gone on a surprising tear, winning ten in a row, and are now one game out of the division lead, and would make the playoffs if the season ended tomorrow.
They’re doing it almost exclusively with offense, as the team has no standout pitching to speak of, and continues to leak a lot of runs (the defense has been particularly rough), but Davalillo’s a legit offensive catching prospect (contrasting with the more glove-first profiles of Flores and Quintero), and pop-up guys like Cabrera and De La Paz are intriguing.
On their way to #11 in a row! Bludgeoning the opposition 9-2 in the 6th
Guzman and Rada are justifying their aggressive promotions in the early returns, with the pair collectively going 7-for-10 last night, both with HRs. Guzman was a triple shy of a cycle.
It was at Smith’s in Salt Lake, where any well-struck ball travels plenty far (as the final 15-12 box score attests), but it’s good to see both young prospects not overmatched. I think we should expect September call-ups for each if they continue at anywhere near this pace.
Btw, it’s pretty clear where this is headed. Guzman is a plus shortstop, with a 60 grade glove at ceiling, but the org has shifted him to 3b of late – 20 appearances in AA, and 3 of his first 4 games with the Bees at third.
He has enough power to profile there (maybe 20-25 HRs at peak), and a strong arm to handle the hot corner with extensive reps, but contact is the challenge. He has a utility floor – I think he’s likely an MLB player – but he needs to tame the chase and look more like he has in July at AA (<20% K rates with healthy walk totals) to see regular play.
At 21, it could still happen. He has some malleability left.
20-25 HRs would put him at the level of Doug DeCinces and if Guzman fields the position as well, that would be incredibly good.
Rada is underrated by national sports media. Posting a .380 OBP as a 19-year-old in AA does not suggest a 4th outfielder career arc. Plenty of reason to project more power (at least of the gap variety) as he gets older and stronger. Compare him to, say, the Dbacks’ Ryan Waldschmidt (who Law stubbornly ranks as a Top 30 prospect, and MLB has in its Top 100, despite middling stats this season)… Rada is three years younger, hits for a higher average at the same level, faster and plays better defense. So now for the Truther part: If he was a Yankee prospect, say, or some other darling org, he’d be a consensus Top 100.
I hope Rada is left in AA for two years to see how he does. He will play others closer to his age and we may see what his 5’8” build will do at the plate.
Height didn’t seem to effect Jose Altuve or Ozzie Albies much. Granted they were exceptional, but not every player who is 6’02” goes on to be Lorenzo Cain either.
But even though they’re relatively similar heights and each blossomed young, Rada and Altuve are very different players at comparable ages. Altuve was a complete contact merchant with K rates in the 9-12% range, and ISO marks triple that of Rada at age 19. Rada strikes out twice as much and had one of the lowest ISOs of his peer group at the past two levels.
People see a young prospect who is outperforming for his age and level, and want to presume unicorn outcomes, but unicorns are called unicorns for a reason, and that’s their rarity. Some prospects outperform in youth and flame out at maturity.
Hope for the best, but be ready for the typical outcome as well.
I recalled that Altuve didn’t show much power up to his age 20 season, but comparing the two I can see Rada doesn’t have any power. Still, my original point was that having a 5’08” build isn’t a great indicator of potential. But yeah, he’s going to have get on base a lot to offset that ISO.
I’m sorry but that’s asinine. Guy hits .280.-.290 somewhere over a full season, you show him the next level. I’d love to see an example of an org that let a young player overperform at a level for three seasons, just to prove a point. That would obviously be malpractice.
I would have him start in AA next year. If he starts to dominate, I would promote him. Bill James said the definition of a legitimate prospect is a 20 year old who dominates AA. He’s only 19.
The team just promoted him to Salt Lake City. What is the benefit of putting him back a level?
Yea. Rada will never step foot in Alabama ever again lol
For the same reasons the Angels frequently have their more promising prospects pass over high-A and AAA entirely, or only make brief stops there – both have very extreme or unusual park environments that either suppress offense or exaggerate it. Neither are ideal places to develop good habits that translate to Anaheim or MLB parks.
A lot of great pitching comes through the Southern League, and the parks there are more neutral.
I’m more than happy to give Rada an invite to ST next year. I just don’t see any reason to move him up to hitter friendly parks. Let’s see how he adjusts to AA pitching that changes as he has more at bats. Let’s see his chase rates and in zone contact over time. Let’s see his arm get tested in the OF (Fangraphs rates his arm at 30).
He’s young. Let’s not treat Rada the way Adell was treated.
This just makes me hate the Tri-city/SLC thing even more.
Triple A is hard to find a new home for…. Though New Orleans is there.
There are what? A dozen defunct MiLB orgs out there post contraction? It may mean more longer plane flights for scouts, but it’s not like Kennewick’s all that close. Put a team in Tucson, hell put our AAA club there. Replace one of the defunct Carolina teams… it’s not THAT hard to get a new A+ team site. Hell, renovate Bakersfield, which is hell.
I wouldn’t mind Palm Springs, but our less than highly paid players might.
Tucson is intriguing… but man those Sunday afternoon games in August would be no divertido.
I don’t really think Rada is being rated unfairly. The “national media” doesn’t give a shit about baseball prospects – the projections and risk profile are coming from regional scouts who actually sit in thinly populated ballparks and watch the kids play, with their minds on thousands of other players they’ve seen before him.
A guy like Eric Longenhagen has no East Coast bias, and regularly punctures the hype on Yankees prospects – he lives in Tempe and sits in the stands with like twenty other people and has a closer eye on the Angels system than anyone here. I think his opinion echoes those of local guys like me and Taylor Blake Ward when he sees a short stocky body type that’s largely maxed out and a short swing with GB tendencies that doesn’t project for a lot of additional loft or drive. Strength gains in this body type will come with tradeoffs – potentially less range and foot speed – and aren’t likely to fully compensate against power pitchers with premium velocity who work him up and in.
I’d really like it all to work out for Rada, but the precedents are few for guys like him to have long careers on both the bat and glove sides. A 6’2″ power over hit guy with a poor glove like Waldschmidt is a completely different creature – Fangraphs ranks him as Arizona’s #9 prospect, a 45 FV guy, with lots of red flags attached. BA ranks him as #4 in their system, but not a top 100 guy, and lays a Randal Grichuk comp on him. I think that’s right. The batted ball data and body projection on these two really couldn’t look more different.
I wonder if Arte seeing the Stadium filled with excited Angels fans right before the trade deadline had him calling Perry to stand pat. Can’t sell when the team is sparking ticket sales.
Is that picture of the fans rushing to grab Trout’s 200th HR at home?
If this is anything close to what he did, Arte has again confirmed he is “Moreno, Lord of the Idiots”
And we all know the rule : Idiot people will do idiot things!
Isn’t that a gang?
We need to give them something to cheer about.
I wonder..how many of the CtPG’ers are out there incognito, is that you out there that I see Wally?
I remember that. Fun times.