LA Angels Monday News Crash: The Neighbors Are Coming

I suspect that most folks here aren’t Baseball America subscribers, so can’t access features behind the paywall, but BA gave some love to two much-talked-about Angels prospects today – Nelson Rada and Denzer Guzman.

Nelson is covered in this weeks “Statcast Standouts” feature. While the full editorial circle may not have bought in to Rada as a Top 100 guy yet, at least one writer has.

Eli Ben-Porat writes:

Rada has been one of the youngest batters at every level he’s played at. In Single-A, he was at least 1.3 years younger than any pitcher he faced and was, on average, 4.4 years younger than the pitchers he faced. Now in Triple-A, he’s at least 3.1 years younger than the pitchers he’s competing against and 5.7 years younger on average.

If you’re going to succeed with minimal bat speed, you have to be a contact machine. Rada’s zone contact certainly suggests he’s got that covered. The truly special aspect to Rada’s profile? The elite swing decisions. It’s exceedingly rare to see a player with +10% in zone aggression and -10% out-of-zone chase. This is a recipe for a plus-plus on-base profile, and it fully supports the .388 OBP he’s put up across two levels this season, as well as the .395 mark he logged in A-ball. He struggled in his first taste of Double-A last year, but that’s looking like an adjustment period given he skipped High-A entirely and was really young for the level.

Here’s our scouting report on Rada’s glove: “In center field, he makes advanced reads with a smooth glove, giving him plus defensive projection at a premium position”.

If you combine what’s looking very much like a potentially average-or-better MLB hitter based on the contact and on-base skills with a plus glove in center field, you’re looking at potential 3-4 win player. Rada’s profile doesn’t always get the prospect buzz the power guys get, but, if I were to create a top prospect list right now, I’d be strongly inclined to consider him as a top 50 prospect in baseball. That may sound like a bold take, but the combination of his pitch selection, contact skills, glove and age may actually be underselling just how good this kid is. In fact, I think it’s looking more likely than not that Rada will be at least an average MLB player when you factor in his defensive profile. That’s an extremely high floor.

I wasn’t expecting to be this excited by Rada before digging into his profile, but I’m fully bought in now.

(bolded emphasis mine)