We entered 2025 hoping for improvement by the young core leading to improvement in the win/loss column. We hoped to see a healthy Mike Trout entertain us and that the farm would look better at the end of the year than it did in March. On those counts, the 2025 season has been a success.
This week featured really nice starts by two Angels farmhands. First Mitch Farris picked up a win in his debut while tossing 5 solid innings. His overall line was pretty respectable. He allowed 3 hits and 1 run while walking 2 and striking out 3. His first K will be quite memorable, too, as it came against superstud Bobby Witt Jr.
Farris was the return for Davis Daniel and I linked this TBW post about him last week. He’s been a bit of an afterthought on the farm, but is putting up some impressive peripherals.
A guy who has been front and center on the farm took the ball the following night. Caden Dana is still only 22 and probably would have been making his MLB debut in a deeper organization. The kid straight out of central casting (you have to love that surfer’s flow) looked the best we’ve seen him in quite a while.
Two things really stood out for me in Dana’s start. One is how well his changeup can work when his fastball is under control. That change piece froze some really good hitters and could be a real weapon. The second is the poise he showed in the third inning when the Angels defense let him down and an error made it 2nd + 3rd with one run in and 0 outs instead of 2nd + 3rd with no runs in and 1 out. Dana stayed poised and executed his pitches well. His ability to escape the jam and limit the damage to 2 runs gave the Angels a chance to come back and win the game.
Thanks largely to Farris and Dana, the Angels secured a series win in Kansas City. That counters a series loss in Texas that sandwiches a 4 game split in Houston. All in all, a pretty solid road trip for this group.
The series split in Houston was aided greatly by fellow kid Oswald Peraza coming up clutch Saturday night. Peraza has been playing first base this week and making the most of his opportunity, going 6 for 17 with a double and a home run.
I keep linking this kid but that’s because he keeps putting up highlights. Jo Adell’s second 3 run home run in KC is this week’s Highlight of the Week. Jo has pretty much developed into the power over hit guy with solid RF defense we hoped for.
If you don’t follow Turk’s Teeth on X, do it. Between him and TBW you’ll get a really good look at the Angels farm. This week he put a new kid on our radar.
Does this team need a lot of help? Yes. Will there be enough in the next 6 months to make 2026 glorious? I’d be heavily against it. But there are incremental steps being taken. I wish the team added more prospects at the deadline, but they are currently on pace to win 76 games while the kids improve.
Hopefully Christian Moore becomes another piece of the puzzle. He’s struggled at the MLB level but in other organizations would have never been in the bigs. It is definitely way too early to give up on him and he’s taking to AAA quite well.
Unfortunately, Christian Moore lost his rookie eligibility by being on the MLB roster for more than 45 days. While the likelihood of his winning a ROY and getting the Angels draft compensation was small the begin with, it is now zero.
I’m not sure how many of these kids will part of the 2026 team. We also don’t know who will manage the 2026 team. Sam the Hat took a look at 5 potential candidates and I only like 1 of them. Ray Montgomery clearly should not manage. Ron Washington’s health needs to be his primary concern. Skip Shumaker would be really nice. Pujols and Torii Hunter are head scratchers but this is Arte Moreno.
From around baseball:
I love reaction videos. The face you make when you see a 120 MPH home run deserves one. It got a great write up by FanGraphs.
Ippei’s bookie was sentenced to a little over a year in prison last week and spojke about Ippei’s betting habits. He also stated he saw the wires came from Ohtani’s account. Last I checked, receiving stolen property was a crime. How is receiving millions in stolen money coming from an account you know is not your customer’s not a crime?
The Seattle Mariners are in a tailspin but Cal Raleigh is giving Aaron Judge a serious threat for the AL MVP award. That race is really heating up as Judge keeps putting up MVP numbers.
As of Thursday afternoon, Seattle sits 2.5 games above KC and Tampa Bay and just 1.5 games ahead of Texas for the final Wild Card spot. Seattle and KC play a series later this month. Our Angels also have a chance to play spoiler against KC and Seattle.
Enjoy your weekend and link what I missed. My weekend is jam packed, highlighted by celebrating my Nana’s 85th birthday. I realize what a blessing it is to be able to call her on my drive to work and see her when I’m back home. She’s absolutely amazing and I’m so happy my son is close with her. Then we get to baptize a friend’s son the following day.
