LA Angels Weekend News Crash: Heading Home

Jordan was sitting 94-97 over his two innings. Maxed out at 97.7 mph (first pitch of the game). Definitely a velocity uptick for him – was sitting 95-96 most of the outing, where he was working 92-95 a year ago.

Keith Law attended the game as well. He only really liked Denzer and Jordan, with a passing nod to Rada (who he otherwise likes and ranks as the system’s #2 prospect). He really did not like the relief corps (lots of velo, but no life, no command), or Davalillo.

The Angels had two of their top three pitching prospects on the roster in right-handers Tyler Bremner (the No. 2 pick from last year’s draft) and Chase Shores (who closed out LSU’s championship in June), but neither appeared in the game, so as a result, only four of their top 10 prospects ended up playing. Outfielder Nelson Rada, who is second in their system behind Bremner, led off and played the entire game, bunting for a hit in his first at-bat and collecting a single on a soft line drive the other way off a 99 mph fastball. He’s pretty much the same player he’s always been — he can run, he’s going to stick in center, he can hit but doesn’t have much power.

Shortstop Denzer Guzman was No. 3 on my Angels list this offseason and was responsible for the only runs the Angels scored with his home run in the bottom of the ninth off Doughty. It came on the ninth pitch of the at-bat, when Doughty tried to freeze him on a breaking ball and left it right over the heart of the plate. Guzman hit it off the left-field foul pole with an exit velo of 105.8 mph, one of two balls he hit at 100-plus on the day. He saw 19 pitches in total in his four at-bats and made an impressive stop on a groundball to his left, although he didn’t have time to get the runner at first.

Third baseman Gabriel Davalillo was 19th on my list … and that was too high. I said at the time he had “a thicker body,” and he’s gotten bigger since then. He’s 18 years old and is already too heavy to play anywhere on the field. I’m not sure what you do with a player like that — unless he’s Tony Gwynn with the stick, he’s not a prospect.

Angels pitchers did show some velocity over the course of the game, although there wasn’t much actual pitching. Right-hander Dylan Jordan (No. 12) has seen a big velo jump, sitting 94-98 with an average slider at 82-84. He has a long arm action and stays very online to the plate, allowing him to work in the zone. I’d have him over all of the other pitchers who followed him in this game.

Righty Trey Gregory-Alford (No. 8) was 96-100 with no life, and his 81-83 mph curveball is really easy to see out of his hand. He had maybe 30 command and gave up all four Cleveland runs, with two walks followed by a homer. Right-hander Nate Snead (No. 18) was 96-100, also without much life, also without much command, along with a short slider at 89-91. Chris Cortez (No. 20) sat at 98, faced five batters, struck out three and walked two. Righty Najer Victor is back from pitching for Great Britain in the World Baseball Classic and was 94-98 with a slider at 85-88, coming from a very high slot without a lot of life on the fastball.

Without Bremner, Shores or lefty Johnny Slawinski, it’s not a promising group of pitching prospects for the Angels, with Jordan the only one I would project as a potential starter.

He was on the team’s short list – he sat for multiple interviews, at the Combine and earlier, with a repeat visit even less than a week before draft day.

I think Seth’s agency wanted full slot, or something close. He got almost as much of a bonus at #6 as Bremner did at #2. It’s only conjecture, but I doubt Moreno was keen on a full-slot bonus for a prep arm that high in the draft.

So they spread the bonus pool around and drafted seven Seth Hernandezes instead – though each with lesser pedigree (though some nearly as tooled up). It’ll take 2-3 years to assess the wisdom of that approach.