LA Angels Thursday News Crash: Lucchesi Still Around

Positives from the farm:

Both Grayson Rodriguez and Ryan Johnson are on rehab assignments, and both posted well in their first outings. I imagine each will be MLB ready by the end of next week.

Ideally, they’ll station Johnson at AA and stabilize him in a starter’s routine. Ping-ponging him between the bullpen and rotation, while also ping-ponging him between the MLB and minors has to be disorienting. They should choose a lane, and commit. There’s too much talent here to not give him some rope to develop in a stable environment.

We’re seeing positive progress from two prospects at the hot corner: Denzer Guzman and Jake Munroe. Guzman has his K% down to a very respectable 20%, while maintaining high walk rates north of 12%, and making some quality contact (5 HRs, 10 XBHs in his first month of AAA). His line drive rate is consistent, but he needs to get the ball in the air a bit more to elevate his power numbers a bit. He’s still very young for AAA (turned 22 in Feb), and I think he remains a top 5 prospect in the Angels org.

Munroe continues to surprise in A+ ball. His walk rate is up to 15%+ while keeping his strikeouts low. He’s selective and can do some damage here and there (4 HRs, 8 doubles), and is rocking a 163 wRC+ in a pitcher’s league. He’s more solidly built than athletic, and I still think he projects as more of a contributor than regular player, but I think he’s a follow in an Angels system very thin on bats otherwise. AA will tell us a lot, should he receive a June promotion.

One name to keep on your radars: Ubaldo Soto. He was my pick-to-click from last fall. I really liked his outings and overall stuff, despite the box scores, when I watched him in September. Ignore the ERA (he has a .411 BABIP in the notorious Cal League), and focus on the K rate (12.9 K/9). Baseball America’s RoboScout, which projects prospects to peak performance levels via a lot of factors, has Soto in the top 10 of all low-A pitchers – the one Angels arm in the list (not TGA, Jordan or Haley). Worth a look next time he pitches at Rancho.

Negatives on the farm:

The two guys one would like to see the most progress from in AAA – Nelson Rada and George Klassen – are mired in deep slumps. Klassen’s K rate has fallen to querulous lows – he’s struck out only one batter over his last two outings, while not getting past three innings in either.

Meanwhile, Rada is 1-for-25 over his past five games, and has only one extra base hit in his past 16 outings. A lot of his underlying swing data looks similar to last year, and his BB/K percentages are also in line, but he’s making weaker contact and just not squaring the ball like you’d hope in his second go at AAA.

At the lower levels of the farm, where much of the pitching capital is concentrated, we’re seeing more struggles in early spring than we saw last fall. Jordan has been up and down and hit around a bit more, with more inconsistent command. Shores and Snead are looking a bit Cortez-like in the early going of their bullpen-conversion projects. Bremner looks good, but is dealing with illness and missed his last start, then was hastily removed in his postponed outing this week.

We’re starting to get first looks at the prep draftees from 2025, as the ACL just started last weekend. (I got some early reads on Slawinski and LaCourse, and will share here and there as they fill out.)