Somebody's Got to Be Last

 

In 2024, the White Sox were not just bad, they were legendarily bad. In 2025, the Rockies were similarly awful. So...is it possible that 2026's last place team will just be a normal, regular old bad team. No 'worst team ever' stuff? Because right now, I don't think the Rockies are the worst team in baseball, I don't think the White Sox are anywhere near the worst team in baseball...and even if they're 30th of 30...the Angels aren't even an interesting kind of terrible.

Like, okay, what do they have. Their best pitcher's Jose Soriano, who's having a Cy Young caliber age-27 season, with a 6-3 record, a 2.44 ERA and 74 Ks. He might not be an Angel in August, guys. I don't see why they wouldn't try to trade him. And yes, it'd lead them with a rotation consisting of Reid Detmers, Jack Kochanowicz, Grayson Rodriguez, Walbert Ureña and, eventually, Yusei Kikuchi, but they've come back from worse. Besides, isn't it fun that they've got a guy named Walbert? Nobody's named Walbert!

Their best hitter is Mike Trout, who, despite only hitting .239, has 12 homers and 25 RBIs. The lower sample size is due to having 47 walks, which should be your indication that he's back. Nobody walked him when he wasn't hitting. They also are getting a pretty decent year out of Zach Neto, who's got 10 homers and 24 RBIs despite 73 Ks, which makes him one of 4 Angels with over 50 Ks. Neto's still looking like a foundational piece for this team, but I also said that about David Fletcher, Taylor Ward and Jared Walsh and Trout outlasted them all. 

Beyond that, a lot of the lineup plan is already being crumpled and tossed. Moncada's hurt [as he tends to be], so the backups, namely Vaughn Grissom, Adam Frazier and Donovan Walton, are covering third. Josh Lowe didn't work, so they're going with Jose Siri and Wade Meckler in left, and both are...doing alright so far. Oswald Peraza's actually been pretty brilliant covering second, he's displayed all the contact wonder that the Yankees had zero room for. Nolan Schanuel, Jo Adell and Jorge Soler have had decent moments but all are struggling at various other facets. You look at the gameplan for last season and barely any of it's shown up this year. Where's Karen Paris? Where's Christian Moore? What about Caden Dana and Sam Aldegheri, weren't they supposed to be the next starting guns back in 2024? Even the Alek Manoah publicity stunt bombed. That guy might just be cooked, which is pretty upsetting. 

It's really frustrating to look around this team that's been trying to build something for so long and see no immediate future. It can't just be Trout, the Angels have been trying to look beyond Trout for a decade now. But, this is where they are. And as they remain in last, they need to start being honest with themselves. Soriano's probably gonna go...Trout might need to as well, sad to say. And then they can actually focus on a full rebuild, which has worked with the White Sox. If it hasn't occurred to them yet, that's on them.

Coming Tonight: Ironically the guy the Angels cut last year, who's now having a bounce back year in THE place to bounce back.

You're Home Early...

 

I think the Angels players have gotten pretty used to, if Mike Trout gets hurt in April or May, him...not coming back. And just having to keep things going, best they can, without him. Cause it just keeps happening, year after year, and it's always a bunch of young kids holding the bag and they can only do so much. You know, follow the pattern. This year, Trout made it to the end of April, got hurt, was out a month. And I think everybody, Ward, Neto, Soler, were all going 'well here we go again', and prepared for a similar outcome.

Which, I think, is why Zach Neto has been looking like the Angels' savior lately.

Neto is 24, he's been in the league for almost two years, and in that time he has played more games than Mike Trout. What an antidote to the usual 'career begins at 26' thing we've been seeing a lot lately. Neto has a 9.2 WAR since his mid-2023 call-up, and leads the 2025 team in WAR currently with 2.5. He does this by being a multi-tool guy still in his prime in a central spot. He's hitting .273 with 10 homers and 23 RBIs, plus 8 steals and some above-average defensive play at SS. Everything he needs to be doing, he's doing well. He might even get an All-Star nod out of it. Even if he's the only Angel there, he'll deserve it. 

And honestly, after Neto, Kikuchi and Anderson this team kinda drops off a cliff. Lots of guys who are doing very okay, like Taylor Ward, Jose Soriano, Logan O'Hoppe and Nolan Schanuel, people where one component is working but the rest aren't there. And that's the majority of the team, people just sort of languishing, occasionally hitting for power and not doing much else. That's why they're 28-33, even with a decent streak last month. They're good enough to stay out of last, but not good enough to be especially intimidating to most competitors. 

But...things have the opportunity to change drastically. Cause, uh...Mike Trout just got back off the IL. Like...10 months ahead of schedule. And he's looking pretty good. 

Since his return on May 30th, Trout has posted a .476 average with 10 hits, 5 RBIs and 1 home run in 6 games. THAT is the Mike Trout we all know and love. The guy from April, he was good at hitting home runs but something was very off, and whatever it was got fixed after a month on the IL. Now this is the guy that can run a team, and with Neto similarly killing it right now, I feel a little better about the Angels' chances. Like, if this guy is back for the majority of the season, the Angels might actually be a factor in a division race. Imagine that!

Coming Tomorrow- Last year was a rare inconsistent, injury-plagued year for him, but he seems to have gotten all of that out of his system, and it couldn't come at a better time.

On the Early Bloomer

 

There's a media trope that doesn't get talked about often, that of the adultified child, someone who had to grow up far too quickly to take care of adults in their lives who weren't capable of taking care of themselves. A person who had to mature far sooner than they were meant to, and did so without thinking of the far-reaching consequences. The MLB version of this is far less depressing.

I can think of a few different cases of someone in the midst of minor league development who was rushed to the major league club due to the lack of healthy options, regardless of readiness. They used to do this all the time, have big-leaguers essentially skip the minors and come right in, and that's what the Padres did with Dave Winfield back in the day. These days there are some cases where a player's so good that they speed through the minors within a year, we saw this with Paul Skenes of course. But recently we've seen people in double-A get yanked up due to necessity, regardless of the rate of progression. Nico Hoerner was the big one, he was wrangled up in 2019, took a few seasons to really come into his own and is now one of the chief Cubs hitters. 

The Angels have two of these guys. Zach Neto, who progressed through the minors so quickly that the Angels had to bring him up, and Nolan Schanuel, who was brought up literally two months after being drafted by the Angels. And if they had any other manager but Ron Washington I'd be worried.

The last few days you've been hearing a lot from Wash about his approach to these two players in particular, the two young gems of the organization. And these two are thankfully listening to him. Schanuel is still not hitting, which, while somewhat expected for a 22-year-old, is still upsetting for a starter. But Neto has been having an excellent season, and I think learning from Washington has definitely helped. So far he's notched 10 home runs, 35 RBIs and 10 stolen bases, aside from some very, very good defensive infield play. With Trout hurt, Neto is one of the most talented multi-tool guys on this team, and having versatile people like him, Luis Rengifo and Taylor Ward ahead of the curve gives the Angels more than a lot of lower-tier teams have.

I think Neto hitting his stride at 23 does give him a leg up on a lot of other people who likely won't get there til 25 or 27. And this is a year where we have a guy who's 20 that's already been told he's not MLB-ready yet, and a few other people up at 20 or 21 that are having the time to struggle. I think it's very circumstantial: Neto's learning curve was lessened a bit, and Schanuel's wasn't. Neto, however, might be the better player, though...again, it remains to be seen what peak Schanuel will look like, much like peak Jackson Holliday.

The Angels have perked up a bit recently, but are mostly waiting til Trout and Rendon get back. They just lost Patrick Sandoval for the year, are giving Zach Plesac a shot to worrying results, and are gearing up for Taylor Ward to be dealt for hopefully some future pieces. I hope Neto's around long enough to see this team gel together, much like Hoerner, but it'll take a lot of little moves.

Coming Tomorrow- To the end of my days, I'll never understand why the Mariners dealt this guy.

The Eyes That Fell Upon Anaheim

 

The latest ESPN headline to concern the Angels was this: 'Ohtani Homers in Last Angels Home Game Before Deadline'. The fact that it makes the front page of ESPN dot com does say a lot about the assumption most of the league has about Ohtani. At this point last year, there wasn't even that much of a certainty about Juan Soto, like 'there's a chance he could go, but could teams pony up enough', and the Padres managed it. And while that's what we're hearing a lot of, 'will somebody give the Angels the deal they want for Ohtani', for some reason, despite the steepness of those demands, everybody just...thinks Shohei Ohtani's gonna get dealt.

And there's a chance he could. A...strong chance. But at the same time, the Angels are 6-3 since the All-Star Break, and beginning to climb back up the AL West. So...maybe they should keep him around?

For the first time this season, I had to glance at the wild card standings. And it's early, there's still 2 and a half months left, but the Angels have an okay position, all things considered. Within 8 games of the division, within 4 games of the last wild card spot. Within 5 of Houston as well, as they've had a similar record since the break. This is...not impossible. The Angels have more of a chance of a playoff spot than the Mariners, and than whoever comes in 2nd in the AL Central. The nearest two teams to them in the wild card standings are the Yankees and Red Sox, who are both, to paraphrase Logan Roy, not serious teams. It can happen.

And there are a lot of pieces of this Angels team that are convincing me that competing this year and keeping Ohtani is the way to go. Zach Neto was drafted last year, was brought up in May, and is one of the best performers on the team, with 27 RBIs and 8 homers in 62 games, as well as some excellent defense. Mickey Moniak's been awesome since getting the call-up, hitting .331 with 11 homers and 34 RBIs. And now recent callups like Michael Stefanic and Trey Cabbage have been great additions to the fold, along with bench trades like Eduardo Escobar and Mike Moustakas. It also helps that Griffin Canning and Reid Detmers have had better starts lately to catch them up with Ohtani and Sandoval. 

A ton more is working than it was last month, and they might be better off if they keep Ohtani and focus on what's working rather than giving up as they're hot. The desire to offload him might be greater than the desire to go for it, but I kinda want a team like the Angels to be conservative here, even if they could get a lot of assets from somebody in return.

Coming Tonight- A rookie catcher who's been a surprise pick-me-up for his team.