Angels Rumors

Angels Sign Phil Nevin To One-Year Deal As Manager

By Darragh McDonald | October 5, 2022 at 2:15pm CDT

The Angels announced that they have agreed to a one-year contract with Phil Nevin to manage the club in 2023. Nevin had taken over on an interim basis this year when Joe Maddon was fired but will stick around for another season in the dugout.

Nevin, 51, will get his first proper stint as a manager next year. After playing in 12 seasons from 1995 to 2006, he transitioned into coaching. He began in independent ball before getting some work in the minors. He got up to the major league level in 2017, joining the Giants as a third base coach before taking on the same job with the Yankees and then the Angels.

2022 got off to a roaring start for the Angels, with the club going 14-8 in April. For a moment, there was hope that the club could finally put it all together after years of not being able to capitalize on all the talent on their roster. However, the club slumped after that, eventually undergoing a 12-game losing streak across the end of May and early June, leading to Maddon getting fired as bench boss.

Nevin was promoted to interim manager at that point, losing his first two games to extend that losing streak to a 14-gamer. Overall, since the switch, the club has gone 46-59. Those aren’t exactly inspiring numbers, but it’s hard to know how much of that to pin on Nevin given the deficiencies of the roster.

Despite Nevin’s lack of experience and tepid results so far, there’s some logic to maintaining the continuity of the staff by keeping him around. There’s a great deal of uncertainty hovering over the club right now for a few reasons, one of which is that owner Arte Moreno is exploring selling the team. It’s possible that the club has a new owner in place or at least lined up by this time next year. At that time, they may have their own plans about how they want to run the club, whether they want to try to compete immediately or embark on a rebuild. Given that uncertain future, it makes sense to keep Nevin in there as a sort of placeholder until the future becomes clearer. The alternative would be conducting a lengthy search to find a new manager, but candidates might not be enthused about stepping into a situation that is still very much in flux.

There’s also the uncertainty around the on-field product. Despite having tremendously talented players like Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani and Anthony Rendon on the roster, the team has continued to disappoint. They haven’t made the playoffs since 2014 and haven’t had a winning record since 2015. Ohtani is currently slated to reach free agency after the 2023 campaign, at which point Trout will be 32 and Rendon will be 33. It’s entirely possible that next season is the one that they finally put it all together, but it’s also possible that they disappoint yet again. The roster has obvious holes right now and it’s hard to guess how much Moreno would be interested in spending on a team he’s actively trying to sell.

There’s a wide variety of potential outcomes for the next year with a vast number of unknowns beyond that. The club will eventually have to decide what kind of manager they want, depending on which path they go down. However, today’s decision to keep Nevin around effectively kicks that can down the road for another year.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Angels Outright Three

By Steve Adams | October 3, 2022 at 8:10am CDT

A trio of players designated for assignment by the Angels last week — right-hander Mike Mayers, first baseman Mike Ford and outfielder Magneuris Sierra — went unclaimed on outright waivers, per the league’s transactions log at MLB.com. All three were assigned outright to Triple-A Salt Lake. All three can reject the assignment in favor of free agency right now, though that’s largely a moot point, as all three can also become free agents after the season concludes.

Mayers, 30, is the most experienced of the bunch and has spent the most time with the Angels organization. From 2020-21, he was a regular in late-inning roles for the Halos, recording four saves and 22 holds through 105 innings pitched. In that span, Mayers worked to a sharp 3.34 ERA with a terrific 30.5% strikeout rate and a solid 8% walk rate — easily the best stretch of a big league career that now spans parts of seven seasons.

Unfortunately, Mayers wasn’t at all able to sustain that pace in 2022. He’s pitched 50 2/3 innings this year — third-most of any season in his Major League career — and been clubbed for a 5.68 ERA along the way. His average fastball velocity, which sat 94.6 mph in 2020-21, is down to a career-low 93.7 mph in 2022. He’s also seen his strikeout rate plummet to 20.2%, and after allowing just 1.11 homers per nine innings in 2020-21, he’s surrendered a whopping 2.66 long balls per nine frames this year.

Ford, also 30, has suited up for four big league teams in 2022 alone. The longtime Yankees prospect spent 16 games with the Mariners earlier in the season (across two stints), one with the Giants, eight with the Braves and now 28 with the Halos. Ford has been designated for assignment by each of those teams, however (twice by the Mariners), bringing his DFA total to a whopping five on the year.

Ford impressed in his rookie showing with the Yankees back in 2019, debuting to the tune of a .259/.350/.559 batting line and a dozen homers in just 163 plate appearances. He hit just .134/.250/.276 in 156 plate appearances over the next two seasons before being cut loose by the Yankees, however, and has now logged a combined .206/.302/.313 output in 149 plate appearances between his quartet of new teams in 2022.

Sierra, meanwhile, hit just .165/.200/.242 in 96 plate appearances with the Angels prior to his DFA. The former Cardinals and Marlins prospect is one of baseball’s fastest players, ranking in the 97th percentile for average sprint speed, per Statcast. He’s never gotten on base enough in the big leagues to make much use of his wheels, though, as evidenced by a lifetime .228/.273/.272 slash in 636 plate appearances.

Angels, Shohei Ohtani Avoid Arbitration With One-Year, $30MM Contract For 2023

By Mark Polishuk | October 1, 2022 at 10:06pm CDT

The Angels and Shohei Ohtani have avoided perhaps the most unique arbitration case in baseball history by agreeing to a one-year, $30MM pact for the 2023 season. Ohtani is still scheduled to reach free agency following the 2023 campaign. Ohtani is represented by CAA Sports.

The two-way star becomes the 20th player in baseball to receive a $30MM average annual value on a contract, and that $30MM figure also establishes two other notable thresholds. Ohtani will now receive the largest salary ever for an arbitration-eligible player, and he also gets the biggest year-to-year raise for an arb-eligible player, after he earned $5.5MM this season. That $5.5MM salary was established in an earlier extension that avoided arbitration, as Ohtani and the Angels agreed to a two-year, $8.5MM contract in February 2021 that covered the first two of his three arb-eligible years.

At the time of that deal, Ohtani has pitched only 1 2/3 total innings over the 2019-20 seasons, due to a Tommy John surgery and then a flexor strain. He was also coming off a mediocre year at the plate, hitting only .190/.291/.366 over 175 plate appearances during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. Though Ohtani was hardly the only player to struggle under the unusual circumstances of the 2020 campaign, there was speculation that his 2018 rookie season might have been his peak, and that Ohtani would be better served by choosing either hitting or pitching.

Instead, Ohtani bounced back with two of the most extraordinary seasons in baseball history. Since Opening Day 2021, Ohtani has hit .267/.366/.560 with 80 home runs over 1282 plate appearances, while also posting a 2.72 ERA and an array of dazzling secondary metrics over 291 1/3 innings. After winning AL MVP honors in 2021, it looks as if Ohtani will be at worst a second-place finisher in this year’s MVP race (due to Aaron Judge’s all-timer of a season), and he’ll also earn a good chunk of votes in the AL Cy Young Award race.

With this in mind, it can certainly be argued that $30MM is still a bargain from the Angels’ perspective, considering that Ohtani would earn hefty salaries if he was “only” an All-Star hitter or “only” an All-Star pitcher. It would’ve been fascinating to see what arbitration figures the Angels and Ohtani’s camp would’ve submitted in this unprecedented scenario, but this agreement sidesteps that possibility.

Los Angeles now has three players earning at least $30MM in 2023, as Ohtani joins Mike Trout ($35.45MM) and Anthony Rendon ($38MM). In practical terms, it doesn’t change much for the Angels’ payroll situation, as the team naturally figured it would be paying Ohtani some type of gigantic salary in his final arb-eligible year. In pure dollars and cents, it doesn’t actually represent much different from the Angels’ 2022 payroll, as the since-released Justin Upton was earning $28MM in the final year of his contract with the club.

Ohtani’s future beyond 2023 remains a mystery, as he’ll be heading into free agency presumably still in his prime both on the mound and at the plate. Though Ohtani turns 29 in July, his two-way ability might still land him the biggest contract in baseball history, topping the $365MM in new money given to Mookie Betts in his extension with the Dodgers prior to the 2020 season.

In reaching an agreement with Ohtani now, the Angels front office gets one big question mark settled heading into what might be one of the most uncertain offseasons in franchise history. Owner Arte Moreno is looking into a possible sale, and with this situation lingering over the organization, it isn’t clear how aggressive GM Perry Minasian will be allowed to be in upgrading the roster. The Halos are struggling through their seventh consecutive losing season, so while a teardown isn’t out of the question, it is also possible Moreno might order a final push to try and return to the postseason one final time under his ownership.

Until there’s more clarity with the potential sale, it is hard to gauge what will happen with Ohtani in Anaheim. Given that Ohtani has already expressed his displeasure with losing, it seems hard to believe that he would agree to an extension unless he was satisfied that the team was heading in the right direction — even if a new owner does take over within 7-8 months, their influence might not be apparent in the short window of time before Ohtani can test the open market. A new owner might bring a new willingness to exceed the luxury tax threshold, and thus it wouldn’t necessarily be an obstacle in adding a massive Ohtani deal worth more than $40MM (at least) in AAV on top of the long-term Trout and Rendon contracts.

A trade also can’t be ruled out, though it seems like the least likely scenario considering that Moreno vetoed any possibility that Ohtani would be swapped prior to the last trade deadline. As noted by The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya, establishing Ohtani’s 2023 price tag early gives any interested trade partners more time to plan offers, yet not having Ohtani on the roster could also impact purchasing interest for any potential new owners. From a practical baseball sense, it is also hard to gauge what exactly an Ohtani trade would look like, considering his elite two-way talent but also just one remaining year of control.

AL Notes: Nevin, Angels, Strahm, Red Sox, Twins

By Mark Polishuk | October 1, 2022 at 9:29pm CDT

Angels interim manager Phil Nevin told reporters (including The Athletic’s Sam Blum) that he hasn’t yet had any talks with the front office about remaining in the job for the 2023 season. Nevin moved from third base coach to the interim skipper’s role after Joe Maddon was fired in June, and the Angels have a 44-57 record under Nevin’s stewardship, though between injuries and some imperfect roster construction, it can be argued that Nevin hasn’t had much to work with in trying to get the Halos on track.

The manager’s job is one of many questions facing the Angels this offseason, with the franchise’s possible sale acting as the overhanging influence on every decision. There has been some speculation that this uncertainty could benefit Nevin’s chances, as The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal has written that the Angels could prefer to just retain Nevin rather than sign another manager to a multi-year contract this winter (thus leaving a new owner with that deal on the books, when that owner might naturally prefer to make their own choice at skipper). The front office’s lack of contact with Nevin might not necessarily be a sign that he isn’t a candidate, as GM Perry Minasian and owner Arte Moreno might just be waiting until the offseason to conduct a proper search.

Angels Place Archie Bradley, Mickey Moniak On Injured List

By Anthony Franco | September 29, 2022 at 8:25pm CDT

The Angels announced a series of roster moves in advance of tonight’s contest with the A’s. Reliever Archie Bradley and outfielder Mickey Moniak have each landed on the injured list, officially ending their 2022 seasons. Infielder David Fletcher was reinstated from the 10-day IL to take one of the vacated active roster spots, while reliever Nash Walters was recalled from Triple-A Salt Lake in the other transaction.

Bradley is dealing with a forearm strain, a disappointing conclusion to a season that has been marred by injury. The right-hander missed about three months after fracturing his elbow in late June, just returning from the IL on Tuesday. Without making an appearance, he heads back on the shelf. It’s unclear how serious the issue is, but Bradley has now had a successive elbow fracture and forearm strain since his most recent major league pitch.

That’s certainly not the way he’d have wanted to return to the open market. The veteran righty signed a $3.75MM guarantee with the Halos last offseason, and he’ll reach free agency again in a few months. Even prior to the injuries, the 30-year-old had a down season. Bradley posted a 4.82 ERA across 18 2/3 innings, the first time he’s pitched to an ERA above 4.00 since moving to the bullpen in 2017. He still averaged around 94 MPH on his fastball and induced ground-balls at an excellent 57.1% clip, but his 19.2% strikeout percentage and 8.1% swinging strike rate are each a few points below the league average.

Moniak, meanwhile, suffered a left hand contusion after a Kirby Snead pitch struck him on a check-swing last night. Moniak has been the victim of some brutal injury luck this season, as this marks his third hand-related IL stint of the season. He opened the year on the shelf with a fracture in his right hand while still a member of the Phillies, then lost a month recently due to a fractured finger on his left hand.

In the interim, Moniak was dealt from Philadelphia to Anaheim in the deadline swap that sent Noah Syndergaard to the Phils. The former first overall pick never emerged as the everyday center fielder the Phillies had hoped they were selecting, and he’d continued to scuffle over his first 19 games as an Angel. Moniak’s season concludes with a .170/.207/.302 line in 112 cumulative plate appearances.

Walters is now in line to make his major league debut. A third-round pick of the Brewers out of a Texas high school in 2015, the right-hander spent parts of seven seasons in the Milwaukee system. The Angels acquired him for cash considerations in the first week of September. Anaheim immediately added him to the 40-man roster but kept him on optional assignment to Salt Lake. After seven appearances with the Bees, the 25-year-old will get his first crack against big league hitters. Walters has spent most of the year in Double-A, working to a 4.60 ERA but striking out a third of opponents through 47 frames. He’ll look to compete for a spot in next season’s bullpen.

Angels Reinstate Anthony Rendon, Designate Mike Ford

By Darragh McDonald | September 28, 2022 at 6:00pm CDT

The Angels have reinstated third baseman Anthony Rendon from the 60-day injured list, reports Sam Blum of The Athletic. First baseman Mike Ford was designated for assignment in a corresponding move.

Rendon, 32, played 45 games this season before he underwent wrist surgery in June. At the time, that procedure was categorized as “season-ending,” though Rendon evidently recovered faster than expected. A few weeks ago, it was reported that coming back for a late-season appearance was on the table, something that has now come to fruition.

Despite his reinstatement, Rendon still won’t be appearing in a game for the Halos for a few days. Shortly after his surgery, there was a massive brawl between the Angels and Mariners which resulted in 12 suspensions. One of those was given to Rendon, who got five games for his role in the fracas. He’ll miss the next five contests with the Angels playing shorthanded on those days. That will still leave him with the chance to get a small taste of action before the offseason begins, as the club has eight games remaining here in 2022, and prevent him from missing the beginning of the 2023 season.

The Angels are well out of contention here in 2022, so those games next season should be much more important to the team. Next year is the last season before Shohei Ohtani is slated to reach free agency. With the club also potentially being sold in the near future, it’s possible that 2023 is an inflection point for the franchise. Despite having Mike Trout for the past decade-plus, Ohtani for the past five seasons and Rendon for the past three, the Angels haven’t finished above .500 since 2015 and haven’t made the postseason since 2014. With Ohtani’s potential departure and an unknown ownership group entering the picture, it’s possible that 2023 might have a “last hurrah” sort of feel to it, given the uncertainty beyond that.

Rendon was excellent for the Angels in the first year of his contract, which was the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. He hit .286/.418/.497 in 52 games that year for a wRC+ of 152 and 2.5 fWAR. Unfortunately, the past couple of seasons have been marred by injuries, with Rendon only getting into 58 games last year and only 45 so far here in 2022. He and the club will surely be hoping for better health next year and beyond, with his contract running through 2026.

As for Ford, he began his career with the Yankees and spent many years in their system before entering a journeyman phase over the past two years. Starting in June of 2021, he went from New York to Tampa, then Washington, Seattle, San Francisco, back to Seattle, Atlanta and then to Los Angeles to join the Angels. For four different teams this year, he’s hit .206/.302/.313 for a wRC+ of 80. Ford has a much better track record at Triple-A, hitting .257/.353/.476 in over 1300 plate appearances. He’s struggled to bring that up to the majors with him but might find another team willing to give him a shot. With the trade deadline long gone, the Angels will have no choice but to put Ford on waivers in the coming days.

Angels To Promote Logan O’Hoppe, Designate Magneuris Sierra

By Steve Adams | September 28, 2022 at 9:34am CDT

The Angels are selecting the contract of top catching prospect Logan O’Hoppe to the big leagues and designating outfielder Magneuris Sierra for assignment in a corresponding move, per MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger (Twitter link). O’Hoppe will start behind the plate for the Halos today in his MLB debut.

O’Hoppe, 22, was acquired in the swap that sent center fielder Brandon Marsh to the Phillies prior to the trade deadline. The former 23rd-round find immediately became the Angels’ top-ranked prospect, thanks to a meteoric rise through the minors in 2021-22. O’Hoppe opened the season with the Phillies’ Double-A affiliate and hit .275/.392/.496 with 15 homers through 316 plate appearances in that pitcher-friendly environment, but he’s been even better with the Halos’ Double-A club: .306/.473/.673 and 11 homers in 131 plate appearances. Currently, O’Hoppe is ranked as baseball’s No. 50 prospect at FanGraphs, No. 66 at MLB.com and No. 77 at Baseball America.

Strikeouts were an issue for O’Hoppe early in his minor league career, but he’s curbed those tendencies quite well, going from a 27.7% strikeout rate in 2019 to just a 16.6% clip in Double-A this season. That improved discipline is also made apparent by a huge 15.7% walk rate. He’s walked nearly as often this season (70 times) as he’s punched out (74). The improved approach has perhaps helped O’Hoppe tap into more power, as this year’s 26 long balls and .261 isolated power (slugging percentage minus batting average) are career-highs by a wide margin. In fact, this year’s 26 homers are more than O’Hoppe had tallied in his combined professional career heading into the season (24).

Defensively, the aforementioned scouting reports tout O’Hoppe’s receiving skills, ability to block pitches in the dirt, accurate arm and quick release, calling him a potential everyday option behind the plate. With just a week of games left, it’ll be a brief cup of coffee for O’Hoppe. But the Angels would’ve needed to add him to the 40-man roster over the winter in order to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft anyhow, so they’ll now take the final few games of the season to take a look at a promising prospect they hope can be a foundational piece in the coming years.

O’Hoppe’s acquisition and quick rise to the Majors comes just six months into a three-year, $17.5MM extension signed by Max Stassi. The extension looked sensible enough for both parties back in March, as Stassi had long been a top-tier defender who looked to have had a late-blooming breakout at the plate when he hit .250/.333/.452 with the Angels in 2020-21. The 2022 season has been a nightmare for Stassi, though, as he’s slumped to a .182/.268/.298 output in 365 trips to the plate and seen his typically sky-high defensive marks dip to about league average.

The Angels still have Stassi signed at $7MM in each of the next two seasons, and a $500K buyout on a 2025 club option brings the total commitment to him to $14.5MM beyond the current campaign. That’ll make him a pricey backup if O’Hoppe indeed emerges as the starter, though it’s important to note that O’Hoppe still has just six career games in Triple-A — all coming late last season. It’s possible O’Hoppe will begin next season in Triple-A Salt Lake, while the Angels subsequently hope for a Stassi rebound that would give them a pair of quality options. However, it’s just as feasible that O’Hoppe unseats Stassi as the starter, and the Angels eventually look to get out from underneath the remainder of Stassi’s contract.

As for the present-day corresponding move, Sierra’s DFA comes on the heels of a .165/.200/.242 showing in 96 trips to the plate. Once a prospect of note himself, Sierra is among the game’s fastest players but has never produced enough with the bat to capitalize on his prodigious wheels. In 636 career plate appearances between the Cardinals, Marlins and Angels, he’s a .228/.273/.272 hitter. He’ll be placed on outright waivers or release waivers within the next couple of days and can become a minor league free agent at season’s end either way.

Angels Designate Mike Mayers For Assignment

By Darragh McDonald | September 27, 2022 at 5:50pm CDT

The Angels announced that they have reinstated right-hander Archie Bradley from the 60-day injured list with fellow right-hander Mike Mayers being designated for assignment in a corresponding move.

Mayers, 30, was already designated for assignment by the Angels earlier this year, which resulted in him clearing waivers, accepting an outright assignment and later getting selected back onto the roster. In total, he’s thrown 50 2/3 innings in the majors but with a 5.68 ERA, 20.2% strikeout rate, 8.1% walk rate and 38% ground ball rate.

Those are disappointing results, especially considering how good he was in the previous two campaigns. Over 2020 and 2021, he logged 105 innings with a 3.34 ERA, 30.5% strikeout rate, 8% walk rate and 35.9% ground ball rate. But since he couldn’t carry that over into 2022, he’s now lost his roster spot for a second time. With the trade deadline long gone, the Angels will only have the choice of placing Mayers on outright waivers or release waivers. If he were to clear waivers, he would have the right to reject the assignment, both because of his previous outrights and having over three years of MLB service time. He did accept an assignment last time this happened, though the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees are the only Angels’ affiliate still playing and their season wraps up tomorrow.

As for Bradley, 30, he was a fairly effective reliever in the previous five seasons but had a frustrating campaign here in 2022. Signed to a one-year, $3.75MM deal in the offseason, he’s spent much of the year on the IL due to an abdominal strain and then an elbow fracture. In between those ailments, he was only able to throw 18 2/3 innings an put up a 4.82 ERA, his highest since he was a starter back in 2016. He was getting ground balls at a solid 57.1% rate but was subpar in the strikeout department, only whiffing 19.2% of batters faced. Now that he’s healthy again, he’ll look to get a few solid outings on the record before returning to the open market in a few weeks.

Prior to the official announcement, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register relayed that Mayers did not have a locker in the Angels’ clubhouse and that Bradley would be activated (Twitter links).

Kurt Suzuki To Retire After 2022 Season

By Anthony Franco | September 20, 2022 at 7:10pm CDT

Longtime big league catcher Kurt Suzuki will retire once the 2022 season concludes, he tells Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. That comes the day after the Hawaii native’s 39th birthday.

“I feel like it’s time,” Suzuki told Fletcher. “I’ve had a great run, won a World Series, All-Star Game. Played 16 seasons. I’ve accomplished a lot of things I never would have dreamed of. I felt like it’s time for the next chapter. My three kids, all they’ve known is baseball.”

Suzuki began his professional career in 2004. A second-round pick of the A’s out of Cal State Fullerton, he made it to Oakland three years later. Suzuki debuted in June 2007 and cemented himself as the A’s primary catcher from essentially that point forward. The right-handed hitter topped 130 games every year between 2008-11, generally hitting at a slightly below-average level overall but better than average for a catcher. Suzuki’s high-contact approach made him a solid offensive backstop for much of his time in Oakland, and the A’s dealt him to the Nationals in the summer of 2012.

After finishing out that season in Washington, Suzuki wound up back in Oakland via trade in August ’13. He qualified for free agency for the first time after that year, signing with the Twins. Suzuki bounced back from a couple down offensive years to hit .288/.345/.383 and earn an All-Star nod that year, and Minnesota signed him to a two-year extension that summer. His production dipped during his final two seasons in Minnesota, but he rebounded with one of the best years of his career after signing with Atlanta going into 2017. He popped a career-best 19 home runs and hit .283/.351/.536 through 81 games, earning a midseason extension for a second season with the Braves.

Suzuki didn’t quite replicate his 2017 production, but he posted another above-average offensive season to wrap up his time in Atlanta. After hitting .271/.322/.444 with 12 longballs, he landed another multiyear deal in free agency. Heading into the 2019 campaign, the Nationals inked Suzuki to a two-year, $10MM deal to pair with Yan Gomes behind the dish. That contract paid off in year one, as the veteran hit another 17 homers with a .264/.324/.486 line in 85 regular season games. Suzuki saw his most extensive playoff action during the Nats run a World Series title that year. That included a go-ahead homer off Justin Verlander in the seventh inning in Game 2 of the World Series, the biggest play in a win that gave Washington a 2-0 series lead.

After another solid showing with Washington during the shortened 2020 campaign, Suzuki has played the last two seasons on successive one-year pacts with the Angels. He’s had a couple down years to wrap up his career, working primarily as a backup in Orange County.

Suzuki’s career totals won’t be finalized until the season concludes, but he’s not likely to change his ledger all that much over the final two weeks. As he noted, Suzuki has played in 16 consecutive big league seasons and surpassed 1600 games. He owns a .255/.314/.388 line with 143 home runs, 729 runs batted in and 594 runs scored. Suzuki made an All-Star game and played a key role on a World Series team. Baseball Reference values his career around 20 wins above replacement. FanGraphs, which factors in Suzuki’s below-average pitch framing metrics, pegs him around nine wins.

Independent of that discrepancy in value, there’s little doubt about the impressiveness of a major league career that lasted more than a decade and a half. It’s possible he’ll continue his baseball career in some capacity, as Suzuki indicated he’d be happy to discuss the possibility of assuming a non-playing role with Halos general manager Perry Minasian (with whom he’s also familiar from their overlapping stints in Atlanta). MLBTR congratulates Suzuki on his lengthy career and wishes him all the best in his post-2022 endeavors.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Angels Select Livan Soto

By Darragh McDonald | September 17, 2022 at 3:15pm CDT

3:15PM: The Angels have officially announced Soto’s selection, Fletcher’s placement on the 10-day IL, and Velazquez’s move to the 60-day injured list.

11:45AM: The Angels are going to select the contract of infield prospect Livan Soto, reports Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extra Base. He will take the active roster spot of fellow infielder David Fletcher, who was already reported to be headed to the injured list. A corresponding move will be required to get Soto onto the 40-man roster, though it will likely be Andrew Velazquez getting transferred to the 60-day IL. Velazquez recently underwent knee surgery that is going to keep him out of action well beyond the end of the schedule.

Soto, 22, was originally signed as an amateur by Atlanta but was one of several prospects later released when an MLB investigation found that the club violated various international signing rules. Soto played for Atlanta’s rookie ball in 2017 team but signed on with the Angels prior to the 2018 season.

Soto was featured in Baseball America’s list of top 30 Angel farmhands in 2018 and has been there ever since, currently occupying the #19 slot. Their report on him notes that he is regarded as a strong defender who doesn’t provide much with the bat, though Soto seems to have taken a step forward in that department this season. In 119 Double-A games this year, he’s walked in 13.1% of his plate appearances while striking out in 18.8% of them. His batting line of .281/.379/.362 amounts to a wRC+ of 104, or 4% above league average. That’s not an eye-popping result, but getting above-average production from a glove-first prospect is an encouraging development. Soto’s also added value on the basepaths, swiping 18 bags on the season.

The Angels have used a motley crew of veteran role players up the middle this year, with the injury bug eating into that group recently by taking out both Fletcher and Velazquez. With the Halos well out of contention and just over two weeks remaining in the season, they can give a bit of playing time to Soto down the stretch and see how he fares. He’s mostly played shortstop this season in the minors, but with a bit of time at second base and third base mixed in. While Fletcher is out of action, Soto will join an infield mix that includes Luis Rengifo, Matt Duffy and Michael Stefanic.

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