The Angels have signed Monte Harrison to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He had been released by the Marlins last month.
Harrison was a second round pick of the Brewers in 2014 and impressed prospect evaluators in his first few seasons in the minors. Baseball America ranked him the 75th best prospect in baseball in 2018, around the same time that Harrison was included in the blockbuster trade that sent Christian Yelich from the Marlins to the Brewers.
Unfortunately, Harrison struggled as he reached higher levels of competition. In 2019, he cracked Triple-A for the first time, putting up a respectable line of .274/.357/.451, though that came with a worrisome strikeout rate of 29.9%. In 2020, with the minor leagues cancelled, Harrison made it to the big leagues and got into 32 games in the shortened season. His line of .170/.235/.255 and 51% strikeout rate showed that he clearly needed some more seasoning, leading to another year primarily spent in the minors. In 2021, he played 74 Triple-A games and hit .242/.331/.446. Despite a wRC+ of 108, strikeouts were a problem again, as he was K’d in 39.3% of his plate appearances.
Having exhausted his option years, the Marlins finally gave up on Harrison and designated him for assignment last month, eventually releasing him. For the Angels, there’s no harm in taking a flier on Harrison to see if he can right the ship. He’s only 26 years old and at least offers speed, having stolen more than 20 bases in the minors in each of the past four seasons in which they were played. He’s also been praised for his elite center field defense, a rare skill that means he wouldn’t need to be an excellent hitter to be valuable. If he can cut down on the strikeouts and earn his way back onto the big league roster, he has less than a year of MLB service time, meaning the Angels would have to ability to keep him around for years to come.
The club is currently heading into the season with Mike Trout, Jo Adell and Brandon Marsh slated to be their regular outfielders, though all three of those come with question marks. Trout only played 36 games last year due to a calf injury, making his future uncertain. Even if he can have better health this year, the Angels will likely give him occasional breathers in order to not push him too hard. As for Marsh and Adell, they each have less than 80 games of big league experience and haven’t truly established themselves just yet. In the event of injuries or underperformance, Harrison could have a path back to the big leagues.
Playoffs bound!!!!!
Hey baseball dud
How did you know Are you a medium that looks into the future
Let me guess Miami marlins fan
Angels have a legitimate shot at reaching the playoffs. This is the most complete team the Angels have had in years. All 3 aspects, rotation, bullpen and lineup are solid. For far too long us Angel fan had to pen our hopes on a good lineup, bad rotation and bad bullpen. All this team needs is health as does any team looking to make the playoffs.
The rotation has 2 potential aces in Ohtani and Syndergaard. Not a lot of teams out there have a better 1-2 punch than that. Syndergaard has been pitching this spring like the Syndergaard of old for anyone paying attention. The Angels also have Sandoval, the best kept secret in baseball. Very few people outside the Angels or those that understand analytics know who he is. Who knows, this may be the year where a lot more people become familiar with the name Patrick Sandoval. Suarez is also a solid #4. Detmers has nice stuff, he had something like 97 strikeouts in 54 innings. He is still young, but I believe both he and Lorenzen can tread water this year.
The bullpen has seen remarkable gain this off season. Aaron Loup, Archie Bradley, Ryan Tepera, and Raisel Igleasias all signed with the Angels. Three of them, Loup, Iglesias, and Tepera all have a RE24 over 12. which means this bullpen has the makings of a good bullpen. Those three are signed for multiple years so there is some security there.
The Angels were middle of the pack when it comes run scored and that is with just Ohtani and Walsh. Add Trout and Rendon to the lineup, you have a lineup that will be toward the top this year. That 3 guys capable of a WRC+ of 150 and the 2 best players in baseball. No other team can make the same claim.
The Angels have 2 potential breakout stars. Both Sandoval and Adell have shown the ability to have a breakout season.
If the stars stay healthy, this team breaks the drought and returns to the payoffs. Perry has done a great job fielding a more rounded team while maintaining the same budget and not committing big, long term money to star FAs and instead focusing on smaller upgrades. There is flexibility to add if need be. The team used to go year to year with only 3 or 4 players under contract. A foundation has been laid to provide some stability in the future. He is succeeding is a lot of ways his predecessors failed.
Angel fan for 50 years. Always believe. However when it comes to pitching they will have to prove it to me. I think they are cursed
I understand skepticism. It looks good on paper and spring training, but they need to prove on the field during the regular season before the skepticism dies. The same thing happened last year with Ohtani. People were posting how bad Ohtani is and how is a mediocre pitcher and hitter. The ardent defenders of Ohtani among us had to tell them how wrong they were. A year and a MVP later, we don’t see such negative posts regarding Ohtani. I guess us ardent defenders were right after all.
@ Implant—Same here. First Angels game was at “Chavez Ravine”, since Autry wouldn’t call it “Dodger Stadium”.
We will see how things look in July, but for right now, the decreased workload from the 6-man rotation, the opportunity for Sandoval, Suarez and Detmers to take steps forward, and the front of the rotation with Ohtani and Syndergaard is the best the team has had since Weaver and Haren.
There is reason to be optimistic, even if you and I have 5 decades of accumulated flinch response.
Depth is never a bad thing.
The Angels have 8 utility infielders on the 40 man roster. Too much depth can be a bad thing.
Herrison is definitely worth a look. Top 100 prospect at one time. Obviously the talent is there. His SO% is horrible, but Adell had a similar one a few years ago and learned to shorten his swing. The game is still mostly mental. I agree with other posters in that playing in Salt Lake may do a lot to boost his ego.
Great signing. The Marlins don’t know what they’re doing.
i see why they gave up, but i agree that he has a better chance than most depth signings to turn his career around and become at least a fourth outfielder
maybe, but didn’t he get demoted last year after getting in a fight with Marte? following that demotion he was awful the rest of the year. change of scenery will help out
Harrison is fast, strong, chiseled. Looks like an NFL linebacker. Probably should have stuck with football. Terrible hit tool.
Ward
I’m a Mariner fan all the way, but here’s a toast to my Angel friends…your squad looks great, and may we have a positive, productive year for both teams.
Your username and this post do not compute. 🙂
I think there will be a battle with Seattle and the Angels for a playoff spot and I think it will turn on Detmers/Sandoval vs Gilbert/Brash. Adell and Marsh vs Rodriquez/Kelnic.
Lol at first I thought it said Monte Farris
Angels are clearly on the right track now. Thor is back to being an ace. Trout and Shohei are the two Beasts of Baseball. Watching the kids Adell and Marsh blossom with youthful exuberance, talent and chemistry will be fun. Rendon looks to be back with hitting and crisp 3B defense.
I see a solid team here great hitting, running the bases with speed again, shutdown bullpen, youth and defense. This Team should improve throughout the year as long as they stay healthy.
Thor is throwing 95, not 98. His wipe out slider has not come back.
Until they come back, if they come back, I’d be happy if he pitches like a middle of the rotation starter.
Syndergaard today is in the same spot Ohtani was a year ago: two years removed from TJ surgery and just a few innings under the belt from prior season.
As with Ohtani, the pitcher learns to open up more and trust the repaired arm with each start. I expect he will be pitching better in June than April, and better in September than in June. He’s going through a process right now.
I don’t know about Harrison but the Angels have had a great spring with everyone doing what they’re paid to do (except for Upton of course). If the key players stay healthy, they have the team to beat in the west I believe. That’s my bold prediction.
Upton was having a great spring. He had a 2HRs and a grand slam with 6 RBIs in one game. He was leading the team ini HRs and RBIs with a .333 BA. Obviously, the Angels didn’t DFA him because of his spring. They DFA’d him because of three past years of negative value.
Yes. I expect him to turn on the gas a little in a pre-free agent year. For us it’s a little to late with the young fellas we have.
Great seeing Bobby Valentine on the Angels Broadcast last night.
Enjoyed watching the Dodgers SP Prospect Bobby Miller throw 100 MPH Heat. Wow
LA Baseball is very interesting this Year.