The Angels announced Wednesday that infielder Andrew Velazquez has been diagnosed with a torn meniscus in his right knee and has been placed on the 10-day injured list. Infielder Michael Stefanic is up from Triple-A Salt Lake in his place, the team added. Velazquez exited yesterday’s game after four innings due to a knee injury sustained while making a play at shortstop.
Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register tweets that Velazquez is set to undergo surgery, which comes with a recovery period of six to eight weeks. That, obviously, brings the season to an end for Velazquez, who’ll likely be transferred to the 60-day IL the next time the Angels need a 40-man roster spot.
Claimed off waivers out of the Yankees organization last November, Velazquez received a career-high 349 plate appearances with the 2022 Angels — nearly double his career total of plate appearances in parts of four seasons prior to the current campaign. He posted a dismal .196/.236/.304 batting line in that time — roughly 51% worst than league average, by measure of wRC+.
As one would expect for a player who struggled so considerably at the plate, Velazquez’s glovework graded out quite well. He posted a whopping 13 Defensive Runs Saved at shortstop, and while Statcast wasn’t as bullish, he still notched positive marks in Outs Above Average (5) and Runs Above Average (3). Strong as the defense may be, however, the overreliance on Velazquez speaks to the general lack of depth in the Angels organization; he split time at the position with the since-traded Tyler Wade and fellow infielders David Fletcher and Luis Rengifo. Both Fletcher and Rengifo are best suited for other infield positions, and Fletcher missed substantial time on the injured list this season.
As for Velazquez’s future with the club, it’s possible that between this year’s struggles and this new injury, that he could be removed from the 40-man roster following the season. If he remains on the 40-man roster he’ll be right on the cusp of Super Two status this winter, finishing out the season at two years and 126 days (2.126) of service time. Over the past three years, the respective Super Two cutoffs have been 2.116, 2.125 and 2.115.
Whether Velazquez returns or not, addressing the organizational depth at shortstop figures to be on the offseason to-do list for the Angels. They’ll stand out as a feasible landing spot for an impactful option at the position, depending of course on a potential new owner’s willingness to spend, but even in the absence of a major acquisition, the Halos should be in the market for at least a modest short-term upgrade.
Good bunter
By all accounts, his teammates and fans loved him, he played hard, and was a really good defender. Early in the season when the team was winning and hitting, we could hide him down the lineup and live with the results. When the team stopped hitting, it magnified his issues at the plate.
I wish him luck, he’s fun to watch on defense (and a good bunter), but I don’t anticipate him on the team next year unless he’s a clear defensive replacement/pinch runner
This is a spot on comment-kudos
Solid take. The fact that the Angels had to rely on him so much this season is an indication of the entire organization. Top to bottom.
Valezquez isn’t good enough to be a starter. I wouldn’t classify him as a good bunter, 6 sacrifice hits isn’t exactly great. He constantly kills rallies. He swings for the fences rather than tries to make contact even though he has little power. He strikes out over a 3rd of the time. His defense is above average, but he is not Ozzie Smith.
showed significant improvement offensively in 2nd half
Indeed. In the last 30 days he had a better OPS than Lindor.
https://www.mlb.com/stats/?playerPool=ALL&position=SS&timeframe=-29
If he’s on the team next year at least we know not to believe
he actually has nice numbers as a sub.
Addition by subtraction?
It’s not that Velazquez shouldn’t be a major leaguer. It’s that he should be a role player. If he’s playing in 90% of your games, then your team has a problem.
Hope the surgery goes well and he finds a major league role that’s a better match for his skills.
The guy needs a solid year in the minors learning how to hit. Other than that he is a major leaguer.
Learning how to bunt in the minors
Sign Bogaerts and keep Velazquez as a solid defensive late game replacement
I just can’t see any self-respecting solid free agent wanting to sign with the Angels any time soon. Unless winning comes completely second to pay day.
If Arte sells ahead of free agency that would go a long way to help bring in players. As things stand right now the only way the Angels are getting big name free agents is if they are willing to massively over pay
Sucks to see this happen to him. Dude can flat out play defense. If he had a good hitting coach and could have decent offensive skills then he could help any team. Speed and defense is his tools and just needs to get his bat going. I’d like to see him come back as a utility player next year…
Hallelujah. That’s one way to get him out of the lineup. One of the worst hitters ever. He was batting in the .170s for most of the season and only just recently got it to .196. Plays solid D, but his atrocious bat outweighs any good defense, in my opinion. Happy to see Stefanic get called up.
Celebrating a knee injury is a little out of touch with humanity…. You probably didn’t mean it to come out that way.
Everyone knew he earned his keep with his gloves. He played alot more than anticipate because of injuries. With Rengifo possibly taking over next year at SS. And Rendon coming back at 3B . He could be what they acquired him for, a late inning replacement.
There’s a spot on any team for a strong glove first/bat second player, it’s just a more glaring need when 6 of the 9 regulars in the lineup don’t hit.
The Angels are in an interesting situation. They could bring Velazquez back to serve as a utility guy, if Rengifo has worked his way in to the plan at 2B next season then Fletcher either plays SS or is used as a utility. Nuclear option would be to shop Fletcher over the winter, signed for three more seasons to a very team friendly deal with two team friendly options could get the Angels a decent return
Yeah that’s what Angel fans were clamoring for last time. He didn’t do squat when he got called up.
Tough blow to their playoff hopes.
Great defender who can’t hit MLB pitching. That is the Angels typical player profile. If Velasquez can get his bat going like Rengifo has, we would have a great infield with depth.
He gave a switch hitting a week or so ago. He batted .245 batting righthanded this year and .238 for his career, so he could actually be useful as a glove-first super sub if simply gives up batting lefthanded.