The Angels announced Friday evening that infielder Andrew Velazquez and outfielders Jo Adell and Mickey Moniak have been optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake. None of that trio will be on the major league team out of camp.
Velazquez was the Halos’ primary shortstop last year, picking up 100 starts at the position after being claimed off waivers from the Yankees over the 2021-22 offseason. A glove-first infielder, he rated highly over his 906 shortstop innings but provided almost nothing at the plate. The switch-hitter posted a .196/.236/.304 line while striking out in 34.1% of his 349 plate appearances. Los Angeles brought in Brandon Drury via free agency and Gio Urshela in a trade with Minnesota to upgrade the infield.
While neither Drury nor Urshela will necessarily see much action at shortstop, they provide general infield depth that could push David Fletcher or Luis Rengifo to shortstop more frequently. That relegated Velazquez back to Triple-A for now.
Adell and Moniak are each one-time top prospects who have struggled in multiple big league looks. The former played in a career-high 88 MLB games last season but only managed a .224/.264/.373 line with a massive 37.5% strikeout rate. He also struck out at a concerning 31.1% clip over 40 Triple-A contests but paired that with a strong 11.1% walk rate and 13 home runs in 180 trips to the plate.
Moniak came over from the Phillies in a deadline trade that sent Noah Syndergaard to Philadelphia. The former first overall pick managed only a .200/.226/.417 line over his first 60 plate appearances with the Halos. He’s a career .157/.218/.268 hitter over parts of three MLB seasons.
Both Adell and Moniak have one minor league option year remaining. If they spend 20+ days in the minors this season, they’ll exhaust that final year and be out of options next spring. That puts pressure on both players to take a significant step forward in 2023 if they’re to carve out long-term roles in Anaheim.
Zoinks!
Ruh Roh…..
Adel and Moniak.
One will replace Renfroe and one will be a 4th outfielder.
Is that the best case scenario?
At this point Adell’a a change of scenery trade candidate later this year for pennies on the dollar.
Safe to call Adell a bust yet?
He needs to be given more of a chance in CF and should be.
His defense is horrible in left I could only imagine playing center. But I agree definitely needs more playing time with another team perhaps. Needs to work on his strikeouts.
His defense has improved. He has worked on it this off season and has played well this spring.
He has yet to improve his bat to ball skills. He has all the ability in the world. You;re not going to find anyone with more raw power or speed than Adell, but a lot will be forgotten if he doesn’t improve his bat to ball skills.
Moniak finally showed something this spring against quality pitching. He was definitely better than Adell or Phillips, but is better served getting regular at bats and he won’t get those at bats on the Angels.
underscore – We have a CF named Mike Trout. Adell can’t play defense at the corners. Why do you think he will be good in center? And playing CF won’t improve his bat.
No, more like “we have an extremely fragile DH (who can’t be trusted) named Mike Trout”.
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Adell is still younger than Joyner and Salmon when they became regulars. He’s a lot younger than Ward.
No. Not even all that close to calling Adell a bust. He’s still a year younger than Moniak.
he needs a good coaching, though.
What he needs is to pitch awareness. it may never come. All the talent is there. He led the Angels in Spring HRs. But he just doesn’t seem to know which pitches to attack and which pitches to let go.
There was a great fangraphs article on him a couple three weeks ago.
He’s been having good coaching. He went to driveline this past off season.
Adell is still younger than Joyner and Salmon
============================
The difference is that those two could always play. It wasn’t like they struggled to break through.
Absolutely safe to call Adell a bust. Those who continue to hold out hope for him are the same ones who believe the Halos just need ‘another couple of arms’
I remember a couple of years ago when clowns called Ohtani a bust. It was laughable to real all the negative Ohtani comments.
And if you think the Angels biggest issue is arm, unless they are bullpen arms, then you are a joke who just like trolling.
There’s a difference between calling Jo Adell a bust and Ohtani a bust. Adell has 557 plate appearnces and has an OPS below .650 and has struck out in over a third of his plate appearances. Even though Ohtani had to undergo TJ surgery, he was still a .286/.351/532 hitter through his first two big league seasons. I don’t think Adell is a bust just yet, but I totally understand why people think he is at this juncture. He’s entering his age-24 season and as yet to overcome his strikeout issues.
???? Nobody called Ohtani a bust. Ohtani had a arm injury his first season.
I think Adell will be a another Profar in late bloomer with limited ceiling
Sure there is a difference, but reactionary fans still called Ohtani a bust.
It’s a little too soon to call someone a bust who has not yet turned 24.
All the talent is there. There needs to be a switch that he turns on. That switch my never get turned on.
The good news, he turned himself into an adequate fielder after being a horrific fielder. He’s capable of growing. Now he just has to walk up to the plate with an idea. Right now, he looks lost.
My crystal ball says Moniak will develop at AAA this season with a call up when someone get injured. He will perform and win the everyday CF job in 2024 and Trout moves to LF. Adell will never cut down on his strikeouts, but will continue to improve defensively and develop some superior power at the plate. He will be the 4th outfielder in 2024 and will start in LF every 3rd game when Trout DHs as Ohtani has moved to another team.
@Halos11Fan Exactly. The same people that were writing that Shohei has to choose between hitting or pitching because no way he can do both are the same ones saying their team should trade half the farm to get Ohtani as a 2 way player.
Red stitch you were going great, an out to hit thumbs up, but you lost me at Ohtani going to another team, I hope. The Angels brass will have cake on their face if they allow Ohtani to walk. Everyone including myself were begging for the Angels to trade Ohtani when they had 1.5 years left in June 2022. The Angels would have gotten a tremendous haul, they they knew they were not in contention at the time.
That is 2 shots at a World Series for any receiving team with a man built for the playoffs. If they trade him at this dead line they will get half the haul if that. So I can only believe that the Angels are gonna keep him. Orange County has a top 10 largest Japanese population so he still adds much more than stats to the Angels bottom dollar.
He can’t walk on at the end of the year for round 2 pick.
Honestly, why would he choose to stay with a perennial “almost there” team when teams who are currently serious WS contenders offer him a much better chance at playing on the biggest stage? The Dodgers, Padres and Giants have as large an Asian population, so that’s no reason. And before you knock the Padres and Giants, when was the last time the Angels even made the playoffs? I know you’re a fan and you want him to stay, but if he wants a World Series, why would he?.
There was no DH in the NL when he came over. It was far easier for him to be able to hit and pitch in the AL.
Under the current rules, I doubt he ever becomes an Angel.
I don’t think it is up to management of Ohtani walks. I hope he decides to stay. But there are better run organizations coming after him that likely will motivate him to leave.
That egg in the face hopefully hits Artie hard.
One would hope but Arte’s latest press conference shows he’s still not in touch with reality.
He still thinks he’s spending the right way and bad luck is why we can’t win.
He thinks it’s a vocal minority who wants him gone.
The only statement that made me hopeful is that Arte wanted to go all in on Trea Turner but listened when Perry told him we needed a lot of pieces not just one.
All the teams that he has been linked to are “almost there” there teams. The Giants have had success, but they are currently not just an Ohtani away. The Dodgers won a Covid championship, but that is all since 1988. If he cares about is winning, he should just join the Astros, but he hasn’t really been linked to them.
Comparing Adell to Ohtani makes a joke out of YOU.
Anyone who watches the sport knows that the Halos will have a firm grasp on last place in the AL West starting on Thursday.
Calling Anaheim an “almost there” team is extremely generous. They aren’t even close to almost there and Ohtani is definitely, 100% leaving after this season. It was already 99%, but now it’s 100% because of the resentment Trout will now have of Ohtani for the way he directly challenged him with multiple fastballs right down the middle that Trout had *no chance* against. Brutal.
Trade em now for juiced baseballs. About the value left for them all. Loved how Adell was “untouchable” when he has NEVER proven to be worthy of it.
Moniak absolutely raked this spring – .409/.435/.750 — he reworked the swing and the change seems real.
Meanwhile, Brett Phillips .154/.233/.333
Moniak did the same last spring, until he got injured. Once he came back in actual big league games, he continued to look overmatched. Rooting for the guy, but have just never seen it when it counts.
Moniak also raked last spring, and may have made the Phillies opening day roster if he hadn’t broken his wrist in his final ST at bat.
Thank you @bart for the reminder. Moniak will never live up to 1/1, but I shall die on the hill that says he can be a 4th OF on a 1st division club.
ADELL, just frankly sick of hearing about him. He has been way over hyped since Day 1..Time for him pack up bat bag and head East..Pirates Orioles? Angels just need to dump and run!
A change of teams would do Adell well. Let him try to find it in another situation.
What do Jo Adell and I have in common?
Big BUSTS!
The careers of both Adell and Moniak have been disappointing so far, but at least they provide some nice depth in their triple A team to tap into this season in case of injuries.
Hey curious what your avatar name means, thanx
Adell’s failure thus far is the Angels’ fault. They rushed him up way before he was ready and he humiliated himself on offense had defense. He has yet to spend a whole season at any level of the minors to learn how to play baseball. As Halo points out, he’s still young, but he’s not that young. He can’t hit AAA pitching let alone MLB pitching. He’s made strides on defense but he’s not at MLB level.. I’ve said it before that he needs a whole season in AAA before he’s considered for a call up again. I see this as his last year to figure things out in the Angels’ organization.
Only the angels could have trout/ohtani and still somehow be the worst run org in the game
Do you write for SNL. That is comedy gold.
*Yawn*
I fail to see how Utshela isn’t the starting everyday shortstop.
Sorry. You fail.
Angels will be rotating middle infielders this year unless someone has an All-Star season. Gio will be playing some 3B, 1B, SS, and possibly LF as well.
Throw out the depth chart. Nevin will be speeding out the playing time with the 13 position players on the roster.
The fact that Velazquez won’t be on the major league roster is major progress. Moniak deserved to make the team—they never should have signed Brett Phillips.
Orange- agree
Signing Phillips is fine. Moniak and Adell should get everyday ABs. It looks like Walsh will play some outfield when someone needs a break.
I doubt Phillips will play much
We’ll see how the Angels play it.
Velazquez is a sensational ML SS.
SS is a defensive position.
Ohtani wanted him playing when he was pitching.
What does this mean for Ben Joyce?
Wow, I had figured Moniak was out of options.
Moniak greatly outplayed Phillips. Hopefully he’s up soon.
The fact last year’s opening day left fielder and shortstop are in AAA now shows Perry is building out depth. And how bad lady yea’s team was.
If Moniak is to have a future, he needs everyday ABs.
As far a Spring. Last year’s numbers
Rojas 444
Duffy 389
Wade 387
Stefanic 385
They don’t really have a lot of predictive value.
ST means nothing. Players are working on things and preparing for the season.
Furthermore, teams make transactions 3-5 times a week on their ML roster. Who makes the team out of ST is pretty much irrelevant to 21st century MLB. A MLB teams AAA (and sometimes AA) roster is a virtual roster.
This kills me. Brett Phillips struck out 15/26 AB’s. Moniak can’t be a 4th outfielder?
I never understood the Brett Phillips signing. Not when they already have two outfielders (Moniak and Adell) who would have been perfectly fine as 4th OF.
Maybe we will finally see a
Jo Adell trade to finally stop the 1,000’s of questions in the chats! And it will be a waiver claim. Then the other team will offer the Angels a top prospect to take Adell BACK!
Giants and Angels should swap prospects busts: Ramos for Adell. Maybe the change of scenery would help both
Glad to see Minasian finally got my message about Adell.. When they promoted him in 2020, he was probably the worst player in AAA (0-0 HRs, 43/10 K/W, and a poor fielder in 2019) . It was almost impossible for him to succeed at that point.
I could see Moniak providing some value to the Angels this year, but Adell should spend all of 2023 in AAA. But my prediction is that he will hit 8 HRs in a month, but with a 20/2 K/W, and Minasian will promote him again.
I don’t see Moniak or Adell getting called up after a month unless there is an injury. The Angels are not in need of an OF on day one as they have been over the past few years. They have 3 legitimate OF, which wasn’t the case when Adell was called up. He is no longer a top prospect and no longer has the expectations. The important thing is that he and Marsh are not wasting ABs for the Angels starting out the season as they were last year.
Not can’t miss Moniak!
Just another in the long line of can’t miss Phillies genius front office picks.
The Angels should have traded Adell after the 2019 season. At that point, his prospect status was high and he had accumulated 1000+ PAs and 200+ games in three minor league seasons. The Angels knew, or should have known, Adell was a phenomenal athlete with few baseball skills and fewer baseball instincts – poor baserunner, poor defender, poor strike zone control and poor bat to ball skills. Rather than attempt to sign Gerritt Cole to a $300M contract, the Angels should have attempted a Jazz Chisholm for Zac Gallen type trade.
In 2019, most of us had only read about Adell, heard about him or seen the occasional highlight, so we didn’t know his limitations. But the Angels had coached him up and watched him play for three years at that point and should have seen that his incredible athleticism was not translating to baseball.
The Angels have had a lot of holes over year. In 2019, they needed pitching, but they also needed OFs moving forward. It would be great if you can turn Adell into a quality starter, but no exactly a sure thing. The pitcher I remember being linked to was Adell was Mike Clevinger. That may not of turned out to be great even if they were able to unload Adell at that time.
Pressure on both to “ carve out long term roles in Anaheim” …… or anywhere else, I might add.
Man, letting Marsh go and keeping your young talent with golden potential Mr. Adell was a smart move.
Arte needs to go! I grew up an Angel fan, my first game Reggie Jackson was playing. After the World Series win and he really took the helm forward, what a mess! He’s had the best two players on the planet and hasn’t done crap!
He’s had a decent pitching staff, out of the box manager, but still nothing. He’s a joke!
Adell is a decent player that needs development, obviously. I saw a Profar comparison comment earlier and I would agreee with that. Maybe the ole’ change of scenery might help!
And yea, Ohtani is already gone! I’m putting Seattle as the “sleeper” contender.
Terrible take SDSuper, they didn’t let Marsh go, they traded him for O’Hoppe, which most believe that could be a great trade.
Oh! and the Ohtani to Seattle take. That’s a bad pick to, there’s go to be at least a half dozen of teams I’d pick before Seattle. Thanks for stopping by.
I wonder who gets back to the Angels sooner; Michael Stefanic or Velazquez?
I expect the Angels to have a minimum of 86 victories this season.
Any season is a success, however, when the Yankees don’t win the world series. I’d root for North Korea over the Yankees. And my brother hates them more than I do.
I hope Ohtani doesn’t go to the Yankees. I don’t want to see him become a villain.