4:05pm: The Angels have now made all of these moves official. Lopez and Kavadas have been selected, with Guillorme and Calhoun designated for assignment.
12:59pm: The Angels are calling up first baseman/designated hitter Niko Kavadas to make his major league debut, as first reported by Chuck Freeby. In order to make space for Kavadas on the roster, the Angels will designate infielder Luis Guillorme for assignment, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register adds. The Halos are also reportedly set to select the contract of infielder Jack Lopez and designate Willie Calhoun for assignment. All of those moves will be announced later today.
Kavadas, 25, was acquired from the Red Sox alongside three other minor leaguers in the trade sending reliever Luis Garcia to Boston prior to the deadline. He’s posted a combined .264/.400/.521 slash between the two organizations’ Triple-A affiliates this year, though it’s worth noting he’s struggled mightily with the Angels’ top affiliate in Salt Lake, batting just .159/.229/.341 in 48 plate appearances.
An 11th-round pick by the Red Sox in 2021, Kavadas has clear plus power. He hit 26 homers in 515 plate appearances across three levels in 2022, belted 22 homers in just 480 plate appearances last year, and already has 19 long balls in 383 plate appearances this season.
That big-time power comes with a familiar red flag, however, in the form of strikeouts. Fans have seen plenty of three-true-outcomes sluggers over the years, and Kavadas embodies that approach to its fullest extent. A whopping 57% of his professional plate appearances have ended in either a homer, walk or strikeout. This season, he’s punched out in 33.9% of his plate appearances — and that’s actually an improvement over last year’s 35.8% mark. He’s also drawn a walk in a gaudy 16.2% of his trips to the plate.
The 6’1″, 235-pound Kavadas is a well below-average runner, and scouting reports peg his glovework at first base to be below-average as well. His huge power is his carrying tool, and whether he’s able to make enough contact to get to that power with regularity will determine the type of future he has. Players who whiff this much in the upper minors don’t tend to make enough contact to succeed in the big leagues, although Baseball America wrote in 2023 that Kavadas is an “intelligent hitter” with at least a chance to close some of the holes in his swing as he gains more experience.
Nolan Schanuel, the Angels’ 2023 first-rounder, skyrocketed to the majors less than two months after being drafted and has settled in as the primary first baseman. The 22-year-old Schanuel is in many ways the opposite of Kavadas: a first-base prospect with elite bat-to-ball skills but more a more suspect power profile.
After a slow start to the season, Schanuel is hitting .269/.382/.409 with nearly as many walks (14.6%) as strikeouts (15.2%) through his past 250 trips to the plate. He’s slumped lately, but the Angels presumably want to keep getting him exposure to big league pitching. That the promotion of Kavadas coincides with the DFA of Calhoun — who’s seen 60 games at designated hitter this year — suggests that Kavadas and his simultaneously thunderous and porous left-handed bat could get the bulk of the Angels’ DH reps down the stretch.
As for the 29-year-old Guillorme, he’s split the season between the Braves and Angels, batting a combined .218/.285/.290 in 138 plate appearances. He’s never been a big threat at the plate, but the versatile Guillorme offers strong infield defense across second base, shortstop and third base. He’s a career .254/.336/.327 hitter in 961 plate appearances — the vast majority of which came with the Mets from 2018-23.
With the trade deadline behind us, Guillorme will be placed on outright waivers or released. He’s earning just a $1.1MM base salary this season and has about $266K of that yet to be paid out. He’s versatile, experienced and affordable enough that another club might consider placing a claim. Guillorme has more than five years of service, meaning he can reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency and retain his entire salary. As such, if he clears waivers he’ll surely become a free agent and look to latch on with a new club — likely on a minor league deal. The new team would only owe him the prorated minimum for any time spent on the MLB roster/injured list.
I saw him a couple times on the Cape for Harwich, he can hit the ball very far.
Noooo not Luis
Maybe he will go back to the Mets or braves
Good. Now I don’t have to hear my wife hiss at the screen every time Luis is up to bat. Dude wore number 15 which many fans, spearheaded by my wife, will tell you (with disdain for Arte) should have been retired for Tim Salmon.
Salmon never selected for All-Star game is shocking. He played for California, Anaheim, and LA Angels
If only Tim salmon played with Mike trout
Salmon unfortunately was such a notorious slow starter that he never quite had the numbers to generate an all star nod by mid season.
Arte’s stated reason for not retiring number 15 is that Salmon is not an MLB HOFer. That’s why none of the 2002 team has seen a retired number. “Mr. Angel” does not warrant that honor. Okay, got it. Thanks Arte.
Probably should have made it in ‘97, other than that he was pretty average
Then how is vlad Guerreros number not retired by that logic???
He wore #27 which is also worn by Trout. So that number will be 100% retired.
Luis never wants to see or hear from Ron Washington again. Say what you want about Wash, but this season really exposed him as an inept, selfish manager, and not the revered uniter/leader of men that people make him out to be.
What do you have against wash? The roster he inherited was doomed to begin with
@sad he’s probably talking about Washington throwing him under the buss for doing a failed bunt attempt when the reliever through 9 straight balls almost in the stands, and had no control.
Also from the Orange County Register, a bee attack kills two horses, and a Trader Joe’s opening grand opening in Ladera Ranch. Life in the OC
This move makes more sense, than the one yesterday
@angelsbroncos looks like they will do the same as last year someone might pick up guillorme or Calhoun for 200k.
Wow, so no Moore today. Im totally ok with this. Rushing minor league players hasn’t always panned out for the team.. even if its mostly pitchers that have struggled. Im not surprised Guillorme is one of the odd men out. So maybe the next odd man out will be Drury or Burke.
@kellin I believe guillorme and Calhoun is a attempt to save 450k. Drury and Matt moore might stick around because they won’t get claimed. I can see Strickland going next. I still think moore will get called up Sunday or monday.
I guess I can understand your point about cost cutting, but jeebus, its not like the team is over the CBT or anything.. is Arte really hurting that much that he needs to save $450k?
@kellin definitely not, but it’s looking like the same playbook as last year. I will freak out if they put pillar and Anderson on it without getting anything in return.
Also, on an unrelated note, I don’t believe Trout and his SIGNED card. It was a stunt entirely for his son. He claims he pulled it from a box of 2009 cards, but his rookie card is from 2011.
Schwarber is one of the few outliers who has succeeded as a 3 true outcomes hitter.
Similarly, Niko has always had a very high OBP (career .410 in MiLB) despite the K’s. Limiting exposure to LHP would help, too.
Maybe Wash can carve out a role for him. Can’t hurt to try.
Dude is hitting 159 with salt lake and he gets called up WTF?
Guillorme has a -.2 WAR and barely hitting 200, does it really matter?
HF
“Dude is hitting 159 with salt lake and he gets called up WTF?”
Tell me you don’t understand sample size without telling me
This sounds about right for the Angels. Moreno loves the home run ball regardless of the other stats that suck with an individual player.
Chicks love the long ball
As a sox fan im very interested to see how he does
He’ll get 30 AB tops. If he doesn’t perform- he’ll be dfa’d
It’s kinda sad for the rookies that arrive so soon and to all the fanfare and family celebrations, but they’re all one bad slump away from being demoted and the fans and front office moving onto the next new face and forgetting all about them. There really are no fan favorites. Everyone is expendable. Except Minasian’s latest pickup that they hype. How is Detmers doing these days?
Actually I stand corrected. Mike Moustakous and Pilar have probably been fan “favorites” over the last couple of yrs
The greatest technological innovation of the Angels front office over the last few years was adding pitchcom to a pitcher’s sleeve so he can call the game, which no other team has thought worthy of copying!
Sign Louie to Syracuse !
Kavadas can hit it a mile.
Ha ha!
Minasian should have kept Calhoun and Guillorme and instead Dfa’d Rendon and Drury. Those guys stink and have bad attitudes galore.