The Angels and outfielder Oscar Colas are in agreement on a minor league contract, as first reported by Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.com. He’s expected to head to the Halos’ Double-A affiliate once he passes his physical, per the report.
Colas is the latest in a line of former top prospects to try to rebuild their careers with the Halos. The Angels have regularly given looks to once-vaunted talents who didn’t reach their potential through several auditions with their original organizations. Recent examples include Carter Kieboom, Willie Calhoun, Keston Hiura, Miguel Sano and Carson Fulmer, just to name a few.
The 26-year-old Colas was a notable international pickup by the White Sox during the 2021-22 signing period. He’d posted intriguing power numbers both in the Cuban National Series and in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. Initial thought that he could be a two-way player based on some dabbling on the mound in Japan proved vastly overstated, but throughout Colas’ early run in the ChiSox organization, he was still lauded as a top-100 prospect in the sport.
During the 2022 season, his first after signing with the Sox, Colas ripped through minor league pitching, slashing .314/.371/.524 with 23 homers across three levels. Strong as those rate stats were, his production came with some red flags. Colas spent the bulk of the season playing against younger and less experienced competition, and he rarely walked. His strikeout rates also climbed rapidly as he moved from High-A to Double-A to Triple-A.
Colas made his big league debut the following year, in 2023, and looked overmatched against MLB opposition. He tallied 263 plate appearances over the life of 75 games and turned in an anemic .216/.257/.314 batting line with a hefty 27.6% strikeout rate against a tiny 4.6% walk rate. His overly aggressive approach was clearly exploited; Colas had the 13th-highest chase rate on pitches off the plate among the 328 batters who tallied at least 250 plate appearances in 2023. His contact rate ranked 289th among that same set of 328 hitters.
Colas still managed to hit Triple-A pitching well that season, but even his production in the upper minors dipped the following season. He .246/.332/.400 at the Triple-A level in 2024. Even as the White Sox fielded a historically bad team that season, he received only 38 major league plate appearances and hit just .273/.368/.273 in that time. He split 2025 between the White Sox’ Double-A and Triple-A squads, batting a combined .163/.245/.255 in 110 turns at the plate before being released.
At this point, Colas is a pure project, but there’s little harm for an Angels team with a paper-thin farm system speculating on a once-notable outfield prospect. Only two of the Angels’ top 20 prospects at MLB.com are outfielders. Nelson Rada is currently hitting well in Double-A but is only 19 years old. Matthew Lugo is on the big league roster but showing a similarly untenable approach to that of the recently optioned Kyren Paris — chasing pitches and striking out at alarming rates. Colas will have to hit his way into being an option whatsoever, but he’ll give them some depth at a thin position.
First Tim Anderson & Yoan Moncada, now Colas. As a Sox fan, I’m sorry to Angel’s fans who have to endure this suckage. Literally taking the leftovers of the worst team ever (until the Rockies shatter that record)
Just need Jose Abreu and you got most of the gang back together!
It’s worth a shot Colas might do better with Wash.
Except the dude will never reach Wash. He’ll never climb above AA
You missed Carson Fulmer too. Yikes, Anaheim, where White Sox rejects go to die.
Except Moncada is solid when finally healthy, he’s playing solid D and producing at the plate. Really wish the Sox had resigned him to ne an anchor on D for a young staff. But yeah, Oscar not so much.
Just too many injuries for Moncada, impossible to trust.
I don’t think he’s as lost a cause as some of the other projects they’ve picked up.
He wasn’t bad (also not amazing) in AAA last year but it was obvious the White Sox had soured on him to the point he was never factoring into their MLB plans again. He actually looked decent in his 2024 cup of coffee on the big club but they quickly sent him back down again despite being the worst team in baseball.
Let’s see if he can do anything with the change of scenery.
The White Sox org is the lost cause, not the players they ruin.
He is younger than most of the names on that list, so why not.
So he’ll be starting in about two weeks.
Batting 3rd in the lineup.
Finally he finds himself on a team with a good track record of developing prospects
Play him at 1B
Nice!
Oscar Colás showcased impressive power potential in his 2022 minor league season, posting a .314 batting average with an .895 OPS across High-A, Double-A, and Triple-A, including 23 home runs and 79 RBIs, highlighting his ability to drive the ball with authority
And then he didn’t. Try to keep up
@Dumpster Divin Theo
Great player. I can see him having a monster year in the Angels minor league system.
So many people being a grouch about Oscar. Just can it already. The guy isn’t trash.
Oh yay! You beat me to it, I’ve been running that out for Oscar Gonzalez!
his MLB stat line would say otherwise. 88 games, 5 Hr’s, .223 average, 16 BB, 81 k’s. Also keep in mind that many of his at bats were hand-picked for him to succeed against righties, still a major fail.
Thought it was such a great signing when the Sox got him and that he’d be a solid fixture in the lineup for years. The Sox Cuban pipeline sure didn’t materialize
Jose Abreu was the lone exception, he put up great numbers as a member of the White Sox. He cratered after that though with the Astros…
And what a tremendous run that was with Jose, team leader, carrying over a 3 decade run of elite production at 1b. And then boo boo Vaughn took over
High K rate and low walk rate, he’ll fit right in with the Angels.
Why try and develop your own drafted players when you can dumpster dive. The Angels AA team is hot garbage along with their AAA and low A. The quality of coaching staff throughout the organization is pathetic at best.
Lol. Out of curiosity, what is worse than “pathetic at best”?
Not much is worse honestly. Much more players regress then improve. Pitchers concentrate on velo and walk batters at alarming rates. Batters have incredibly high K and low BB rates and I’m not sure there’s another organization that has more errors than the Angels farm clubs. Developing bad habits is the only developing going on, but you get what you pay for.
SMH
FIRE PERRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
why do they sign guys that hit .212 and just strike out strike out and strike out
Analytics are ruining baseball
All players care about is exit velocity and launch angle
Will anyone ever bunt. Will anyone hit behind runners
The angels were good when they played small ball and took the extra base a.k.a. when they played for Mike Scioacia
Hey Timmy!
From one horrible organization to another but hey any thing is better than the south side atp. Never will forgive the Sox for ruining this kid he was special in Japan especially the numbers he was putting up at 19/20 years old as a part time two way player were crazy
How do you ruin someone? Not give the baby a booster chair? Gave him (checks notes) 200 + plate appearances, surrounded him with a still solid lineup, he showed some contact skills, but little of the advertised power. AAAA players not making it in the show happens regularly. Not sure what the upset tummy is all about
I didn’t know Carter Kieboom ended up with the Angels after the Nats finally gave up on him. Might as well try to replace one former Nat (Rendon) with another, I guess.
You can add Micky Moniak to the list.
Wish the Pirates would pick up Moniak. What a feeling that would be.
I count 8 former white sox on the MLb and AAA roster.
Angels are working on deals with Coca COLAS and Pepsi COLAS.