The Angels placed Jorge Soler on the 10-day injured list yesterday with inflammation in his lower back. To take his place on the active roster, Gustavo Campero was recalled from Triple-A.
June has been a difficult month for Soler. Over 14 games, he has gone 5-for-42 with 17 strikeouts and a .315 OPS. He hasn’t had an extra-base hit since May 30. (He has been sitting on 199 career home runs for three weeks.) His offensive struggles likely have to do with the fact that he’s taken on a heavier workload despite a couple of injury issues. With Mike Trout limited to DH duty since he came off the IL at the end of May, Soler was forced to move into right field. On June 4, Soler was pulled from a game with groin tightness. Three days later, he was removed again for the same reason. He went for an MRI after that (per Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com), but evidently, it came back clean, as the 33-year-old continued to start in right field. This past Wednesday, however, manager Ron Washington told reporters (including Bollinger) that “back stiffness” would keep Soler out of the lineup. On Friday, that diagnosis was updated to low back inflammation as the team placed Soler on the IL, retroactive to June 18.
Even before he took over regular right field duties, Soler had not quite been himself in his first season with the Angels. He hit 57 home runs with an .817 OPS and a 122 wRC+ from 2023-24, but he had just seven home runs, a .674 OPS, and an 87 wRC+ through his first 50 games in 2025. Nevertheless, he was consistently batting in the middle of the Angels’ order, and they will look to have him back as soon as possible as they try to cling on in the AL Wild Card race (despite having the fourth-worst record in the AL, they’re currently only three games out of a playoff spot). Hopefully, some time off his feet will help him recover from his nagging injuries so he can supply the kind of power the Angels were looking for when they took on the two years and $32MM remaining on his contract over the offseason. It will also help if Trout can get back in the field, allowing Soler to return to the DH role he’s best suited for.
Campero, 27, returns for his third stint with the big league club. He made his MLB debut last September and re-joined the Angels this past April before an ankle injury landed him on the IL. Last night, he entered as a late-game defensive substitution and knocked a single off of Bryan Abreu in his lone at-bat. All told, he has gone 14-for-57 with a .628 OPS and a 78 wRC+ in 19 games for the Angels, splitting his time between right and left field. His ability to switch hit, steal bases, and catch in a pinch (he’s a former catcher) should make him a useful bench piece.
Soler has been a massive disappointment even by Angels acquisition standards.
Hopefully this heals him but his pitch recognition skills seem to be the culprit. When you watch balls down the center of the plate whiz by and swing at junk outside the zone, nothing good happens.
Halo – Why is Rengifo and his .552 OPS batting second? Makes zero sense.
There’s no way he should be batting second, but by default he’s the best guy for the infield right now.
Rengifo looks like Hank Aaron compared to Kevin Newman. Yoan Moncada is hurt, and Scott Kingery isn’t a great option, either.
Halo – Yeah I totally understand him being in the lineup, but the #2 spot is usually for a team’s best hitter …. not one of their worst.
Adell would have made a lot more sense in the 2-hole if they wanted to keep Trout-Ward-O’Hoppe in the same spots ….. but they pulled out the win anyway, what an incredible game.
Somebody listened to me …. Rengifo is batting 8th today. LOL
Soler comes up big during playoffs.
Angels should DFA him in late August.
We will never get a chance to see that.
Prov, you remember how you said the Angels will lose 100 games for the first time in history this year. I told you no chance.
I got another crazy prediction for you. The Angels will make the playoffs next year. Everyone says they have no chance. We will see.
GM – I do remember that prediction. I think that with as inconsistent as we are, beating teams like the Dodgers is an anomaly and we will nose dive after the ASB again. Our pitching staff, although throwing better at the moment, probably won’t sustain it. So I stick with my number of a 100 loss season for now. As always, I hope I’m wrong.
As for your prediction for next season, if Moreno finally spends some money on a pitching staff, I will agree with you. Pitching gets you to the post season.
@prov The Angels have only used 5 starting pitchers this year. The only team to do so. They haven’t always been great, but it is still a welcome change considering the amount the team has struggled with injuries over the years.
I don’t see Moreno spending much money on the starting. I see Detmers being stretched back out to being a starter to begin the season next year He has been unbelievable his past 18 or so games. He has always had great stuff and he finally has great confidence. I expect the Angels to take a starting pitcher with the 2nd overall pick, probably Jamie Arnold or Kade Anderson.
The bullpen still needs to be figured out. It will be hard to get some consistency if the back end is always hurt.
GoogleMe: Prov, you remember how you said the Angels will lose 100 games for the first time in history this year. I told you no chance.
1) Lots of people thought 100 losses were in reach for the Angels this season.
2) A lot has gone right for the Halos regarding starting pitching health, Trout being healthy for the most part, and a couple of youngster having either hot streaks or breakout years (time will tell) But the team is still under .500 and has the fourth worst run differential in the AL.
At the current pace, the Angels would “only” lose 83 games, so maybe they will do better than 100 losses. But that is a pretty low bar for a big market team. You might want to see how the rest of the season plays out before you get to heavy handed with the “I told you so’s.”
@SBC The Angels loss 99 games last year. Certainly, I can understand why people would believe they would lose 100 games.
Yes, the SP has been healthy and they have been fortunate since they are pretty thin. The plan Bs, Dana, Kessler, Aldigheri, Silseth hasn’t stepped forward.
You are wrong about Trout, he was out for a month. The thing is the team doesn’t depend on him as much as they have had to. They have plenty of talent that is 26yo and showing improvement, Neto, Schanuel, O;Hoppe, Soriano all are showing signs of improvement. Kochanowicz has been a let down. Moore was recently called up. He isn’t a positive contributor.yet, I have little doubt he will be a positive contributor by next year. He has hit wherever he has played.
The team is still sandbagged by the Rendon contract. Luckily, that is finally over at the end of next year Whatever stroke of luck they have had regarding SP has not translated over the RP side. The bullpen is still a mess.
If the Angel go from 99 loses to 85 losses, I would take that. We stand to lose, Rengifo, Kendrick, Anderson, and Jansen. I would only consider Jansen anything of significance. He is the one stabilizing presence in the otherwise erratic bullpen and will need to be replaced.
100 losses was a terrible prediction this season. That was rock bottom last year, and now the youngsters have more seasoning and growth.they might only get 90 losses pnly if the have a trade fire sale at the deadline.
GoogleMe: “You are wrong about Trout, he was out for a month.”
Yet, less than halfway through 2025, his numbers have already surpassed his numbers for all of 2024.
2024 (all season): 126 AB, 10 HR, 14 RBI, 16BB, 17 runs
2025 (after 78 games): 221 AB, 12 HR, 28 RBI, 29 BB, 25 runs.
I do consider him as being “healthy for the most part” so far in 2025 Even though he’s still banged up a bit, he is out there getting his AB’s, and producing.
You’ve always seemed to be a Angels PR dept shill to me. So, I’ll just consider the source when you start accusing me of being “wrong.”
@SBC Clearly you are clueless. Mike Trout missed a significant portion of time. He also doesn’t play outfield because he isn’t healthy. These are the facts.
You don’t need me to make you look stupid, you do that all by yourself.
Today, Mr. Trout got his 29th RBI , scored a run, and had couple of walks.. He had the third highest BA and second highest OPS in today’s lineup. He does pretty well for a guy that you don’t think is healthy enough to contribute.
Do they teach you to be so caustic in your Angels PR troll training sessions? Or did you develop your “style” all by yourself?
His back must hurt from swinging at air all year.
Would it be worse or better if it was the 60 day IL?
If Comparo can get to where he was at the end of last season, it may be for the better.
We know that Solar has proven to be clutch when it matters most. At least he wants to play and stay on the field, unlike our most expensive baseman ever.
A lot of players that hang on into their early 40’s have the same numbers – injuries.
Angels need to payoff that gigantic contract with Mike Trout and trade him while he still has any batting value left. Injuries have taken a huge toll on his body where he is only half the player he was 3 or 4 years ago. Maybe the Angels could hoodwink the pathetic Texas Rangers in acquiring his services.