The Angels are calling up second base prospect Christian Moore, as first reported by @kat_wrld and confirmed by multiple outlets. The Halos optioned rookie outfielder Matthew Lugo during today’s off day, according to the MLB.com transaction log. They will need to make a 40-man roster move tomorrow.
This kind of aggressive promotion for top prospects is par for the course for the Angels. They skew extremely towards the college side in the draft and push their most talented minor leaguers as quickly as any organization. Each of the Halos’ past three first-round picks (Zach Neto, Nolan Schanuel and Moore) were college hitters who were in the majors within the opening half of their first full professional season. Neto was drafted in 2022 and promoted the following April. Schanuel went from Florida Atlantic to the big leagues within two months during the ’23 season.
While Moore took the longest of the three, he’s now slated for his MLB debut around 11 months after being selected. A Tennessee product, he impressed amateur scouts by hitting .375 with 34 homers during his junior season with the Vols. Evaluators have had concerns about his defense, but he has a chance to provide rare power from an up-the-middle position.
The Halos almost immediately pushed Moore to Double-A, where he hit .322 with five homers in 23 games during his draft year. That established him as the top offensive player in a weak Halos farm system. He ranked among the sport’s top 100 talents over the winter at each of Baseball America, MLB Pipeline and ESPN.
Moore returned to Double-A to open this season. He got out to a rough start in a pitcher-friendly environment. The righty hitter only managed one homer while striking out at a 27.4% clip through 146 plate appearances. The Angels nevertheless moved him to Triple-A Salt Lake on May 13. Moore has thrived in the much more favorable Pacific Coast League, collecting four homers while hitting .350 in 20 games. He has posted consecutive multi-hit games with a home run in each of his two most recent outings.
It’s a tiny sample, but it was enough to convince the ever-aggressive Halos front office to bring him up. There’s a relatively low bar to clear to upgrade the second base position. Chris Taylor went on the injured list on Tuesday with a broken left hand. Luis Rengifo has mostly been filling in at third base for the injured Yoán Moncada. The Halos have given Scott Kingery three of the past four starts at second base. He has had a monster season in Salt Lake but has played seven MLB games since the start of the 2022 campaign.
The Angels have hung around .500 through the season’s first few months. They’ve been outscored by 50 runs, but they’re coming off a sweep of the A’s that pulled them back into second place in the AL West. They’ll hope for Moore to provide an offensive spark. He joins Jac Caglianone, Nick Kurtz and Cam Smith as members of last year’s first round to reach the big leagues. He’s the second member of the Halos’ 2024 class to get there. Second-rounder Ryan Johnson broke camp in the bullpen before being optioned to High-A last month.
Moore meets the eligibility for the Prospect Promotion Incentive. He’d earn a full year of service time if he manages a long shot top two finish in Rookie of the Year balloting. (The Angels would not receive a pick in that scenario.) Moore would otherwise remain under club control for at least a full six seasons after this one. That timeline could be delayed if he requires any more time in the minors after his first look at MLB pitching.
Image courtesy of Imagn Images.
He sucked in double A this year and was on fire in his 20 triple A games
I don’t think that’s enough to warrant a call up
Well good thing you aren’t the GM because Rengifo is awful and Moore will probably be at least better than him.
Rengifo is clearly still hurt, watch him run, hes being stubborn.
I just tore my hamstring this past weekend and can tell you it’s a horrible injury. Rengifo clearly is still having hamstring issues as they don’t go away easily. I’m not a Rengifo apologist and honestly have never really been a fan of his game, but I feel for the guy as he’s in his contract year.
Moore sucks. His stats are good because of the PCL. He struck out 30% of AA at bats last year
27% in AA and in the minors overall this season, but at least you were close. PCL average is about 24%.
That 122 wRC+ between AA and AAA certainly doesn’t suck. Neither does the 147 wRC+ in AAA.
Its always good when someone so thoroughly demonstrates their lack of knowledge of baseball like you did in that short comment.
It amazes me whenever someone who couldn’t even make a tee-ball team feels as though they are qualified to assess the talent of a a player who hit 34 homers in his last season of division 1 NCAA baseball and followed that up by being the number 8 pick of the MLB draft.
You sure know your baseball…….said no one ever.
JAD
feels as though they are qualified to assess the talent of a a player
=========================
Explain how this works. You’re at the pub with your crew, and someone starts discussing players on the local team, and your response is that they aren’t allowed to discuss players on the local team? Because they are not a pro player?
I assume no one in here is a GM, so what’s the point of you coming in to trade opinions?
Put it this way……..someone who couldn’t even hit a loud foul-tip off a professional pitcher is in no way qualified to say that a first round draft pick sucks…….simple.
Same way that someone who has been married and divorced 5 times has got no business giving marital advise,
When it comes to professional baseball I would suck……you would suck and batsbaseball would suck. Now, it’s one thing if we as amateurs are of the opinion that a player with less than 80 professional games under his belt would probably benefit by spending another year or two in the minors but truth is we don’t know that. Both Neto or Schanuel are bonafide MLB caliber players. School on Moore is out so it remains to be seen how moving him up to the big boy league plays out however saying that he sucks is an asinine comment.
he should’ve been called up last year
Oh the year where he struck out 30% of his at bats?
@bats. Why do keep posting wrong information. Your research sucks.
Rexhudler86: What research?
Rexhudler86
@bats. Why do keep posting wrong information. Your research sucks.
In AA, he struck out 32.2% of his ABs.
In AAA, he struck out 31.25% of his ABs.
While @bats understated it slightly, I presume it was a rounding mistake.
@joebrady. You might’ve done triple a and double a together. I got 27% in triple a. I guess double a is close. I was replying about his comment about why are you calling up moore because he sucks. If you see the production at 2nd base for the angels this year you find the answer to the question. Just figured he was a typical troll that says angels suck without knowing what their talking about. Either way all of this number crunching is probably a little more than half a season all together so let’s wait in see before we say he sucks or is a bust.
I was mostly busting chops. @bats made the reference to K/AB, and his numbers are correct. Many prefer K/PA, but in the minors, I also like K/AB.
That said, he is likely better than the current LA 2Bs, but they are making the same mistake they made with Paris. Guys need to learn how to hit. When you have trouble with your K-rate and your Ks overall, you need to learn the strike zone in the minors.
I’d love to discuss this in October. I’m not rooting against the guy, but this looks like a waste of development time.
@joebrady. Neto had terrible numbers when he was called up, and really never looked back. I know it’s definitely backwards but they dont have any coaches in the minors to help so it’s really the only choice to learn in the mlb. I rather have arte spend 20 million less and have good coaches in double-a.
johndietz, the Angels reportedly intended to call him up in September last year, but he got injured in late August.
107 wRC+ in AA doesn’t = sucked.
He had a 107 wRC+ in AA this season. That is above average.
@out. I found the fry ohtani.
The pitchers are better in Double A. It’s where young prospects are
Triple A has older guys who weren’t good enough for the majors
Moore had a 147 wRC+ in AAA after 107 wRC+ in AA. He was better in AAA than in AA when facing mostly older, former major league pitchers.
The Angels AAA team is at almost a mile high. It is not whether facing good prospects or former major leaguers. Even if one has great numbers at Salt Lake it is not an indication how good one can be in the bigs. He is a somewhat questionable fielder even at second and I dearly hope he hits great.
147 wRC+ is outstanding. Its adjusted to the league. The PCL has multiple teams at high altitudes including in descending order of altitude Albuquerque, Reno, Salt Lake, El Paso, and Las Vegas.
Thats my point.
This used to be true.
Have you even looked up the stats for our horrible 2nd basemen’s this year? Moore is the future and the future is now .Let him take some lumps like Ohoppe and Neto did.
I never put much stock into AAA performance. I’m not a scout by any means but seems like AA is where all the best prospects are and AAA is a combination of career minor leaguers, washed out vets, and a few prospects overperforming.
Already? Hope his AAA numbers are not just a mirage.
Well, he was drafted out of college, and did spend a couple hours in the minors. Seems to be the Angels MO.
Worked for Neto and Schanuel
Neto worked out, schanuel maybe
Schanuel is doing fine with a .284 avg .380 obp and a .768 ops. he’s not hitting a bunch of home runs but he never was a home run hitter in college either.
Maybe?
At the 23 he’s got an OPS of 118 with a strike out rate of 13% to go with his 12.6% walk rate
Leading the team in
Walks
OPB 380 (60 points above league average)
Doubles
2nd in Runs
Will he ever be a 30+ HR guy? Probably not. He’s likely to be a 40-50 doubles/18-25 HRs while scoring 80-110 runs in his prime
Hahahah 40-50 doubles!? He’s not good. He plays in the PCL. What is wrong with all these delusional people thinking he’s good. He struck out 30% on his at bats in AA last year
Schanuel played where last year? You might want to look at your stats again before acting like you’re an expert.
Can you blame him after losing their series to the Angels and now sitting behind us in the standings?
I like Neto, and the Angels should extend him. But his strikeout ratio is horrible. He might’ve needed more minor league training.
He’s talking about Schanuel if you actually read the whole comment in context and who they were replying to. Good grief.
There were two guys before me that mentioned Neto’s performance if you actually read all the comments.
How long should he stay down?
A year is couple hours. Yup
Angels call up their players so stinking fast!!! I wonder what the thought process is in the front office( if their is a thought process) it feels like they sometimes stunt players growth.
They have a very shotty minor league system. No organization spends less on development, so move the outliers up fast before you lose them. They’ve tried it with their pitchers as well, but this approach hasn’t worked out so well. Not sure if they even have a plan in place for their minor league teams. Doesn’t seem like it
The Angels and Nationals probably do the two worst jobs at developing prospects.
You’re half right. The Angels actually do a decent job with their position players.
Schanuel OPS+ 118
Neto OPS+ 127
Adell OPS+ 113
Ward 18 HR’s
O’Hoppe 14 HR’s
Some guy named Trout
All this hand wringing about pushing their prospects too quick? Pretty much everybody does it these days – Jac, Kurtz, Cam, Crews, Wyatt, Wilson, Dollander, Lowder.
So I’m not sure what the big deal is.
But I agree that when it comes to the Halos developing pitchers, it gets ugly.
Stop it with Adell. He’s has a good past month. He’s still really bad
Ok
Adell OPS+ 113
Ward 18 HR’s
O’Hoppe 14 HR’s
=========================
O’Hoppe is apparently having defensive issues, but they might have inherited that from Philly.
The issue with Adell and Ward is that they decided to develop these players in the pros, instead of the minors. Adell is finally getting the consistent ABs he needs, but has a negative career WAR, and only two years left.
It worked when they rushed O’Hoppe, Neto and Schanuel. Yet suddenly it’s going to stop working?
@ Braves88, It seems pretty rational to me. Perry inherits a bad farm system, bad major league pitchers and a few MLB players that can play. Simply put… guaranteed to lose. Not enough horses to pull the load and none in the stable to help. So, the pressure is on to turn things around and to compete. What that means is that you don’t draft with the mindset that you will have 2-3 years to develop one or two potential MLB players at a time, each year. He won’t be around long enough to see those results because he will be fired. Moreno has been trigger happy. So Minasian drafts what he can, and what he believes is the closest thing to being MLB ready. If you’re paying close attention you will notice that he and his staff have done really well. There are plenty of 1st rounders (most) that don’t stick or even make it. The other side of the coin is that HGH is no longer part of the game and may players, not all, are breaking down in their early 30s. So you kind of have to take as much advantage of youth as you can…
Minasian has had 4 1st round picks in his time as Angels GM, 2021 – Bachman, 2022 – Neto, 2023 – Schanuel, and 2024 – Moore.
That is a really good track record for 1st round picks.
All 3 of his 2nd round picks, 1 in 2021 and 2 in 2024, have been college pitchers.
Of 3rd round pitchers, none from 2022-2024 have had a better ERA or # of games played in than Joyce.
While Arte continues to hamstring Minasian when it comes to signing top FA starting pitching that could make the team a legitimate contender and continues to go cheap when it comes to player development in the minors, Minasian has done an exceptional job with the draft.
Exactly….Why keep playing veterans that suck, let the youth grow at the major league level. What does the Angels have lose in playing Moore if they know their ceiling is 4th in the AL West with its veterans? Maybe young players like Moore might overperform or maybe they underperform but ya know those veterans suck.
Angels are in 2nd place right now.
@Baseball Barely and that won’t stick
@gobraves88. The thought process is they dont have any coaches to develop them in the minor leagues, because everything is stripped down so they learn with the big league coaches in the mlb. Perry figured out the glitch, and its worked so far. The owner needs to wake up.
I don’t think that will happen before he sells or kicks the bucket. Minasian just has to make the best of a bad situation and so far he has.
That’s my 1st reaction also. Players need to step up to the big leagues, not jump up and over the stepping levels. IMHO.
It didn’t work for Schanuel’s His first two seasons he hit like a utility infielder.
This year he has an fWAR of 1.1.. which is a more than respectable 12th at first.
utility players usually dont have an OPS+ near let alone above 100, Schanuels been there or above since his 1st year (age 21 season). I’d say it worked fine & now he’s showing he can be an above average player.
Unacceptable for a firstbaseman.
The Angels were 16th in fWAR at first last year. They would have been better off keeping him in the minors. They lost a year of eligibility, had the worst record in Angel history, and he could have spent a year working on his swing change rather than try a new approach at the major league level.
What are you rambling about? Schanuel made adjustment or else he would have had an OPS+ like the utility player you seem to confuse him for. Also if you have power in other position where power not expected from you can have a 1st basemen who doesn’t have 30+ power
Seems you have an expectations problem without looking at the looking at the whole team or player.
For the overall #11? Kind of ‘meh’.
As a 21/22 year old with little professional experience? Not meh, more like holy cow, he did what!
Agreed. Fans are weirdly critical of the kid.
His OPS+ over the last month is 145.
People forget, Schanuel is STILL the youngest 1B in the big leagues (based on qualified AB’s), and this is his 3rd season.
About time
About time to be better than a .230 avg in AA?
It’s called sarcasm
🙄
He can not do any worse than Kingery or Newman.
Give him a shot and if it doesn’t work he can go back down and work to improve on what he saw.
You get better by playing against the best!
I hope he flourishes
Give him a shot and if it doesn’t work out, one of his 3 options will have been used and his clock towards becoming a FA will have been started.
Just like every other player that gets called up for the 1st time.
Your point? Getting optioned back to the minors happens with 80% of players being called up for the 1st time. Or 2B have had a .195 BA and .535 OPS this season. Anything above that is an improvement, makes a team that is playing nearly .500 ball against all odds better. He has a very low bar to clear to being better than what we have today. What does Minasian have to lose?
So, he’s a first round pick if ya going to give opportunities it’s with your first round picks. Ya guys acting as if the organization is actually any good still, it isn’t. Moore played 3 years of SEC ball, he doesn’t need the same seasoning as an 18 year old prospect out of high school. The FO is staying college heavy for the express purpose of moving good kids fast through the system.
Newman could swing a pool noodle instead of a bat and it wouldn’t matter.
He could swing an oar and it wouldn’t matter. The Angels production at the plate from 2B this season has resulted in a .535 OPS. Only the Rockies have been worse.
Whose fault is that? Many people were calling for Rengifo to be traded last 2 offseasons but your dear clubhouse attendant kept him and he is valueless now.
If only Anthony Rendon was doing the “chuckles I’m In danger meme to this one”
He’s smiling instead and planning his next long term injury with marshawn lynch and a golf cart on speed dial.
Desperation runs high when this guy is hitting 230 in AA. Perry will lose his job soon.
How do you come to that conclusion?
Team is currently over performing most “expert” opinion.
Starting staff is Top 10 in MLB in QS & the younger offensive core guys (Adell, Neto, Schanuel & Ohoppe) are league average or better and have shown improvement from last season.
Angels are 33-34 after being predicted to win just 71.5 games this season. I would say his job is safer than most GMs in baseball.
Funny how no mention of their last two pitching first round picks (Detmers and Bachman)…
Bachman is being recalled tomorrow and Detmers has been nails in late innings in the bullpen. He’ll become a starter again.
Only Bachman was Minasian. Bachman has a 0.68 ERA in the minors this season.
Since they’re such a well run franchise with a long history of strong prospect development and a rich farm system then we must give them the benefit of the doubt on this move.
@jimmy dugans. You are talking about previous gm’s. Go bang some wood somewhere else
Good one…
Minasian has had 4 1st round picks in his time as Angels GM, 2021 – Bachman, 2022 – Neto, 2023 – Schanuel, and 2024 – Moore.
That is a really good track record for 1st round picks.
Solid BB% of 13% helps despite a slightly high K% of 27.3%.
Of concern is a .462 BABIP and 23.5% HR/FB rate in AAA. Those numbers aren’t sustainable.
But they don’t have to be!
When your other second basemen are hitting .195/.263/.271, pretty much Bad Christian Moore will be a drastic improvement!
Note: last year I dreamnt that a rookie hit two, two run homers in one game. Maybe that will be Christian Moore.. regardless of whom, it is code for 2024 dream, remember the titans. Which all means , angel 2025 ring. Chemistry, along with talent can go along way. If, if, if if Joyce was there all year, they would be ahead of Houston.
I’m 50/50 on whether this will work out in the short term. 80/20 long term.
In the short, he couldn’t hit a breaking ball to save his life in AA. Once he got promoted to AAA, he was destroying them, and everything else for that matter. So either a. The ball doesn’t break in the high altitude PCL and he’ll struggle at sea level in the big leagues, or b. He figured it out and can track quality breaking pitches now.
Long term, I’m 80% positive he’ll be good. Probably 25 HR and .800 OPS with solid defense at 2B. Short term, 50/50 on him hitting right away.
losing Taylor is a bad break, Taylor was a good veteran in the lineup, and was playing well.
Minasian promotes prospects like every year is his last. Which is probably true at this point.
The Angels remind me of how the Germans fought WWII. Young kids without the necessary training and old veterans well past their prime.
Just what the Angels need. Another swing and miss bat with terrible defense. At least he gets to debut against the lowly O’s that failed their rebuild.
I’m stunned they waited until he was drafted before calling him up.
Here is to hoping that he is better than the .195 w/sub .600 OPS we have gotten from our 2B so far this season.
Saw the kid at spring training and he looks like a left fielder. I don’t recall a second baseman with that frame.
He couldn’t hit breaking balls at sea level, mashed the ball at altitude, and is returning to sea level. That scares me.
6′, 210 lbs. Pretty typical 2B today, Not like he is 6’3″ and 225.
Top three 2B in MLB right now
fangraphs.com/players/ketel-marte/13613/stats?posi…
fangraphs.com/players/brendan-donovan/24679/stats?…
fangraphs.com/players/nico-hoerner/21479/stats?pos…
Not much difference for Moore in that group.
Our 2B have a .535 OPS so far this year. Why would Moore scare you? Having those guys continue to play 2B should scare you far more.
I’m scared for Moore’s development or lack therof. No moves should be made with an eye on 2025.
2027 is the earliest this team has a prayer.
Angels are in 2nd place, 2.5 GB in WC race, and within a stones throw of a playoff spot in a weak West. Why shouldn’t they make moves with an eye to 2025? Aren’t you an Angels fan?
How does Moore qualify for the PPI? I didn’t realize that you could still qualify for the PPI in June…Skenes was called up last year on May 11 & still didn’t qualify for the PPI! Make it make sense? Because I am confused by this, unless there was a mistake in the article.
CMoore time
Seymour butts
Too early imo. It’ll be fun to discuss in October.
Angels overrate their players. Drafting players above their rankings. Neto has worked out. Schanuel hasn’t yet – a third of a season is not proof. And if a 1b has no power and is slow, better at least hit for a high average. Scraping it to get in the .280’s ain’t it. Moore was drafted way up from ratings and is still rated low by MLB overall. Hope they both workout but … really hope we don’t waste a number two draft spot on someone ranked 14th or something like that.
@angel 4ever. Schanuel is still learning on the job, and was definitely the first called up in his draft class, and probably one of a handful now, and is still in bigs. I wouldn’t count him out. You act like players can’t get better, and he has shown he can hit in bigs. Some guys can’t get out of the minors.
I can hardly wait until Arte sells the team and a new owner guts this organization.
@Halo You’ve been throwing that same ” wait until Arte sells” comment for a while. He does not have the team up for sale, give it a rest.
My amateur, research-free comment. I just saw him in his last two games before being called up (vs. the Las Vegas Aviators). In both games, he had a long home run in his first at bat. Both of them were way over the wall and would have been homers in any park in any league. Other than that, he made solid contact with good exit velocity almost every time up. He didn’t do anything special in the field, but he didn’t have to. In the next game, when he was on his way up to Anaheim, the new second baseman, David Mershon, was Holy Crap bad in the field. He botched perfect double play grounders in two consecutive innings, and then danced all around an easy pop fly, perhaps out of excitement for the chance to see it fall to the ground untouched.
Off topic: Apple TV irks me. I wish it didn’t exist.
The sniping by commenters with rudeness and name calling keeps me from checking out the comments section. Opinions vary and different opinions should be a cause for ugly behavior.