The Angels announced that they have selected the contracts of infielder Scott Kingery and left-hander Mitch Farris with rosters expanding from 26 to 28 today. Additionally, infielder/outfielder Chris Taylor has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list and infielder Christian Moore has been optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake. To open 40-man spots for Kingery and Farris, outfielder Gustavo Campero and right-hander Carson Fulmer have been transferred to the 60-day IL.
Kingery, 31, has bounced on and off the roster this year. That seems to be by design. He agreed to a $770K salary to avoid arbitration. His service time count is between three and five years, meaning he can reject outright assignments but has to forfeit his remaining salary commitments in order to exercise that right. That’s effectively given the Angels an extra infielder, as Kingery has twice been outrighted to Triple-A, then has been selected back to the roster whenever they need a fresh body.
Around the transactions, he has stepped to the plate 27 times at the big league level but with a .160/.222/.200 line. His Triple-A work has been better but still subpar. His .229/.288/.400 line down there translates to a wRC+ of 62. While he may not provide much with the bat, he does give the Angels defensive versatility, as he has experience at every position except catcher and first base.
Farris, 24, gets to the big leagues for the first time. A 14th-round pick of Atlanta in 2023, he was flipped to the Angels in December for Davis Daniel. He has spent this year in the Double-A rotation, having thrown 116 innings with a 4.27 earned run average, 28% strikeout rate, 10.8% walk rate and 44.5% ground ball rate.
The Angels recently optioned Jack Kochanowicz and then lost Tyler Anderson to the injured list due to an oblique strain. That has dropped their rotation to Yusei Kikuchi, José Soriano and Kyle Hendricks. They don’t have starters listed for Tuesday or Wednesday. It’s possible that Farris could soak up some innings, alongside someone like José Ureña, who was signed yesterday.
Moore was just drafted last year. The Angels, as is their wont, aggressively promoted him to the majors. He was up in the show in June of 2025, less than a year after being drafted. However, his first taste of the major leagues hasn’t gone as hoped. He has slashed .195/.287/.336 in his first 130 plate appearances while striking out at a 31.5% clip.
It’s not uncommon for a prospect to struggle when first called up, especially in an extreme situation such as this. Moore could still be a very important part of the club’s future but he’ll try to get back on track in the minors for now.
Campero was carted off the field with an obvious injury a couple of weeks ago and was later diagnosed with a high ankle sprain. Today’s transfer indicates the Halos don’t expect him back this season. Fulmer landed on the 15-day IL a week ago due to inflammation in his throwing elbow. His exact status isn’t clear but he’s also done for the year, based on this move.
Photo courtesy of David Richard, Imagn Images
moore is only a few days away from exceeding rookie status
protecting service time is the right move
Now they option Moore instead of giving hem everyday ABs at AAA to develop? He should have never been brought up.
Dumbest organization in baseball.. Please sell the team and fire Minasian.
Correct.
Make a choice – “try” to win with Moncada and Rengifo (who is hitting well after his early season slump).
OR
Just let kids play come hell or high water.
But this play one day, sit two days inconsistency cannot be helping Moore.
@johnnyangel Exactly. It makes zero sense. The Angels are trying to win as many games as possible. I guess they want to give Rengifo or Chris Taylor a better free agent audition.
The team would have been much better off trading off expiring contracts at the trade deadline and letting Moore play everyday. Arte just wants to squeeze every dime out of the team rather than try to improve.
I never understood this strategy. He couldn’t hit in AAA, so you promote him? He had a 25/10 K/W in 80 ABs in the PCL. He got some pop, but the K/W is pretty bad.
But more importantly, there was no imperative to promote him. He’s not 25 or someone whose been in the minors for 5 years. This is Adell redux. Let the kids develop in the minors for 2-3 years.
JB – “Let the kids develop in the minors for 2-3 years.”
Yes! Adell never spent a full year in any level of the minors to develop. I actually don’t know if he spent a full year in the minors at all. As a result, his ego got in his way and without proper seasoning and a dose of humility, he has been a mediocre failure.
Prov, not to mention they keep bouncing him around the outfield. For many players this is not in issue, but does he ever look comfortable out there.
Set him, forget him, and give him everyday ABs. But no, 197 games started in RF, 96 CF, 78 LF.
Halo – Agreed. For a player who has solid defense, not an issue. But the guy hasn’t learned one position let alone three. And his strike outs are still an issue.
It’s actually worse than that. They brought in guys like Hicks and Sano to take away ABs. You know, because Hicks and Sano were the future.
@prov His SO rate is way down. Adell has hit 31 HR with 26% SO rate We can live with that. What we can’t live with is his defense in CF. Last year he was fine defensively in RF, now the Angels have messed him up again.
GM – Agreed 26% is a vast improvement. But his overall hitting is lacking and his defense too. When he makes a hard catch, even he looks surprised.
I’ve taken a lot of heat for my fondness for Adell… glad the heat is subsiding.
He will go to AAA and get regular at bats until their season ends on the 21st.
The big league club’s only last a week longer.
But, yes, this organization sucks at development.
Bringing up Kingery makes no sense at all. This month will most likely be his last hurrah in the majors, and he’s a bust just playing out the string and headed for unemployment. Those ABs should be going to younger players to see what they’ve got. Angels have had a better year than most of us expected, but they’re out of it.
Curious about Farris but not necessarily confident.
Doesn’t throw hard so he has to rely on command.
But he has a very good swinging strike pct and CSW pct.
We’ll see what gives.
Oh boy – Kingery – no player in recent memory has been given more chances with fewer results. The perfect Angel.
It takes one injury to expose the franchise’s lack of depth.
One starter goes down and we’re signing Urens off the street. One.
Ferris looked really good last week. Replacing Kochanowicz isn’t a high bar, but I hope he is an improvement.
Minasian’s life long dream was to be the guy who rearranged the deck chairs on the Titanic, so he got the next best thing
Angels (and Braves) thought Griffin Canning was not worth 5 million in arb, so they flipped him for Soler who they will pay (I believe 24 million) of his 32 million owed on this and next year’s contract. 26 year old Detmers who has thrown a no hitter is in the bullpen. 26 year old Adell just hit 30 hrs and fans wanted him canceled years ago. His obp is below. 300 for bringing him up to soon and with no consistency, contributes to the slow progression. Just bc moore played college ball doesn’t mean he’s mlb ready.
Soler is a pretty bad player. Maybe a 6.6 career bWAR and maybe 3.3 over the past 5 years. AA probably thought it was a prank call when he heard the Angels wanted him.
I forgot we cut Moniak bc he won 2 million in arb when angels offered 1.5. We thought pay him 1/2 a million to cut him was better option. He signs with the rockies for 2 million plus the 1/2 mill from Angels. He’s put together a nice season on a bargin and making more $ from it all.
The Scott Kingery of baseball franchises.