Angels To Select Wilfredo Tovar
The Angels are preparing to select the contract of middle infielder Wilfredo Tovar. The Halos Prospects Twitter feed reported that the move was anticipated, with Maria Torres of the Los Angeles Times tweeting that he was indeed coming onto the MLB roster.
Tovar made it up to the bigs briefly with the Mets in 2013 and 2014, but hasn’t been back since. He has played exclusively at Triple-A in the intervening seasons. This year, Tovar carries a .285/.329/.404 slash with three home runs over 210 plate appearances.
Corresponding roster moves aren’t yet known. The Halos have eight relievers on the active roster at present, leaving them with just three bench players. Adding another player capable of handling shortstop is particularly important given that the team is still going without Andrelton Simmons.
Justin Upton To Begin Rehab Assignment Friday
Angels left fielder Justin Upton has missed the first two-plus months of the season because of a toe injury, but he’s now closing in on his 2019 debut. Upton will begin a rehab assignment Friday at the Single-A level, Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com reports. Barring any setbacks during his rehab, Upton will rejoin the Angels within 20 days.
The 31-year-old Upton’s long absence will deprive him of an opportunity to post a fourth straight 30-home run season. Upton swatted exactly 30 in 2018, his first full season with the Angels, after sticking with the team on a five-year, $106MM contract. Overall, Upton slashed .257/.344/.463 (124 wRC+) in 613 plate appearances, continuing a career-long trend of above-average offensive production. He also totaled at least 3.0 fWAR for the seventh time since 2008, his first full season in the majors.
Upton’s loss looked disastrous for the Angels when it happened, though they’ve stayed afloat in left field without him. Brian Goodwin, whom the Angels claimed off waivers in late March, has combined with David Fletcher and Cesar Puello to give the Halos enough offense at the position. Goodwin’s numbers have plummeted of late, though, so Upton’s return should be a timely one for an LA club whose wild-card hopes are still alive.
John Curtiss Elects Free Agency
Right-hander John Curtiss has elected free agency in lieu of accepting an outright assignment from the Angels, as first reflected on the Pacific Coast League’s transactions log. Curtiss had been designated for assignment earlier in the week.
Curtiss, 26, will now be able to seek a new opportunity with any club seeking bullpen help. He once ranked among the more promising arms in the Twins’ system, but Minnesota cut him loose this offseason and flipped him to the Angels in exchange for minor league infielder Daniel Ozoria. He’s only tallied 17 1/3 innings in the big leagues and has yet to find much success (6.75 ERA), but Curtiss has a strong track record at the Triple-A level.
In 101 frames at the top minor league level, Curtiss has a 3.21 ERA and has averaged 11 strikeouts per nine innings pitched, though he’s also averaged 4.8 walks per nine frames. He’s struggled there this season, logging a 5.91 ERA and 29-to-13 K/BB ratio in 21 1/3 innings, but his ability to miss bats should hold appeal to another club in need of some bullpen help.
Latest On Andrelton Simmons, Justin Upton
Angels star shortstop Andrelton Simmons has been out two weeks because of a Grade 3 ankle sprain, and it doesn’t appear he’ll be back anytime soon. While Simmons has progressed to swinging a bat, there is still no timetable for a comeback, Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com tweets. Meanwhile, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register points out the type of sprain Simmons is dealing with tends to require an eight- to 12-week absence. If that holds up, Simmons won’t grace the Angels’ lineup again until at least late July.
The 29-32 Angels have gone 7-7 without Simmons, a defensive virtuoso and solid hitter who exceeded the 5.0-fWAR mark in each of the previous two seasons. Simmons added 1.2 fWAR to his career ledger in 195 pre-injury plate appearances this year, batting .298/.323/.415 (100 wRC+) with three home runs and five steals on six attempts. Along the way, the 29-year-old posted the majors’ third-lowest strikeout rate (7.7 percent, trailing only teammates David Fletcher and Tommy La Stella) and third-highest in-zone contact percentage (98.0). Simmons, Fletcher and La Stella are among many Angels who have been almost incapable of striking out this year, which explains why the Halos own the majors’ best K rate as a team (16.3 percent).
The Simmons-less Angels have mostly deployed Fletcher at short, La Stella at third and Luis Rengifo. Assuming Fletcher and La Stella continue to perform well, they seem likely to divide their time between third and second once Simmons comes back. However, a return from injuried infielder Zack Cozart could complicate matters.
The infield’s not the only place where the Angels’ lineup is battling injuries. They’re also without big-hitting left fielder Justin Upton, who hasn’t played this season on account of sprained toe. The 31-year-old is progressing toward a rehab assignment, though, according to Jeff Fletcher. While Upton produced another quality offensive campaign in 2018 – his first full season with the Angels – David Fletcher, Brian Goodwin and Cesar Puello have done well in his stead this year.
AL West Notes: Harvey, Blackburn, Bautista
Overnight, we took a look at the latest on some notable Astros players and checked in on Rangers lefty Drew Smyly. Now let’s cover the latest roster developments for the three other AL West clubs:
- The ailing back of Angels starter Matt Harvey seems to be mended, as he tells reporters (including Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic; Twitter link) that he has been symptom-free since hitting the IL recently. Skipper Brad Ausmus says that Harvey will face live hitters and then likely undertake a rehab assignment of unknown duration. The larger question is what, if anything, Harvey can do to emerge from his malaise on the mound. Fellow one-year free agent signee Trevor Cahill has also struggled badly. Otherwise, the Halos rotation may finally be rounding into form with Andrew Heaney‘s return, the emergence of Griffin Canning, ongoing solid work from Felix Pena, and good health for Tyler Skaggs.
- It looks like Athletics hurler Paul Blackburn will get his first shot at MLB action this year, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that he’s likely to come onto the roster to pitch this weekend. Blackburn, 25, has pitched to a 4.48 ERA in 16 starts over the prior two seasons but has remained on optional assignment at Triple-A to begin the present campaign. He carries a 4.55 ERA in 57 1/3 innings there, recording a 45:18 K/BB ratio and surrendering ten long balls.
- Mariners righty Gerson Bautista seems ready to return from the injured list, as Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reports on Twitter. The 24-year-old has been sidelined with a pec strain. He has already thrown a dozen innings on an extended rehab assignment and now has a locker waiting for him in Seattle, which certainly suggests an imminent activation. Bautista struggled in a brief debut showing last year with the Mets and ended up being dealt to Seattle as a part of a significant multi-player swap. While he didn’t mow down opposing MLB hitters in his first attempt, Bautista did show off a 97 mph heater and posted strong strikeout numbers last year in the upper minors. Because Bautista had been moved to the 60-day IL, his activation will require both a 40-man and active roster move. [UPDATE: The Mariners announced that Bautista has been activated from the IL, with right-hander Andrew Moore heading to Double-A to create roster space.]
The Angel Who Can’t Miss
The Angels are off to a 29-31 start two-plus months into the season, but the Halos’ unimposing 60-game record isn’t the fault of their offense. The team’s Mike Trout-led attack ranks sixth in the majors in wRC+ (108) and 12th in runs (301), in part because it seldom strikes out. No team is running a lower K percentage (16.3) or a higher contact rate (82.9) than the Angels, though their ringleader isn’t Trout in either regard. Sure, Trout’s well above average in both categories (what else is new?), but it’s teammate David Fletcher who reigns as the Angels’ low-strikeout, high-contact king.
The 25-year-old Fletcher earned his first league promotion just under a year ago (on June 12, 2018), though he certainly wasn’t seen as a can’t-miss prospect at the time. But the infielder/outfielder hasn’t missed, literally or figuratively, in his first 12 months in the majors. In fact, Fletcher has already racked up 4.0 fWAR in 530 major league plate appearances. Since Fletcher’s first game last June 13, only three second basemen (Javier Baez, Whit Merrifield and Ketel Marte) have outdone him in the fWAR department. While a large portion of Fletcher’s 2018 value came from his defense, which has remained a strength this season, he’s now making the majority of his hay with his right-handed swing.
Fletcher has walked to the plate 223 times this season and recorded a .322/.377/.459 line, good for an impressive 128 wRC+. He’s not doing it with plus power, having swatted four home runs and logged a below-average .137 ISO. Fletcher’s also not reaching base nearly 38 percent of the time because of a special ability to draw walks; thus far, he has collected a free pass at a roughly average rate (8.1 percent).
Instead, Fletcher’s getting by on the fact that pitchers just can’t fool him. Fletcher’s ability to make contact is extraordinary. He sits first in all of Major League Baseball in strikeout rate (5.8 percent), swinging-strike rate (1.9 percent), contact rate (94.6 percent), zone contact rate (98.5) and out-of-zone contact rate (88.1). And Fletcher is rather selective, ranking second to Trout in swing rate (34.9 percent). In essence, when Fletcher actually does swing, he hits everything thrown at him. What’s more, he adds to hurlers’ stress by seldom going after pitches that aren’t over the plate. While Fletcher’s chase percentage (24.2) isn’t elite, it still puts him in a 25th-place tie in the sport.
The skills Fletcher’s demonstrating in the majors aren’t anything new. Fletcher previously showed off tremendous contact ability in the minors, including when he hit .350/.394/.559 with a 7.6 percent strikeout rate in 275 Triple-A plate appearances last year. The question is whether he can continue to offer production along his current lines as he moves forward. Signs are encouraging in that regard.
Fletcher’s .330 batting average on balls in play isn’t ridiculous, especially for someone with better-than-average speed and one of the league’s lowest fly ball rates. For the most part, delving into Statcast metrics leads to more positives for Fletcher. Although his exit velocity and hard-hit rate each rank in the league’s bottom 7 percentile (or worse), his expected batting average and expected weighted on-base average are near the top. Fletcher’s xBA (.334) is third in baseball, trailing only superstars Cody Bellinger and Anthony Rendon. Meanwhile, Fletcher’s .363 xwOBA is actually a hair better than his real wOBA (.361).
Four years after the Angels used a sixth-round pick on Fletcher in 2015, it appears the club has something in the 5-foot-9 Southern California native. In a league where balls in play are dropping and home runs and strikeouts are soaring, Fletcher’s on the other extreme. He’s a unique and effective player who just might be in the early stages of becoming a long-term staple in Anaheim.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Draft Retrospection: Angels Pick A Legend
We’re now at the 10-year mark since the Angels stumbled on one of the greatest players in the history of baseball. With the 25th pick in the 2009 draft, the club selected a New Jersey-based high schooler named Mike Trout. At the time of Trout’s selection, MLB.com wrote of the 17-year-old:
“Trout is a toolsy high school center fielder who was gaining momentum as the weather in the Northeast warmed up. He looks more like a football safety — his position in high school — than a center fielder, but has the tools to play there with plus speed. He just started switch-hitting to enhance his offensive value, and with some changes to his approach at the plate should hit for some power down the line. There is some rawness with the bat, but he has the kind of upside many teams look for in a high school position player, and was moving into first-round conversations as a result.”
Trout’s ability to hit from both sides of the plate didn’t carry into the pros, but it hasn’t mattered. Now 27, the right-hander has slashed an astounding .306/.419/.575 with 254 home runs and 196 stolen bases in 4,919 plate appearances since he debuted with the Angels in 2011. Among all-time major leaguers who have accrued at least 4,500 trips to the plate, Trout ranks sixth in wRC+ (172), trailing a few players you may have heard of in Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig, Rogers Hornsby and Barry Bonds, and already sits 67th in fWAR (68.8). Trout looks like a mortal lock to eventually exceed 100 fWAR, something only 20 position players have ever done.
Also a seven-time All-Star, a two-time AL MVP and a Rookie of the Year winner, Trout’s impact has far outweighed anyone else’s from his draft class. The only other current major league notables from the ’09 first round include Nationals right-hander Stephen Strasburg (No. 1), Mets righty Zack Wheeler (No. 6, to the Giants), Rangers lefty Mike Minor (No. 7), Mariners righty Mike Leake (No. 8, to the Reds), Dodgers center fielder A.J. Pollock (No. 18, to the Diamondbacks), Rangers righty Shelby Miller (No. 19, to the Cardinals), Twins righty Kyle Gibson (No. 22) and Blue Jays outfielder Randal Grichuk (No. 24, to the Angels).
The Halos lucked out in landing Trout immediately after Grichuk, who never took an at-bat with the franchise. In 2013, four years after the Angels drafted Grichuk, they traded him to the Cardinals in a package for third baseman David Freese and reliever Fernando Salas. Grichuk has since become a respectable pro, one whom the Jays signed to an extension worth a guaranteed $52MM in April, while Trout has emerged as a lock to end up with a plaque in Cooperstown. And Trout may have never been an Angel if not for longtime big league first baseman Mark Teixeira. The Angels acquired Teixeira from the Braves in July 2008, and after Tex enjoyed an excellent few months in Anaheim, he left for the Yankees in free agency during the ensuing offseason. The Angels, for their trouble, received the compensatory pick they’d use to select Trout.
“It was crazy. It was unbelievable,” Trout told MLBTR contributor Chuck Wasserstrom in regards to draft night. “There was a lot of stuff going through my mind. You’re anxious, you’re excited, you’re obviously nervous. You want to get picked. You know … hopefully be selected in the top three rounds. But being picked, well … if you’re up there on the first day, it obviously means something.”
This past March, almost a full decade after they took Trout, the Angels extended him on a record contract worth $360MM over 10 years. Trout’s now in line to spend his entire 20s and 30s in Anaheim, which the club likely never expected when it took a flier on him in the crapshoot known as the draft. On Monday, 10 years after the Trout selection, the Dodgers grabbed Tulane third baseman Kody Hoese 25th overall. Another Trout? Highly doubtful, but they can dream.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Angels Designate John Curtiss
The Angels have designated righty John Curtiss for assignment, per a club announcement. Infielder Taylor Ward will take the open active roster spot.
The club also announced that outfielder Michael Hermosillo has been reinstated from the 60-day IL. That move absorbs the newly opened 40-man spot. Hermosillo was optioned to Triple-A.
The 26-year-old Curtiss did not get into a game in his second stint of the year on the MLB roster; he made just one appearance earlier in the season. In 21 1/3 innings this year at Triple-A, Curtiss has allowed 14 earned runs on twenty hits with a 29:13 K/BB ratio.
Angels Release Matt Ramsey
The Angels have requested unconditional release waivers on right-hander Matt Ramsey, as per a team announcement (Twitter link). Ramsey was designated for assignment by the Angels on Friday.
Originally a 19th-round draft pick for the Rays in 2011, Ramsey finally made his Major League debut earlier this season, tossing a perfect inning of work to finish off an 11-5 Angels win over the Yankees on April 25. After that cup of coffee in the bigs, Ramsey was optioned back to Triple-A, where he has struggled to a 5.27 ERA and 5.3 BB/9 over 13 2/3 innings in 2019, albeit with a 9.9 K/9. Those numbers are a big step down from the otherwise solid work Ramsey has delivered in his minor league career — a 2.82 ERA, 10.8 K/9, and a 2.83 K/BB rate over 264 2/3 innings in five different organizations’ farm systems.
AL Notes: Athletics, Kikuchi, Buttrey, Tribe
The Athletics are welcoming designated hitter Khris Davis back from the 10-day injured list on Saturday, the team announced. The slugger hasn’t taken an at-bat since May 21 because of a left hip/oblique contusion. In further positive news for the A’s, injured hurlers Sean Manaea, Jesus Luzardo and Marco Estrada are all making progress, Martin Gallegos of MLB.com reports (Twitter links here). Manaea, recovering from the left shoulder surgery he underwent last September, will throw live batting practice Tuesday. The promising prospect Luzardo threw a two-inning, 30-pitch sim game Saturday, after which A’s manager Bob Melvin offered an encouraging update. Luzardo hasn’t pitched this season on account of a rotator cuff strain in his left shoulder, while Estrada has been down since mid-April because of a back problem. Estrada will start playing catch Monday and isn’t far from beginning a regular throwing program, Gallegos relays.
- On the heels of back-to-back brutal performances from Yusei Kikuchi, the Mariners are skipping the southpaw’s start Tuesday in an effort to “recharge the batteries,” according to manager Scott Servais (via Greg Johns of MLB.com). Kikuchi will slot back into their rotation “later next week,” Johns writes. The 27-year-old Kikuchi yielded 10 earned runs on 20 hits, including three homers, over 6 2/3 innings in his two latest starts. He joined the Mariners in the offseason as a ballyhooed signing from Japan, and has gotten off to a so-so start in the majors. Kikuchi owns a 4.43 ERA/4.64 FIP with 6.72 K/9, 2.28 BB/9 and a 45 percent groundball rate through 67 innings. Now that Kikuchi’s headed for a brief respite, the Mariners could promote lefty Jon Niese or righty Anthony Misiewicz from Triple-A Tacoma as his replacement, per Johns. Neither hurler is on the M’s 40-man roster, but the team does have a pair of openings at the moment.
- Righty Ty Buttrey has been the Angels’ top reliever in 2019, but they’re leery of overusing the rookie, Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times explains. Acquired from Boston last July for second baseman Ian Kinsler, the hard-throwing Buttrey has tossed 28 1/3 innings in his first full season with the Angels. He leads Halos relievers in ERA (1.27) and FIP (2.09), and has helped his cause with 11.12 K/9, 2.22 BB/9 and a 46.5 percent grounder rate. Buttrey’s currently on pace for 74 appearances and 80 innings. It doesn’t appear the 26-year-old will get to either figure by the end of the season, however, as manager Brad Ausmus noted he’s “got to think about this kid’s health.”
- Indians right-hander Jefry Rodriguez exited his start against the White Sox on Saturday with right lat tightness, Zack Meisel of The Athletic tweets. It’s yet another unfortunate development for Cleveland’s rotation, which has gone without the injured Corey Kluber–Mike Clevinger duo for most of the season and has gotten somewhat underwhelming performances from Trevor Bauer and Carlos Carrasco. Rodriguez logged good results in four innings Saturday, but the 25-year-old has only managed a 4.74 ERA/4.47 FIP with 6.6 K/9 and 3.92 BB/9 in 43 2/3 frames on the season.