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Livan Soto

Angels Recall Livan Soto, Place Anthony Rendon On IL

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May 15: The Angels announced a series of roster moves today, including the recall of Soto and the reinstatement of catcher Chad Wallach from the injured list. In corresponding moves, Rendon was placed on the 10-day IL due to a left groin strain, retroactive to May 14, while catcher Chris Okey was optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake.

May 14: The Angels will be calling up infielder Livan Soto from Double-A to the majors, according to Daniel Alvarez-Montes of El Extra Base (Twitter link).  Soto began the season at Triple-A, but was shifted down to Double-A Rocket City about a month ago.

The hitting hasn’t been there for Soto this season, as he has hit only .177/.349/.226 over 129 combined plate appearances at the two minor league levels, with only slightly improved numbers at Double-A.  This lack of production makes the two-level promotion a little unusual, but the Angels also promoted Soto to the majors in 2022 without any Triple-A experience, and he posted an impressive .996 OPS over 59 PA after making his Major League debut.

Soto has drawn far more praise for his glove than his bat during his six minor league seasons, as scouts consider him a big-league caliber defender at shortstop.  He has also played a good deal of second base in the minors and a handful of games at third base, so Soto will provide the Halos with some utility infield depth.

Some extra infield help is perhaps a sign that Anthony Rendon might require a trip to the injured list.  Rendon left Saturday’s game due to left groin tightness, and Angels manager Phil Nevin told reporters (including MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger) today that Rendon was going to miss a couple of games while being evaluated.

It could be that the testing has revealed an injury that requires some time off for Rendon, or since the Angels don’t have an off-day until May 25, the team might be making a precautionary IL placement just to fully heal Rendon up, and to not leave the roster short-handed.  Conversely, Rendon might be avoiding the IL and another player might end up being optioned or designated for assignment to make room for Soto.

Bad Bunny And Noah Assad Launch Rimas Sports Agency

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Rimas Entertainment CEO Noah Assad, his client Bad Bunny and Rimas executive Jonathan Miranda have launched a sports management agency, per a report from Thania Garcia of Variety. MLB certified agent William Arroyo is working for Rimas, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post.

“We are thrilled to break into a new industry with the launch of Rimas Sports. In the music world we accomplished success by knowing how to develop talent, helping our clients reach their vision by catering to their unique needs,” said Assad in a statement. “This new venture is an expansion of that mission as we aim to bring greater representation to the Latin community in the world of sports.”

Bad Bunny is already well known on account of his music career, where he has been represented by Rimas for many years. He’s also clearly a baseball fan, as he took part in the Celebrity Softball Game during last year’s All-Star festivities, as covered by Daniel Kreps of Rolling Stone. Now he will get involved in baseball in a different way, with he and Rimas getting into the agency side of things.

Per Garcia’s report, Miranda will serve as president of the agency, which will offer a wide range of services from agent management to public relations and more. Former big leaguer and Hall of Famer Iván Rodríguez is involved as an ambassador.

They seem to have already inked a number of major and minor leaguers, with Garcia’s report listing the following players as being part of the Rimas roster:

Heyman says that Fernando Tatis Jr. has employed Rimas for marketing but will retain Dan Lozano of MVP Sports Group as his agent for baseball purposes.

Angels Select Livan Soto

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3:15PM: The Angels have officially announced Soto’s selection, Fletcher’s placement on the 10-day IL, and Velazquez’s move to the 60-day injured list.

11:45AM: The Angels are going to select the contract of infield prospect Livan Soto, reports Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extra Base. He will take the active roster spot of fellow infielder David Fletcher, who was already reported to be headed to the injured list. A corresponding move will be required to get Soto onto the 40-man roster, though it will likely be Andrew Velazquez getting transferred to the 60-day IL. Velazquez recently underwent knee surgery that is going to keep him out of action well beyond the end of the schedule.

Soto, 22, was originally signed as an amateur by Atlanta but was one of several prospects later released when an MLB investigation found that the club violated various international signing rules. Soto played for Atlanta’s rookie ball in 2017 team but signed on with the Angels prior to the 2018 season.

Soto was featured in Baseball America’s list of top 30 Angel farmhands in 2018 and has been there ever since, currently occupying the #19 slot. Their report on him notes that he is regarded as a strong defender who doesn’t provide much with the bat, though Soto seems to have taken a step forward in that department this season. In 119 Double-A games this year, he’s walked in 13.1% of his plate appearances while striking out in 18.8% of them. His batting line of .281/.379/.362 amounts to a wRC+ of 104, or 4% above league average. That’s not an eye-popping result, but getting above-average production from a glove-first prospect is an encouraging development. Soto’s also added value on the basepaths, swiping 18 bags on the season.

The Angels have used a motley crew of veteran role players up the middle this year, with the injury bug eating into that group recently by taking out both Fletcher and Velazquez. With the Halos well out of contention and just over two weeks remaining in the season, they can give a bit of playing time to Soto down the stretch and see how he fares. He’s mostly played shortstop this season in the minors, but with a bit of time at second base and third base mixed in. While Fletcher is out of action, Soto will join an infield mix that includes Luis Rengifo, Matt Duffy and Michael Stefanic.

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