The 2025 Angels have been startlingly okay thus far. Mike Trout hasn't looked himself and is currently the everyday DH, but he's been doing better lately. The various castoffs that make up the rotation are mostly pitching acceptably, and the franchise's strategy of immediately calling up their '22 and '23 first rounders has looked real smart. Continuing this philosophy, on Friday the club called up their 2024 first rounder, second baseman Christian Moore.
Normally, when a team brings a highly touted 22-year-old to the show, you can write something about him like "this guy's been tearing up the minors." But Moore's stats are actually pretty startling. He's striking out 27 percent of the time down there. And his defense has been terrible. What is Perry Minasian thinking? Well, when he looks at his infield, what he's probably thinking is Oh no. Here's a rundown of the Angels' non-Moore infielders this season. They've been, well, unique. In order of plate appearances:
Nolan Schanuel (269 PA): God I love Ron Washington. I'll be damned if there's another manager in baseball that would look at a guy with a .380 on-base and a .389 slug and not think lead-off hitter. Zach Neto, right in front of him at the top, has an OBP of .318.
Luis Rengifo (220 PA): I have an annual tradition of checking the depth chart for the Angels in April and entering a state of panic when I see Rengifo projected as the second or third hitter in the order. He just couldn't make me believe he wasn't a benchwarmer. He still isn't a benchwarmer; he's much worse. He gets caught stealing more than he homers. His slugging percentage is lower than Wilmer Flores's career batting average. It feels cruel to go on.
Zach Neto (211 PA): The 2022 first-rounder started the season hurt but has been on a tear since. Whereas the team's 2023 first-round pick, Schanuel, hits to all fields, swings slow, takes a ton of walks, and never strikes out, Neto is basically his exact opposite:
Lucky for him, the shift ain't coming back.
Kyren Paris (140 PA): Changed his swing to catch up to fastballs and had a very nice little power surge, only for the league to figure out that he has no idea what to do with breaking stuff and start handing him a 42.1 percent strikeout rate, which is a death sentence. Basically nobody except Joey Gallo and Adam Dunn has ever been good with a K rate of even 35 percent, and Paris walks at a below-average clip.
Yoán Moncada (113 PA): A hurt-or-decent guy currently in hurt mode. His approach this year has been way different than ever before, producing a lot of fly balls. His batting average sucks, but he is currently running a career best ISO.
Tim Anderson (90 PA): Already discussed at some length. He has been released.
Kevin Newman (68 PA): Pirates cast-off, currently running a worse batting line than Luis Rengifo. As I go down the list, you will keep thinking, "Surely, he must be better than Luis Rengifo!" Shame on you. Wash has a plan, and the plan is to make Rengifo play every day and attempt to steal too often.
Chris Taylor (34 PA): Taylor is out indefinitely with a broken hand as of three days ago.
Scott Kingery (17 PA): Remember Scott Kingery? Apologies, stupid question. The last time he hit a home run in the majors was in front of cardboard cutouts. Later in that game, Jay Bruce pinch hit for him. RosterResource currently lists Scott Kingery as the starting second baseman for the Angels.
J.D. Davis (9 PA): Last year, the Athletics allegedly gave the Yankees cash to take him off their hands.
Nicky Lopez (6 PA): Oh dear.
Anthony Rendon (Zero PA): One time I dreamt I was watching the Angels, and Reid Detmers threw a no-hitter, and since Brett Phillips was pitching for the Rays, Rendon went up there wrong-handed and hit one 411 feet. I would say he did it lefty, but Rendon doesn't do anything lefty.
Now you know that Christian Moore had to be called up. He will probably not be good, but the Angels are in second place, and a serious ballclub cannot be playing two-thirds of the Rengifo/Newman/Kingery trio every night. A dim hope is better than a dull certainty. The Angels also do not have a single reliever on the active roster with an above-average ERA.
The Mariners have the same record as this team.
