OC Register: Farm Failures, Part III: Angels’ system trends up with infusion of talent, emphasis on winning

[AngelsWin.com]

---

(Note: This is the final installment of a three-part series examining the causes behind the decline of the Angels’ farm system, and what measures they have taken to improve. Part I looked at how the Angels brought players into the organization. Part II examined the development within the farm system.)

---

Perry Minasian gathered all of the Angels’ minor leaguers together at the start of spring training in 2021, his first year as general manager. He started listing off the organizations that had the best win-loss records in the minors and pointing out that they had all been good in the majors.

“Then he kind of bashed us,” recalled Cole Duensing, an Angels minor league pitcher at the time. “This is how we did last year, and this is how we did in the majors last year. He connected the dots.”

In 2019, the last minor league season before 2020 was wiped out by the pandemic, the Angels had a .406 winning percentage in the minors, which was dead last. The 2020 Angels had gone 26-34 in the shortened major-league season, a .433 winning percentage.

At that moment, everyone in the Angels’ system knew that the philosophy had changed. When previous GM Billy Eppler was in charge, minor leaguers were specifically told not to worry about wins and losses.

“Perry said we can’t expect you to win at the big league level if you aren’t winning in minor leagues,” Duensing recalled. “You can’t just flip a switch. His whole thing was winning is a skill. Winners are a real thing. Losers are a real thing. We are going to develop but we are going to develop by winning. That was refreshing to hear.”

In 2022, the Angels had their best season in the minors in years. They had two teams reach the playoffs, which was two more than in the previous three minor league seasons combined.

The Rocket City Trash Pandas had a .587 winning percentage, the second-best of any Double-A team. They won the first- and second-half titles in their division.

“When you talk about winning and you’re playing competitive games, you play in more winning situations, and that’s how you experience what you need to do to win,” Minasian said. “If you’re not in winning situations, never experience it, then you show up at the big league level and it’s the eighth inning of a one-run game and you don’t know what the (heck) is going on. That’s not ideal.”

Part of their emphasis on winning has been to host Champions Days during instructional league. Angels alumni like Tim Salmon, Scott Spiezio, David Eckstein, Troy Percival, Adam Kennedy and Vladimir Guerrero spoke to the current minor league players and staff about what it takes to win in the major leagues.

It is all part of what many believe is the rebirth of a farm system that was unproductive for a decade.

A rival scout who saw the entire system in 2022 said it has improved. He said he was especially impressed with the pitching talent on the Double-A team.

“They’re up and coming,” he said. “They’re figuring it out. That Rocket City club came out with arm after arm after arm.”

At the end of the season, the Rocket City roster included five pitchers ranked by Baseball America as among the Angels’ top 13 prospects: left-hander Ky Bush (No. 3), right-hander Sam Bachman (No. 5), right-hander Chase Silseth (No. 7), right-hander Landon Marceaux (No. 10) and right-hander Mason Erla (No. 13). They also had right-hander Ben Joyce, who Baseball America ranks at No. 20 despite his eye-popping 105 mph fastball.

That team also included the top two position players in the system. The No. 1 prospect, catcher Logan O’Hoppe, was acquired from the Philadelphia Phillies in an August trade. No. 2, shortstop Zack Neto, was the Angels’ first-round pick in July.

“Now there are some good draft picks,” said a second scout who has seen the system for a few years. “Zach Neto is a good pick. Ben Joyce is a good pick. … They are definitely bringing in some more talent.”

None of those players were in the organization before Minasian took over in November 2020. That is certainly an illustration of how much ground Minasian and his staff – scouting director Tim McIlvaine and director of player development Joey Prebynski – have tried to make up in a short time.

“We’re obviously encouraged with the progress we’ve made over the last couple of years,” said Prebysnki, who was hired from the St. Louis Cardinals in December 2020. “I think it’s certainly shown up in how our teams compete, the identity, the brand of baseball we’ve tried to create. That’s translated into wins and losses but also players that have come up and made their major league debuts.”

Silseth, O’Hoppe and shortstop Livan Soto – a holdover from the Eppler era – went from Double-A to the majors this year, although O’Hoppe played just a few games. Pitchers Tucker Davidson (No. 6) and outfielder Mickey Moniak (No. 15) are also top-15 prospects acquired by Minasian who have already played in the majors with the Angels.

“They are adding some tools, but they are also adding some guys with feel, better baseball players,” the first scout said. “I think they’re heading in the right direction.”

Minasian’s changes start with his philosophy about winning, but that’s not the end.

In the draft, Minasian said he has no preference for college players or high school players because he doesn’t want to put any limits on his staff. He has, however, surrendered second-round picks for signing top free agents two years in a row, which has put a premium on being right with the other picks.

Minasian said he brought in all of his scouts, and many minor leaguer staffers, for a full two weeks to prepare for last year’s draft. That’s about a week longer than most teams because Minasian said he feels like it’s “a big part of staff development.”

Discussions like that help the staff learn, as do the 45- to 60-minute meetings the minor league managers and coaches had before each day’s work in spring training. Minasian said the discussions sometimes turned into arguments, which is just the kind of exchange of ideas he wants.

The Angels have also significantly increased the salaries of many minor league coaches. The Angels had been near the bottom in MLB in pay for minor league coaches and scouts, which contributed to difficulty in keeping the staff happy or even keeping them in the organization.

The Angels have continued to add technology to the point that Minasian said “We’re up to date. We’re getting there.” The Angels were far behind, multiple sources said, during the early years of Jerry Dipoto’s tenure a decade earlier, and they’d struggled to get caught up.

Infielder Michael Stefanic, who was signed during Eppler’s tenure, said the technology is there, but now there’s not so much emphasis on it being the ultimate tool for coaches or metric for evaluators. Instead of going straight to the numbers measured by a Blast Motion Sensor on the knob of a bat, coaches take a more nuanced approach, Stefanic said.

“I think it’s really easy and kind of a crutch when guys aren’t hitting to go straight to the swing mechanics,” Stefanic said. “They’re taking more of an approach on how to attack different pitchers based on your strengths. We’ve actually eased off the technology a little bit on the hitting side.”

A minor league pitcher agreed that he’s also seen the technology complemented with instruction on other facets of pitching.

“I think the organization has really done a good job of bringing in coaches with a little bit more experience, guys who have been around,” he said. “The thing that I’ve gotten most out of the coaches is things like mound presence, how to approach a lineup, as opposed to how to grip your slider.”

The Angels hired longtime major league pitcher Chris Carpenter as a pitching consultant, focusing on less technical parts of pitching.

It’s too early to know if all of this will really make a difference. The minor league players drafted and acquired by Minasian have barely had a cup of coffee in the majors so far.

Back in 2019, when Jo Adell and Brandon Marsh were still on the rise, the Angels’ farm system had climbed all the way to 12th in Baseball America’s preseason rankings. There was widespread optimism that Eppler had solved the development issues he inherited from Dipoto.

But most of the players who looked promising at that time have since seen their stock decline, leaving the system to sink again as Eppler gave way to Minasian.

Related Articles

• Los Angeles Angels |
  Farm Failures, Part II: How the Angels’ player development system broke and the plan to repair it
• Los Angeles Angels |
  Farm Failures, Part I: How the Angels’ player development system broke and the plan to repair it
• Los Angeles Angels |
  Hoornstra: MLB’s anti-shift rules are already taking effect
• Los Angeles Angels |
  Hunter Renfroe happy to add Angels jersey to his collection
• Los Angeles Angels |
  Angels acquire outfielder Hunter Renfroe from Brewers for 3 pitchers

It remains to be seen if Minasian’s system will actually produce more quality major league players, but at least it’s producing more minor league victories.

When the Angels’ Class-A affiliate in Inland Empire clinched a playoff spot in September, Minasian was there. Minasian went into the champagne-soaked clubhouse after the game and delivered a speech that was shared on social media.

“Winning is hard, at any level,” Minasian told the players. “Enjoy this. It doesn’t happen all the time. Enjoy the (expletive) out of it.”

A couple of months later, as Minasian reflected on the state of the farm system, he said that trips to see the Angels’ minor leaguers are important because they are the “lifeblood” of the organization.

“I like spending time in the minor leagues,” he said, “because I think that’s how we’re going to eventually win for a long time.”

And ICYMI: here’s Part 1, which focused on the #Angels shortcomings getting players into the organization, via the draft and international market. https://t.co/Km2HJolMt0

— Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) November 29, 2022

View the full article

[Docwaukee]

Best article/series on the Angels I’ve seen in a long time.  Thank you @Jeff Fletcher 

[angelsnationtalk]

It's nice seeing a breath of fresh air down in the minors. Hopefully change will continue to turn this entire organization in the right direction. 

Great piece @Jeff Fletcher

[T.G.]

@Jeff Fletcher, Thank you. The timing for all of this is perfect and this last piece gives me hope.

I truly appreciate your contributions to this site and your patience with us when we throw questions at you. You continue to go above and beyond and I feel fortunate that you’ve chosen to interact with us.

[Docwaukee]

Now that I've had a chance to read the whole series, it's just so telling in regards to what's gone on the last 5, 10, 15, 20 years.   

I don't want to make this about Arte but it sort of is.   I find myself constantly going back to my house analogy.  Stoneman builds the franchise a sound home with a strong and well constructed foundation.  Which subsequently gets ignored for the next two decades.  It holds up very well for the first 10 years or so but the cracks start to form and a major quake (latin america) causes major damage that goes unrepaired for many years.  Over time, there's more wear and tear which is really just patched cosmetically and not truly fixed.  Some of our contractors (gm's) almost completely ignore it altogether focusing on adding a fancy pizza oven or a bowling lane making it akin to the winchester house with doors leading to nowhere.  

I think Eppler finally got under the house and repaired the foundation properly but was still left with a home where the focus was on adding bells and whistles instead of taking care of an outdated kitchen or bathrooms.   But I think it's important to recognize that many parts of the house are still under construction.  Forced, rapid evolution was a necessary step but you can't just flip a switch on culture change.  So it's still going to take time and while Minasian seems to get it, we just don't know how good he is at his job.  

Complicating things was that for many years, there were several occupants with their own discordant views of the design.  One wing with mid century modern and another with colonial.  Sometimes an eclectic mixture is functional to a point and then it eventually becomes a disjointed hodgepodge that screams crazy. 

One consistent vision and path to the future with everyone rowing in the same direction.  

[BTH]

All three of these pieces were fantastic, @Jeff Fletcher Thank you!

Like others have said, this is the most comprehensive story about the Angels I can recall reading in the last decade.
 

I know Perry mentioned at the GM Meetings that, with the exception of Lou Marson, every minor league manager would be returning for 2023… did he say if they returning to their same affiliates and why they decided to make a change at AAA manager?

[Angelsjunky]

33 minutes ago, Docwaukee said:

Now that I've had a chance to read the whole series, it's just so telling in regards to what's gone on the last 5, 10, 15, 20 years.   

I don't want to make this about Arte but it sort of is.   I find myself constantly going back to my house analogy.  Stoneman builds the franchise a sound home with a strong and well constructed foundation.  Which subsequently gets ignored for the next two decades.  It holds up very well for the first 10 years or so but the cracks start to form and a major quake (latin america) causes major damage that goes unrepaired for many years.  Over time, there's more wear and tear which is really just patched cosmetically and not truly fixed.  Some of our contractors (gm's) almost completely ignore it altogether focusing on adding a fancy pizza oven or a bowling lane making it akin to the winchester house with doors leading to nowhere.  

I think Eppler finally got under the house and repaired the foundation properly but was still left with a home where the focus was on adding bells and whistles instead of taking care of an outdated kitchen or bathrooms.   But I think it's important to recognize that many parts of the house are still under construction.  Forced, rapid evolution was a necessary step but you can't just flip a switch on culture change.  So it's still going to take time and while Minasian seems to get it, we just don't know how good he is at his job.  

Complicating things was that for many years, there were several occupants with their own discordant views of the design.  One wing with mid century modern and another with colonial.  Sometimes an eclectic mixture is functional to a point and then it eventually becomes a disjointed hodgepodge that screams crazy. 

One consistent vision and path to the future with everyone rowing in the same direction.  

This is a nice in-a-nutshell version of the gist of Fletcher's articles, imo.

Anyhow, the third installment leaves me a little more hopeful. I like what I've read of Minasian's approach, and we might start seeing the results as soon as next year with O'Hoppe, Neto, and some of the Rapid City pitchers graduating to the major leagues.

[greginpsca]

The subject matter of these articles sort of re-enforces what many have discussed here for many years. Yet, few of us thought it was this bad overall. Hopefully a new ownership will learn from others past mistakes. Like someone else said, " Just because your rich, it doesn't make you the smartest man in the room}.

[ten ocho recon scout]

3 hours ago, Docwaukee said:

Now that I've had a chance to read the whole series, it's just so telling in regards to what's gone on the last 5, 10, 15, 20 years.   

I don't want to make this about Arte but it sort of is.   I find myself constantly going back to my house analogy.  Stoneman builds the franchise a sound home with a strong and well constructed foundation.  Which subsequently gets ignored for the next two decades.  It holds up very well for the first 10 years or so but the cracks start to form and a major quake (latin america) causes major damage that goes unrepaired for many years.  Over time, there's more wear and tear which is really just patched cosmetically and not truly fixed.  Some of our contractors (gm's) almost completely ignore it altogether focusing on adding a fancy pizza oven or a bowling lane making it akin to the winchester house with doors leading to nowhere.  

I think Eppler finally got under the house and repaired the foundation properly but was still left with a home where the focus was on adding bells and whistles instead of taking care of an outdated kitchen or bathrooms.   But I think it's important to recognize that many parts of the house are still under construction.  Forced, rapid evolution was a necessary step but you can't just flip a switch on culture change.  So it's still going to take time and while Minasian seems to get it, we just don't know how good he is at his job.  

Complicating things was that for many years, there were several occupants with their own discordant views of the design.  One wing with mid century modern and another with colonial.  Sometimes an eclectic mixture is functional to a point and then it eventually becomes a disjointed hodgepodge that screams crazy. 

One consistent vision and path to the future with everyone rowing in the same direction.  

Esse tially the plumbing sucked. Flushing the toilet led to catastrophe. 

Every huge turd we laid led to someone getting burned (in the shower).

And we tried to fix it with an air fryer

[Jeff Fletcher]

4 hours ago, Trendon said:

All three of these pieces were fantastic, @Jeff Fletcher Thank you!

Like others have said, this is the most comprehensive story about the Angels I can recall reading in the last decade.
 

I know Perry mentioned at the GM Meetings that, with the exception of Lou Marson, every minor league manager would be returning for 2023… did he say if they returning to their same affiliates and why they decided to make a change at AAA manager?

I believe the others are returning in their same roles but that’s not 100 percent certain. 
 

And he didn’t really say why they’re making a change at AAA but I’ve been led to believe it was performance related. 
 

I’m glad you guys enjoyed this series. If you don’t subscribe and were thinking of doing so, this is a good time. (It’s 99 cents for 3 months or 10 bucks for a year.) The versions of the stories that you read here are never updated, so on game stories and trade and free agent stories, you’ll never see quotes. Also, click on one of my stories and subscribe when you get the paywall block, as opposed to just going through the home page. It helps me keep my job

Edited November 30, 2022 by Jeff Fletcher

[Warfarin]

2 hours ago, greginpsca said:

The subject matter of these articles sort of re-enforces what many have discussed here for many years. Yet, few of us thought it was this bad overall. Hopefully a new ownership will learn from others past mistakes. Like someone else said, " Just because your rich, it doesn't make you the smartest man in the room}.

It may not, but considering Arte will sell the team for over 10x of what he bought it for in a span of 20 years, he does seem rather smart, just not in a way we’d like him to be lol

[Swordsman78]

This is what is called "changing the culture".

Same reason Nevin was hired.  Both Scoccia and Joe were too laid back.

 

[Second Base]

7 hours ago, Docwaukee said:

Now that I've had a chance to read the whole series, it's just so telling in regards to what's gone on the last 5, 10, 15, 20 years.   

I don't want to make this about Arte but it sort of is.   I find myself constantly going back to my house analogy.  Stoneman builds the franchise a sound home with a strong and well constructed foundation.  Which subsequently gets ignored for the next two decades.  It holds up very well for the first 10 years or so but the cracks start to form and a major quake (latin america) causes major damage that goes unrepaired for many years.  Over time, there's more wear and tear which is really just patched cosmetically and not truly fixed.  Some of our contractors (gm's) almost completely ignore it altogether focusing on adding a fancy pizza oven or a bowling lane making it akin to the winchester house with doors leading to nowhere.  

I think Eppler finally got under the house and repaired the foundation properly but was still left with a home where the focus was on adding bells and whistles instead of taking care of an outdated kitchen or bathrooms.   But I think it's important to recognize that many parts of the house are still under construction.  Forced, rapid evolution was a necessary step but you can't just flip a switch on culture change.  So it's still going to take time and while Minasian seems to get it, we just don't know how good he is at his job.  

Complicating things was that for many years, there were several occupants with their own discordant views of the design.  One wing with mid century modern and another with colonial.  Sometimes an eclectic mixture is functional to a point and then it eventually becomes a disjointed hodgepodge that screams crazy. 

One consistent vision and path to the future with everyone rowing in the same direction.  

Perry Minasian says....

It's modern rustic farmhouse, with good, repaired bones. Period. 

[Docwaukee]

44 minutes ago, Swordsman78 said:

This is what is called "changing the culture".

Same reason Nevin was hired.  Both Scoccia and Joe were too laid back.

 

Scioscia is not laid back.  

[T.G.]

2 minutes ago, Docwaukee said:

Scioscia is not laid back.  

No, but Scoccia is.

[Swordsman78]

6 minutes ago, Docwaukee said:

Scioscia is not laid back.  

He didn't have the sense of urgency to win games early in the season.  He would frequently blow off losses early in the season and say "its a long season" when pressed why they blew a 1 run game in May - July only to miss a playoff spot by 2-3 games. 

[Swordsman78]

6 minutes ago, T.G. said:

No, but Scoccia is.

No one cares.  We only need to know how to spell Nevin these days.

[Blarg]

How many games did Nevin blow off before he thought to win a few? Because his record is 46-60 as the Angels manager. 

 

[Swordsman78]

55 minutes ago, Blarg said:

How many games did Nevin blow off before he thought to win a few? Because his record is 46-60 as the Angels "interim" manager. 

 

FIFY

2022 was Maddon's team

[Jeff Fletcher]

2 hours ago, Swordsman78 said:

He didn't have the sense of urgency to win games early in the season.  He would frequently blow off losses early in the season and say "its a long season" when pressed why they blew a 1 run game in May - July only to miss a playoff spot by 2-3 games. 

I disagree with this. 
 

I think you’re confusing his quotes in press conferences with what he thought or did. 
 

He may have ruined Keynan Middleton’s career by using him too much trying to win games in April in 2018, just off the top of my head. 

[Docwaukee]

2 hours ago, Swordsman78 said:

He didn't have the sense of urgency to win games early in the season.  He would frequently blow off losses early in the season and say "its a long season" when pressed why they blew a 1 run game in May - July only to miss a playoff spot by 2-3 games. 

to the media.  not having a 'sense of urgency' to win games early is silly and more to do with him figuring out his pen vs. not having a sense of urgency.  

MS was a way more intense manager than people realized.    

[Warfarin]

1 minute ago, Docwaukee said:

to the media.  not having a 'sense of urgency' to win games early is silly and more to do with him figuring out his pen vs. not having a sense of urgency.  

MS was a way more intense manager than people realized.    

MS always seemed very prickly to me.  I never got a sense of him being laid back.  He seemed fiery, kind of like a Tommy Lasorda disciple, but not quite as .. out there as Lasorda was, lol.

[Lou]

Scioscia was laid back?

lol 

[Swordsman78]

11 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

I disagree with this. 
 

I think you’re confusing his quotes in press conferences with what he thought or did. 
 

He may have ruined Keynan Middleton’s career by using him too much trying to win games in April in 2018, just off the top of my head. 

Since I never met the man, I will defer to you.

I was speaking purely from a fan perspective (press conference quotes) where he seemed to turn the page too quickly after brutal one run losses.  Compared to AL East managers that would appear physically sick by a similar result, as would their fans.

[Warfarin]

14 minutes ago, Swordsman78 said:

Since I never met the man, I will defer to you.

I was speaking purely from a fan perspective (press conference quotes) where he seemed to turn the page too quickly after brutal one run losses.  Compared to AL East managers that would appear physically sick by a similar result, as would their fans.

When I think of Mike Scoscia, the words "bristle" and "poppycock!" are the first words that generally come to mind, lol.