The Angels Post-Hype "Prospects'

[Second Base]

Very rarely do I ever look back on anything I've written and think it was a particularly solid take, but this last off-season I put a lot of thought into the prospects, more so than I typically do.  And this brought me to a revelation.  Rather than looking at the young kids that could someday impact the ball club, it was the guys that had already graduated our top prospect lists but still had the talent and opportunity to impact the ball club that I was most excited about.  The "post-hype prospect."  It's not a sexy take, but I wanted to make sure and spill some digital ink on these guys before we gushed over the guys in A Ball. 

For the Top Prospect intro, I listed examples from past post-hype prospects, such as Sandoval, Suarez, Barria, Walsh and Rengifo.  And then listed the guys that could impact the team in 2023.  In order, Matt Thaiss, Chris Rodriguez, Mickey Moniak, Jo Adell, Griffin Canning and Jose Soriano. 

And I don't think enough can be said about these guys.  Every single one of them outside of Rodriguez has made a positive impact on the Angels in 2023.  Thaiss has turned into a legitimate starting catcher in the major leagues with a potent bat.  Moniak has been a spark plug for the offense and no one has complained about him vulturing starts from Ward and Renfroe.  He's a VERY good fourth outfielder.  Adell hasn't gotten much opportunity, but he's leading the PCL in HR's and just hit one tonight in Angel Stadium that's the hardest and furthest of the season.  Lately, Canning looks every bit the #3-4 starter we were hoping for and it's only been a week but Soriano looks incredible in a late inning role.  High 90's with crazy movement. 

I think it's just a reminder that some of the best prospects in the Angels system, aren't even "prospects".  And that's something that MLB, Baseball America, FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus don't account for when ranking the best minor league systems.  The Angels system has continually churned out quality major leaguers.

[arch stanton]

Now that I've found my magnifying glass I can read your post. Nice font size selection.

Of course we know that toolsy high schoolers like Adell and Adams can take some time to make impact, same with Latinos signed at age 16. But what was frustrating was waiting for early round college players like Ward, Thaiss, Canning to be ML contributors which makes it great to see Detmers, Bachman, Joyce, Neto all ready to play. And it's especially nice to see a guy like Soriano finally healthy enough to help. Now we hope Silseth gets his shit together and Bush stays healthy

[TheLordofOuts]

This is so much better than the days when Kaleb Cowart and Brandon Wood were considered untouchables

[Inside Pitch]

7 hours ago, Second Base said:

Very rarely do I ever look back on anything I've written and think it was a particularly solid take, but this last off-season I put a lot of thought into the prospects, more so than I typically do.  And this brought me to a revelation.  Rather than looking at the young kids that could someday impact the ball club, it was the guys that had already graduated our top prospect lists but still had the talent and opportunity to impact the ball club that I was most excited about.  The "post-hype prospect."  It's not a sexy take, but I wanted to make sure and spill some digital ink on these guys before we gushed over the guys in A Ball. 

For the Top Prospect intro, I listed examples from past post-hype prospects, such as Sandoval, Suarez, Barria, Walsh and Rengifo.  And then listed the guys that could impact the team in 2023.  In order, Matt Thaiss, Chris Rodriguez, Mickey Moniak, Jo Adell, Griffin Canning and Jose Soriano. 

And I don't think enough can be said about these guys.  Every single one of them outside of Rodriguez has made a positive impact on the Angels in 2023.  Thaiss has turned into a legitimate starting catcher in the major leagues with a potent bat.  Moniak has been a spark plug for the offense and no one has complained about him vulturing starts from Ward and Renfroe.  He's a VERY good fourth outfielder.  Adell hasn't gotten much opportunity, but he's leading the PCL in HR's and just hit one tonight in Angel Stadium that's the hardest and furthest of the season.  Lately, Canning looks every bit the #3-4 starter we were hoping for and it's only been a week but Soriano looks incredible in a late inning role.  High 90's with crazy movement. 

I think it's just a reminder that some of the best prospects in the Angels system, aren't even "prospects".  And that's something that MLB, Baseball America, FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus don't account for when ranking the best minor league systems.  The Angels system has continually churned out quality major leaguers.

Check out Jam Jones' numbers in AAA.  Still only 25 and having missed a season with an injury, he is basically making a case to be on someon's MLB team.

[Chuck]

 

[stormngt]

9 hours ago, arch stanton said:

Now that I've found my magnifying glass I can read your post. Nice font size selection.

Of course we know that toolsy high schoolers like Adell and Adams can take some time to make impact, same with Latinos signed at age 16. But what was frustrating was waiting for early round college players like Ward, Thaiss, Canning to be ML contributors which makes it great to see Detmers, Bachman, Joyce, Neto all ready to play. And it's especially nice to see a guy like Soriano finally healthy enough to help. Now we hope Silseth gets his shit together and Bush stays healthy

In fairness to Canning, he was called up early, pitched well his first season, and got injured.  Most of the waiting was him healing.

[Second Base]

13 hours ago, arch stanton said:

Now that I've found my magnifying glass I can read your post. Nice font size selection.

Of course we know that toolsy high schoolers like Adell and Adams can take some time to make impact, same with Latinos signed at age 16. But what was frustrating was waiting for early round college players like Ward, Thaiss, Canning to be ML contributors which makes it great to see Detmers, Bachman, Joyce, Neto all ready to play. And it's especially nice to see a guy like Soriano finally healthy enough to help. Now we hope Silseth gets his shit together and Bush stays healthy

You're absolutely right, that our college picks like Ward and Thaiss should not have had as steep of a learning curve as they did.  And I think that was just the luck of the draw in those picks, not due to any lack of scouting. 

The consensus was that Ward was already major league ready defensively as a catcher, and he had upside with the bat that he would eventually tap into.  There's no one, in this organization, or anywhere that would've predicted that he just didn't handle a pitching staff, and that his offensive struggles would carry over and make him useless in the field as well, nor could they have predicted his bat would take off to the degree it has. 

And Thaiss was drafted for his bat and the move to 1B was to accelerate his path to the big leagues.  But the Angels tinkered and tinkered.....trying to make him into something he wasn't offensively.  And then he wasn't needed defensively at 1B anymore.  He took to 3B quite well but wasn't needed there either with the signing of Rendon.  I love that a year ago he took his career into his own hands and started catching again.  He wasn't a bad collegiate catcher and he isn't bad now.  And I love that this year, he's gone back to doing things his way in the batters box and is now an offensive force. 

And as much as it sucked seeing those guys take a long, winding road to the majors, as you already pointed out, the direct route of Detmers, Silseth, Neto, Joyce and Bachman has been so encouraging. 

I really like Ky Bush, more so than most.  But I'm honestly not expecting a whole lot simply because I've noticed that guys that miss Spring Training tend to really struggle until the second half of the year at least.  There are exceptions to the rule, like Bryce Harper and Yordan Alvarez.  But most of the time, pitchers and hitters both need that extended ramp up period, and pitching in the controlled backfields against 17 year old Dominicans just doesn't do it but major leaguers. 

[Angels 1961]

Going forward into 2024 and years after halos young players should get better with experience. If Ohtani leaves Angels core of young players will keep this team competitive. I would like Angels to resign Urshela and Matt Moore.