AngelsWin Today: Angels Michael Stefanic's growing bat ready to contribute significantly in 2024

[AngelsWin.com]

- by Ryan Falla

The Angels lack of major splashes in this free agent market has some fans concerned over the stability of the roster through the 2024 season after losing one of the biggest names in baseball. However, the Angels biggest needs have always been more than having or not having one single superstar to carry the roster. A sputtering internal talent pipeline to the Major Leagues has more often than not been the crux of the Angels efforts towards contention season after season, yet recent memory has seen an upswing in developmental fortunes. GM Perry Minasian’s trust in the Angels internal talent to fill critical roster spots in 2024 has seemingly raised the Angels floor despite the lack of free agent allure. One such player benefiting from the organizational trust in homegrown athletes is infielder Michael Stefanic, who came up with the Angels in 2022 as a reserve infielder before making himself fully known with a short-sample but memorable breakout in 2023. Weening this organization off the free agency carousel will prove to benefit the Angels as their unknown home-grown talents continue to break out and provide a sustainability that goes beyond 2024.

“I'm a guy that doesn't swing and miss very much at all, I have to be very selective at the pitches I do swing at because pitchers are trying to get outs on pitchers pitches. I could put those balls in play, but I've really tried to hone in and know myself about what kind of pitches I handle well. Waiting the pitcher out until he makes a mistake or throws something in an area where I'm looking and I can put a good swing on it has been big for me.”

The presence of Michael Stefanic on the roster brings a similar value to that of Gio Urshela and what he did for the Angels in his short time last season. Both players present a similar offensive profile with Urshela having a track record of occasional sneaky pop. Otherwise Stefanic profiles similarly with a high contact ability that can cover the whole zone while offering more meaningful swing decisions with stronger zone reads. A full season ZiPs projection puts Stefanic at a 9% BB/11% K rate across 2024 with a .273/.352/.355 slash. Defensively Stefanic is most productive covering 2B/3B at the big league level and looks to potentially expand into the corner outfield spots sometime this coming season, though the presence of super utility Luis Rengifo should limit the Angels need to shuffle Stefanic about defensively.

“I played all four infield spots over the course of my minor league career. I've played a couple games in AAA at the corner outfield. At the end of the day more positions I can handle at the big league level will get me more opportunities to get my bat in the lineup. I want to help this team win and do whatever it takes. I can do whatever it takes to get on the field.”

Michael Stefanics ability to feel out the zone and consistently wrap the bat around the ball is one of the more underrated hitting skills present on the Angels. His big league improvements in 2023 are not to be overlooked, especially considering the natural toolset the hitter brings. Naysayers may point to short sample size to dismiss his big league production last year, though none of his production came as an accident, such as his .290 average, as his underlying peripheral’s support the growing trends. There is little wasted effort in Stefanic's approach as he greatly limits his swings on balls as noted by his 9% chase rate outside the zone (League Average: 23%) while whiffing on just 7% of his swings. While he only had 71 big league PAs in 2023 his Triple A time saw him manage 60 BBs to 33 Ks across 455 PAs. Extended time at the Majors should see Stefanic's BB/K totals continue to trend positively as he collected 8 BBs to 8 Ks in the MLB last year. 

“The first time up I think things got a little quick on me. There was an acclimation period getting my feet wet with the big league pitching. I’ve focused on hitting line drives to the big part of the field, being on time for the fastball and being able to cover any sort of mistakes that the pitchers make. That's the vanilla approach I go with and it's worked for me for a long time. We saw success in September and other parts of the [2023] season. I feel confident in being able to stick to that approach.

His efficiency in the zone is rather underrated as he swung and missed on just seven pitches across the 2023 campaign. 62.8% of the pitches he saw came as fastballs with Stefanic whiffing on just two offerings. Stefanic essentially neutralized pitchers ability to throw the off-speed as he saw just sixteen total off-speed pitches while hitting .800 when swinging on pitcher’s secondaries. His production against breaking balls (slider/sweeper/curve) further supports sentiments with Stefanic seeing the type 30.8% of the time while managing a .263 average against the mix. A plus-ability against the secondary puts Stefanic in a favorable position to see a healthy serving of fastballs which should continue to favor positive outcomes at the plate as he demonstrably makes exceptional contact/swing decisions when facing fastball counts. A continuation on the positively trending hard hit outcomes will see Stefanic swing his way into a cementable role this season.

“I’ve been working on getting the bat speed and the exit velocity up a little bit. I hit a lot of ground balls in 2022, I’m really putting that emphasis to keep the ball off the ground as much as possible and live in that 15 to 25 degree launch angle. Being able to dunk it in front of outfielders or stretch the gas for doubles will be huge. There were improvements last year and I'm gonna continue to build on it in 2024.”

Stefanics 10% jump in line drive rate from 2022 (18.4%) to 2023 (28.3%) is the best indicator of his improving trends being sustainable at the big league level. The last two years of MLB experience has seen a heightened response in Stefanics swing instincts as he’s grown to generating consistent lift. His plummeting ground ball rates from 53.1% down to 43.4% in 2023 further displays the offensive strides being made behind the scenes. A full season to play with his heightened swing-ability should see efforts culminate in stronger exit velocities on a more consistent basis. Whereas most prospective hopefuls road to success is marked by major league adjustments and ever evolving approaches Stefanic needs only to maintain the evolutions made in 2023 in order to generate success in 2024. Michael Stefanic's impending upside will prove itself a big factor in the Angels coming success as he proves his value not just as utility infielder, but as a hitter you want at the plate with the game on the line ten times out of ten. 

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