Nolan Schanuel

[Chuck]

What’s wrong with him? I felt that in ST he was clobbering the ball with authority (even his outs) through the first week of the season, in addition to getting on base. 

Since then his at-bats have been poor and his exit velocities are worse than last season’s debut. 

The Angels may really need to look at signing Brandon Belt to DH, part time 1B and make Sano the primary 1B.

Thoughts? 

[tdawg87]

It looks like he's pulling the ball too much and pounding it into the ground. And by "pounding" I mean "flopping". 

He's been extremely unlucky but at the same time if you make weak contact constantly you're not going to get many hits through. 

It's obvious he needs an overhaul of his swing. I hate to tinker with his plate discipline but it doesn't mean shit if pitchers just throw it over the plate and you slap the ball weakly every time. Why throw him anything out of the zone? 

We knew we'd need infield depth and of course nothing was done about that...

[AngelsLakersFan]

45 minutes ago, Chuck said:

What’s wrong with him? I felt that in ST he was clobbering the ball with authority (even his outs) through the first week of the season, in addition to getting on base. 

Since then his at-bats have been poor and his exit velocities are worse than last season’s debut. 

The Angels may really need to look at signing Brandon Belt to DH, part time 1B and make Sano the primary 1B.

Thoughts? 

He's not ready

[T.G.]

I don't see any harm in sending him down. So many players get sent down after being called up and it seems to help a lot of the time.

I think the series in Miami in front of his family got him out of himself some how.

I'm just spit balling here. 

At the very least - keep him lower on the order.

 

[Angels 1961]

Like most players u cannot just put him in starting lineup. He is young and needs to work on his craft in minors. He is not ready let Sano play 1B and bring up an extra inf. Give more ABs to Adell.

[Angels 1961]

54 minutes ago, Chuck said:

What’s wrong with him? I felt that in ST he was clobbering the ball with authority (even his outs) through the first week of the season, in addition to getting on base. 

Since then his at-bats have been poor and his exit velocities are worse than last season’s debut. 

The Angels may really need to look at signing Brandon Belt to DH, part time 1B and make Sano the primary 1B.

Thoughts? 

It would take Belt at least a month to get ready. Give AB to Moniak and Adell as they may be part of Angel future. 

[Second Base]

It’s an identity crisis, and it’s an Angel flaw. Same thing Matt Thais went through after being drafted. They draft a pure hitter and on base machine, and rather than understanding and fostering what they have, they plant the ideas in their head about being a power hitting 1B.

 It just isn’t who he is, and what you end up with is a broken hitter with no power rather than what you drafted in the first place. Sane thing happened with Cron, Thaiss and Ward. As soon as they took their careers into their own hands and stopped trying to change, their careers improved. 
 

Schanuel needs to go back to basics like last year and forget this concept of turning on the ball with authority. Just keep slapping it to all fields and milking your way on base. Don’t be who the Angels wish you were and be yourself. If they don’t like it, then it’s their fault, they shouldn’t have drafted you. 

[drpiranha]

Take a clue from what Rendon is doing now. I would happy if he turns out to be a left handed Rendon.

For the next week (6 games), just start him once or twice. Use Drury or Sano at 1B. Give Rengifo more starts. Work with him in batting practice and spend more time working with him when he gets back home. If he is still struggling 2 weeks from now, send him down (but not until there is a clear plan and what he needs to work on).

[ScruffytheJanitor]

I think he ultimately gets sent down for a couple weeks and brought back -- which is probably the best thing given that we aren't really competing this year. He just needs to focus on getting on base and letting his power develop over the next five years.  I also think Neto could use another crack at AAA, but until Drury starts hitting a little better he's probably going to have to figure it out at the major league level. 

If we were even semi-serious about competing for a playoff spot, we'd almost certainly be looking for another infielder. Of course, we would have also signed another starter and probably found a better solution in the outfield too, but that ship has sailed. 

[Angelsjunky]

My worry going into the year was that he would try to be something he was not. He's not a power hitter, and any HR he hits will be incidental. He's a Mark Grace type. He needs to focus on making contact and getting on base, and not worry about hitting for power. 

[Blarg]

7 hours ago, Second Base said:

Schanuel needs to go back to basics like last year and forget this concept of turning on the ball with authority.

His walk ratio is the same as last year but with no batting average to prop that value up he's a dead duck at the plate, rolling over with weak grounders to the right side and lazy pop flies. His spray chart shows all 4 of his hits are the right side. Last year his spray chart looked like he was a switch hitter, using every inch of the field. That guy was a starter, this guy is a problem to solve. 

[Slegnaac]

On 3/23/2024 at 12:09 PM, jsnpritchett said:

Schanuel with a long blast to RF!  More of that, please!

(He has also grown a mustache, which looks a little silly...)

Facial Hair status 

[redoctober2002]

6 hours ago, Angelsjunky said:

He needs to focus on making contact and getting on base, and not worry about hitting for power. 

Exactly. He's only 22 so power will develop naturally. Last year he sprayed the ball over the field pretty equally. That contrasts to this year where he's pulling the ball 60% of the time. Hopefully he's able to recapture what he did last year.

[Lhalo]

Not in the starting lineup today...

[Torridd]

Is there any difference between he and Neto?

[jsnpritchett]

2 minutes ago, Torridd said:

Is there any difference between he and Neto?

Yes.  One is a SS and the other is not.

[Torridd]

4 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

Yes.  One is a SS and the other is not.

Sorry, I don't understand.

[Angelsjunky]

Which means that expectations are very different. Half of Neto's value is his defense, while maybe about 10% of Schanuel's value--as a first baseman--is defense. Not to mention base-running.

[T.G.]

Just now, Torridd said:

Sorry, I don't understand.

Like many other insects, crickets don’t have lungs and can’t breathe through their mouths or nostrils. Instead, they take air in through a series of small holes on the sides of their bodies called spiracles.

[drpiranha]

7 minutes ago, Torridd said:

Is there any difference between he and Neto?

Yes. I can accept Neto hitting .220 with 10-12 HRs because he saves runs on defense. Schanuel is probably the best fielding 1Bman we have, but the difference is minor. He needs to (at a minimum) hit .260 with a .340 OBP to earn playing time.

[m0nkey]

Can he be competent this year?

[Inside Pitch]

23 minutes ago, m0nkey said:

Can he be competent this year?

Im going to need to see him try harder and care more.  Also smiles.  Much more smiling, unless he made an out then he needs to look very very mad (care).

[samwum]

I'm ready to send him down.

I think we get a little carried away with what we saw from him last year. The OBP and plate discipline were awesome -- but the power and defense were both lacking. A .402 OBP with no power and bad defense generated 0.0 WAR in about 20% of a theoretical full season's at bats. We're talking about a poor man's Ji-Man Choi here as a comp -- the high OBP/low SLG archetype is not valuable for a 1B. 

I also think his struggles this year are more than just a slump, working through some things, or however you want to phrase it. It's been a very small sample size, but Schanuel has been extremely overmatched and the numbers are really, really bad. Among the worst hitters in the entire league with no signs or peripheral stats that could encourage optimism. 

So I guess I just don't understand what the Angels vision is with Schanuel. There are two clear options -- 

• Play Schanuel in the majors, where he's genuinely getting obliterated, and hope he can turn it around and give us replacement level production while burning service time.
• Develop him through the minor leagues like the other 99.9% of prospects, and focus on generating power in hopes he can be more than a 0-1 WAR player someday.

Seems extremely clear to me what's best for the Angels and the individual player, but whatever.

 

I think the most important factor is that the front office probably has a little extra motivation to get Schanuel going in the majors, so they can point to him as a success story when Arte is evaluating potential contract extensions this offseason. At the end of the day, this is probably all that matters and so Schanuel's leash is presumably endless. 

 

 

 

[hopkinsHalo]

1 hour ago, samwum said:

I'm ready to send him down.

I think we get a little carried away with what we saw from him last year. The OBP and plate discipline were awesome -- but the power and defense were both lacking. A .402 OBP with no power and bad defense generated 0.0 WAR in about 20% of a theoretical full season's at bats. We're talking about a poor man's Ji-Man Choi here as a comp -- the high OBP/low SLG archetype is not valuable for a 1B. 

I also think his struggles this year are more than just a slump, working through some things, or however you want to phrase it. It's been a very small sample size, but Schanuel has been extremely overmatched and the numbers are really, really bad. Among the worst hitters in the entire league with no signs or peripheral stats that could encourage optimism. 

So I guess I just don't understand what the Angels vision is with Schanuel. There are two clear options -- 

• Play Schanuel in the majors, where he's genuinely getting obliterated, and hope he can turn it around and give us replacement level production while burning service time.
• Develop him through the minor leagues like the other 99.9% of prospects, and focus on generating power in hopes he can be more than a 0-1 WAR player someday.

Seems extremely clear to me what's best for the Angels and the individual player, but whatever.

 

I think the most important factor is that the front office probably has a little extra motivation to get Schanuel going in the majors, so they can point to him as a success story when Arte is evaluating potential contract extensions this offseason. At the end of the day, this is probably all that matters and so Schanuel's leash is presumably endless. 

 

 

 

This is pretty persuasive.But it's still only been 40 at bats.

Maybe they think such good plate discipline makes it possible to develop vs mlb pitching. Dubious, but plausible

I doubt the leash is endless. I'd give him a few weeks to get lucky and snap out of it. 

[samwum]

58 minutes ago, hopkinsHalo said:

This is pretty persuasive.But it's still only been 40 at bats.

Maybe they think such good plate discipline makes it possible to develop vs mlb pitching. Dubious, but plausible

I doubt the leash is endless. I'd give him a few weeks to get lucky and snap out of it. 

That's fair. I do love Schanuel's plate discipline and can understand wanting to give him more than 40 ABs.