The Angels are Being Aggressive

The Angels are pulling out all stops to convince Shohei Ohtani to stay in Anaheim. What do I mean by this? 2023 1st Round pick, Nolan Schanuel, just became the 5th fastest player ever to make his MLB debut from the date he was drafted. It took all of 40 days for the Halos to make the decision to call up Schanuel. I have legit taken naps longer than the amount of time Schanuel spent in the minor leagues. He wasn’t just quick to the bigs, he also became the highest-drafted player in any professional sport to come out of Florida Atlantic University (FAU) when he was drafted back in July. This is also another very impressive accomplishment in its own right.

Let’s dive in on why he got the call so quickly. In the minor leagues Schanuel slashed .370 BA / .510 OBP / .493 SLG. He did this across Rookie, Low-A and Double AA levels of competition. These are solid numbers against minor league players. After seeing him at the plate 96 times, Angels General Manager Perry Minasian decided to bring up Schanuel to the bigs and had this to say.

“He’s been very productive since he’s been drafted. In Double-A. Against good competition. Hit righties. Hit lefties. Hit velocity. One, we feel like he can handle it. Two, the experience will be great for him, similar to what we’ve done with some of our other young players.” - Perry Minasian

Something even more impressive, since 2020 he has yet to strikeout more than he walks in a season. That is truly absurd plate discipline and I can see why the Angels management staff felt appropriate to bring him up to the majors so quickly. Fun fact, Schanuel struck out only 16 times in 175 career high school at bats.

The Angels have earned a reputation as of late with calling their guys up early so we shall see how this all works out. Since joining the major league roster he is slashing .267 BA / .353 OBP / .267 SLG. Of course we would like to see the slugging percentage come up but there is a ramp up period for these guys. Especially the ones who got less than 100 plate appearances in the minor leagues. 

Nothing but good wishes to this youngster. I hope the Angels decision to bring him up works out and doesn’t end up breaking his confidence. All in all, he is a fun player to watch and I think the Angels got themselves an everyday player on their hands. 

Photo Credit: WPEC