Zach Neto, LAA SS, welcome to the BIGs. What a morning/afternoon it was (depending on where you live), hearing the news of Neto's promotion from AA to the bigs.
In an effort to infuse their team with some energy (and more importantly, production from SS), the 7-6 Angels (2nd, AL West) surprised the baseball world (while I was still having my Saturday morning coffee) in calling up 2022 draftee Zach Neto from AA (the first from the '22 draft class to make it to the majors).
Sure, Zach was off to an incredible start at AA (where, btw, he was repeating from last year) .444 Avg, .559 OBP, .815 SLG, 1.374 OPS 3 HRs, 10 RBI's, 3 SBs.
But, it was just 7 games and 27 ABs.
Of course, LAA wasn't just going on that small sample alone, as there were also those 23 ABs and .828 OPS from the Spring. Oh, and don't forget 2022, where Zach batted .320, with a .382 OBP, and .874 OPS, 4 HRs, 4 SBs. across 30 games and 122 ABs resulting in a wRC+ of 132 -- which was 69th best among AA players with 100 PA's or more.
So, it wasn't just the small sample size from this year, but collectively a fairly dominant effort for Zach in AA (from 2022-2023) and a decent Spring.
But, it's also just Spring training and just AA. And, he wasn't THE BEST AA player (last year or this year). And, of course, success in AA doesn't necessarily translate to success in AAA much less AAA.
So why did LAA forgo its options in AAA and choose to promote Zach. Well, while there are sure to be more than one reason. Let's look at a few.
1. No, Zach Neto is not the best player left in the minor leagues
Neto is good, pretty good, maybe real good, but we all know he's not the best player remaining in MiLB. I'd personally have to give that honor to Elly Da La Cruz, Andrew Painter, Ricky Tiedermann, Gavin Williams or Brett Baty (Baty, btw, continues to smoke AAA, making the Metsies look real dumb now that Neto got the call and Baty didn't despite NYM being in a worse place with Escobar at 3rd and Baty demolishing AAA). And, as far as Neto goes, remember, there were 68 players that had better production (comparatively in AA) last year than Neto. But, only 7 were 21 (Neto's age) or younger. So that's some fairly elite company (top 7 in AA, 21 or younger)...hmmm
Wanne see the list? It's Gunnar Henderson (MLB), Corbin Carroll (MLB), Ezequiel Tovar (MLB), Kyle Manzardo (AAA), Curtis Mead (AAA), Francisco Alvarez (MLB), and Elly de la Cruz (minor league DL, but maybe the true #1 remaining positional prospect).
Well, that is pretty elite.
But, of course, LAA doesn't get to choose from all of MiLB, they get to choose from their pool of players.
2. Neto is arguably LAA's best prospect (and definitely(?) their best position player prospect)
Excluding Logan O'Hoppe, a current major leaguer (who both MLB Pipeline and Dynasty Ranks had as their top LAA prospect), only Sam Bachman (#49 Dynasty Ranks) and Edgard Quero (#151 Dynasty Ranks) have real good argument of being the top remaining Angels prospect outside of Neto. [side note, we were overly, and maybe unfairly, bearish on Neto, having 1B Luis Torres ahead of Neto and Neto all the way down at #167 in our rank whilst MLB had Neto at #82]
Putting aside Quero's 150 wRC+ at A (which put him ahead of Neto, but of course with production at a lower level), and Luis Torres' wRC+ of 156 (which came in the DSL), we're not going to put up a big fight that Zach Neto is or isn't the Angel's best position player prospect [we have a love affair with SP Sam Bachman btw, and would still make him the #1 Angels prospect, overall, pitchers and position players]
So, you can't argue against LAA dipping into their talent pool to pull their best remaining player
3. SS situation in Anaheim. David Fletcher was not a great option.
Thus far in 2023, over 16 ABs (and 8 games at SS), Fletcher had 2 hits (batting .125) with an OPS+ of -31. Obvously not great. Actually, terrible.
And, more problematically, that poor start follows a career .681 OPS and career 86 OPS+. So we're not just talking a poor start, but very poor production from 2B/SS (45 games at 2B in 2022, 36 at SS). In fact, that production is poorer than an average major leaguer and especially poor from a premium position like SS (now, sure, maybe David is actually, really a 2B, but still, an 86 OPS+ from 2b is still very very bad)...so bad that we were thinking that LAA could go St. Browns style (remember, this guy? well, probably not, but you get the idea)
So, it's understandable that LAA wanted to make a move. But why not look to the existing roster?
4. No good options for SS in Anaheim
Besides Fletcher, LAA had only two other players at SS this year: 31 y.o. Gio Urshela (6x) and 2B Luis Rengifo (3x). Rengifo has split time with Drury at 2b and is not a SS. He doesn't have the range, he doesn't have the arm and he doesn't have the hitting production you need from SS. In fact, Rengifo's MLB "success" is almost a mirror image of Fletcher's: i.e. Rengifo "boasts" a .661 OPS, 80 OPS+. Maybe Rengifo's age (26) played a part, or else, his more regular usage or fit at 2B, or maybe it was the SS/3B versatility. Or maybe it was Fletcher still having a minor league option. Whatever the reason for choosing to designate Fletcher over Rengifo, Rengifo is not a viable major league starting SS.
That leaves Urshela. Gio Urshela is a 3B, not a SS. Now, in an emergency situation, he can fill in at SS, but he definitelyl does not have the range/athleticism that you'd want at SS. As far as hitting goes, there is an improvement over Rengifo and Fletcher: Career OPS: .750, Career OPS+: 104. But, that's still not the production you want from SS (even if Gio was a defensive whiz at SS which he is not), AND Gio's best years are likely behind him.
So, there were no options internally and LAA had to do something as they literally and figuratively had a huge hole to fill.
5. The best option wasn't with the Bees
The Salt Lake Bees are the Angels AAA club. There, they have the likes of one 22 y.o. SS named Livan Soto and one 28 y.o. Andrew Velasquez. Problem for Soto and the Angels is that Soto was off to a terrible start: 47ABs .149 Avg .535 OPS. And Soto has a pretty bad MiLB Career Line: 1521 ABs .244 Avg, .658 OPS (just 14 HRs so like 6 over every year/600 ABs but 54 SBs, so some wheels, but not enough to overcome a subpar 88 career wRC+ which places Soto around 3,875th dating back to 2018)
While Velasquez has been mildly better, its mildy better with a career .269 Avg, .739 OPS, and career 113 wRC+ [good for 1401st on the 2018-2023 career list]
Those are some pretty uninspiring options (might as well keep Fletcher)
6. What about a Trade?
There are some SS's to trade for out there: STL's Paul DeJong, AZ' Nick Ahmed, Balt's prospect Jordan Westburg, NYY's Isiah Kiner-Falefa, TB's Taylor Walls or TEX's Ezequiel Duran but that also means taking on some salary ($$) and also trading away one of a very few good prospects you have [which would be a huge hit, since LAA is among the worst Farm Systems in baseball, Dynasty Ranks has them at #22 and that's probably pretty generous: https://www.dynastyfocus.com/2023-mlb-team-farm-ranks ]
7. There are no options but the NETO one
So there he is. Just a ripe apple ready to be picked from the tree: your first round draft pick from a year ago tearing up AA ball. You know he can handle short and he's sure been handling AA pitching with ease. He also fared well in Spring Training and looked like he could fit right in on the club. So why not? Why not shock the baseball world and make the call?
And there's a blueprint for this. There's a kid named Vaughn Grissom that was called up from AA last year that held his own. And ATL did it twice as there was also that Michael Harris fella. Oh and don't forget Ezequiel Tovar over in COL and Jordan Walker in STL.
In the end, this absolutely crazy, out of nowhere, premature call-up was the most sane and sensical choice from a pool of almost zero rationale alternatives. If these other guys can succeed making the jump from AA to the majors, why can't Zach Neto?
8. So what now?
Well, now LAA gives their SS of the future a chance. Neto may not hit that well this year, but he can't hit much worse than Fletcher. And, you're going to get the same, similar or maybe better defense. So, I like it. Maybe I love it. And, maybe this was LAA's plan all along -- drafting Neto in 2022 and promoting him in 2023, a player they fast-tracked to the majors.
I'm not going to rush out and pick up Neto (in fact, I passed in all leagues today), but I'm rooting for him to succeed and am confident that LAA is going to have an above average offensive player out of the SS position...just maybe not a whole lot above average this year.
N D
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