Los Angeles Angels Top 38 Prospects

Dana signed for just under $1.5 million as an 11th rounder in 2022, and it took him just two years to become a workhorse mid-rotation starter prospect. He had a Herculean 2024 season, as he was able to sustain average velocity for the entire year even though his workload doubled to 146 innings. At just 20 years old, Dana made 23 starts at Double-A (14 of them “quality starts”) before he had a rocky cup of coffee with the big club in September.

Dana is built like an innings-eating monster at a muscular 6-foot-4. Though he lacks precise command right now, his delivery is so loose and easy that it’s fair to project he’ll keep improving in this area and develop plus command of his four-pitch repertoire as he enters his prime. Dana’s best pitch is his slider, which resides in the 84-88 mph range and can be used to garner chase, or as a backdoor offering against lefties. He flashed a good changeup during his brief big league call-up — its power sink even made Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez miss badly — but his feel for dotting it in enticing locations isn’t as consistent as it is for his other pitches (yet). Still, given how loose and easy his delivery is, eventually it should be.

The biggest change to Dana’s report compared to last cycle concerns his fastball grade. I was too worried about its in-zone viability on my last pass. It played great in the zone in 2024 and, considering how he held his arm strength under a massive innings increase, he might have another gear of velo in him once he gets used to working this much. Plus, it looks like he’s going to command it to the locations in which it plays best. Dana is basically big-league ready as he approaches his age-21 season and projects as a mid-rotation stalwart in the Germán Márquez mold.

Klassen developed from a hard-throwing sideshow into a high-upside mid-minors starter in about a year under the Phillies’ tutelage, then was traded to the Angels as part of the Carlos Estévez deal. He walked nearly a batter per inning in his draft year at Minnesota, but coasted through A-ball with fewer free passes in his first pro season. Klassen had a sub-1.00 WHIP when he was traded to Anaheim, and improved his control while also adding a cutter and improving his curveball. Still, his walk rate exploded after the Angels acquired him and chances are that he is going to be a reliever in the end.

Klassen is a super whippy and bouncy athlete who generates huge arm speed. His delivery requires a ton of effort and violence to produce upper-90s heat, and he throws a lot of non-competitive pitches. But improving his breaking stuff (his power curveball is now comfortably plus) and adding a third pitch (his 90-92 mph cutter probably will be eventually, too) is a huge one-year leap for Klassen to have made when there were times in his draft spring when he looked absolutely awful. Klassen has mid-rotation upside if he can hone his command and is a late-inning relief fit if he can’t. His rapid progression in this area is encouraging and, even if it doesn’t continue, he’s going to be an impact arm of some kind. It’s fine to value him toward the back of the Top 100 Prospects list.

Moore finished his incredible career at Tennessee with a .375/.451/.797 line as a junior in a season where he also hit 34 bombs, twice as many as in his sophomore year. He has dangerous pole-to-pole power and performed at a superlative level against college baseball’s premier conference. He was the 2024 draft’s eighth overall pick, signed for $5 million, and was quickly sent to Double-A Rocket City, seemingly on the fast track to Anaheim like so many of the Angels’ recent high draft picks. He missed a few weeks with a meniscus injury but was back before the end of the season and played in Instructional League.

Moore has profile-carrying power for a middle infielder. He sports a pretty standard leg kick (he cuts it with two strikes) and a very aggressive hand position when he loads, with the tip of his bat pointed back toward the pitcher at his load’s apex. His hands work with bloodthirsty loft, and he generates big time leverage with his lower half throughout his swing. Moore is most dangerous against pitches in the lower part of the strike zone, but he gets beaten up around the belt pretty regularly. His combination of breaking ball chase and vulnerability to high fastballs is what largely drove my bearish pre-draft hit tool projection and overall ranking (23rd in the class). Moore did a ton of in-zone whiffing at Tennessee and then again after the draft. He slashed .322/.378/.533 at Double-A, but struck out at a 30% clip and posted a 72% in-zone contact rate, which would be among the bottom handful of big league hitters. There are only a few productive second basemen who strike out as much as Moore did at Tennessee (20% K% during his career) and most of them hit left-handed (Brandon Lowe, for example). Moore is very likely to have a below-average hit tool (even at peak) and rely on his power production to profile as an everyday guy.

Moore could also use some polish on defense. He has below-average hands and lateral footwork, and is a “waist bender” whose knees often stay locked as he fields, which can make for some awkward looking actions. But Moore plays with big time effort and zeal, and is willing to leave his feet to make tough plays if he has to. He gets by at second base on guts much more than skill or athleticism. It’s tough to find precedent for top 15 players at the keystone who strike out as much as Moore projects to (especially among right-handed hitters), particularly when they also aren’t versatile or exceptional defensive players. There are scouts who think Moore will have to move to left field (he tried third base at instructs), and some of those folks still love him because they think he’ll get to enough power to profile there. I am on the skeptical end of things and think that while Moore could have a big power-hitting season or two, for the most part he’ll perform like a second-division regular.

The Angels floored Rada’s promotion pace in 2024, and he began the season at Double-A Rocket City at just 18 years and seven months old. After being skipped over High-A entirely, his production predictably dipped; he slugged just .269 and had just 13 extra-base hits in 123 games. It is very difficult to contextualize Rada’s offensive performance, and it’s possible he was pushed in a way that was detrimental to his development, because he looked overmatched basically all year. He was basically a high schooler competing against pitchers who were, on average, about six years older than he was in 2024.

Rada is a stocky 5-foot-8; his listed height dropped two inches after MLB’s independent measurement last spring. He is not the typical 6-foot-1 teenager who you could see adding 20 or so pounds of muscle over time. It’s important that the contact aspect of Rada’s game ends up being a plus attribute because he probably won’t develop big power. His strikeout rates have been climbing with each promotion, but again, it’s fair to conclude his 2024 assignment was unreasonable and the root cause of this. Rada struggled to make contact with anything that wasn’t in his natural bat path, and he swung over the top of a ton of breaking stuff and underneath many fastballs up and away from him. Improvement in this area will be key to him outpacing this updated, lower-variance fourth outfielder projection.

Rada’s defense is easily the most special and advanced part of his game. His range, routes, and balls skills all project to be plus if they aren’t already. His poise and comfort out there is incredible for a player his age, and Rada’s future defensive grade is only capped by his speed, which is “merely” plus and at risk of trending down because of how his build might progress. Rada is still a good prospect, but a lack of power projection caps his ceiling somewhat. Guys like Adam Eaton and Cedric Mullins provide examples of what it looks like when an outfielder this size succeeds in a big way despite a lack of physicality. It’s still possible for Rada to get there, but it looks less likely now that he’s encountered some hit tool instability.

Aldegheri is a crafty Italian lefty who signed with Philly for $210,000 back in 2019. He had been tracking as a spot starter, but in 2024, his secondary stuff took a leap; he raced through the minors and became part of the Angels’ return from the Phils for Carlos Estévez. Across 95.1 innings split between the minors and majors, Aldegheri struckout 134 guys and threw strikes at a better-than-average rate until near the end of the season.

Aldegheri only sits 90-94, but he creates plus riding life (18 inches of induced vertical break on average) from a deceptive vertical slot. He has that classic, short-levered vertical lefty arm stroke in the Clayton Kershaw mold, the kind that prevents hitters from seeing the baseball until it appears from behind the pitcher’s head. Off of that Aldegheri mixes in a plus low-80s slider and an improving changeup, both of which he commands to effective locations. He’ll dump in a slower curveball for called strikes on occasion. He probably won’t be a monster due to a lack of velocity, but Aldegheri is a high-floored no. 4/5 starter and a fantastic story because he’s coming from a place that has rarely produced pro baseball players.

Born in Mexico, Natera went to high school in El Paso. He was mostly focused on basketball in high school and didn’t start pitching until he was 17 years old. He had a walk-prone pro debut in 2023 and then sprained his elbow during 2024 spring training, which limited him to 15 innings during the regular season. Natera then had a great Arizona Fall League showing, as he would routinely peak in the 95-97 mph range during his starts while sitting 93-94 for the bulk of his outings. He was in as good of physical condition as any Fall Leaguer save for maybe Jac Caglianone, with a sculpted 6-foot-4 frame that looks like it can handle a starter’s innings load. Natera’s delivery has a long arm swing and his release is inconsistent, but his fastball’s shape gives him some margin for error in this regard and he simply has not pitched very much for someone his age. He has an above-average sweeper in the 81-85 mph range and can create modest fade on his low-80s changeup. Every aspect of Natera’s craftsmanship could conceivably improve. This is an athletic guy without a ton of high-level experience who, if his physique is any indication, seems motivated to max himself out. He’s a multi-inning relief prospect with some right tail outcomes in a rotation if indeed he is just scratching the surface.

Kent was the Angels’ 2023 eighth round pick out of Pottsboro, TX, and they gave him nearly $1 million to forgo his Arkansas commitment. His carrying attribute was (and remains) his 83-86 mph slider, while lackluster command and the sinking shape of his fastball are barriers between his current abilities and a fit in a big league rotation.

Kent stands in at a strapping at 6-foot-4 and has pretty clearly been in the weight room since he signed. He doesn’t have an uber-projectable frame, but he has already gotten stronger and put himself in better physical position to develop starter-quality control. Kent’s lack of fastball movement means that he needs to improve his command in order for it to play. If there’s a silver lining to Kent’s sinker, it’s that its movement should be useful in aiding the development of his changeup, which takes a similar line to the plate at 81-85 mph. Kent’s changeup flashed bat-missing tail at the end of 2024, and when he actually deploys it (his usage ranges between 5-8% depending on the start), he does a good job maintaining his heater’s arm speed. His slider is easily his best pitch and a future plus offering, with power depth and finish. He’s built like a durable innings-eater, he held his high school velocity across 113 innings in 2024, and he has the makings of a viable third pitch. Kent’s realistic ceiling (via a leap in changeup quality and command) is that of a no. 4/5 starter.

Guzman was the Angels’ top 2021 international amateur signee at just shy of $2 million. He has yet to have an impressive statistical full-season performance, with a mid-80s wRC+ at Low- and Double-A each of the last two years. He’s another of the Angels’ prospects who almost completely skipped over their High-A affiliate in southeast Washington. Guzman is only 20, putting his .206/.297/.304 line at Double-A Rocket City (west of Huntsville, Alabama) in a more forgiving light. To the eye, he still looks like a good defensive shortstop with a shot to develop above-average raw power at peak.

Guzman’s tools are like Diet Willy Adames. He has cleaned up some of the odd looking aspects of his defensive actions (which were once strange and stiff when he had to make plays in on the grass), and he’s really great at backhanding balls in the hole and making strong throws back across his body. Guzman is also an impressive in-the-box rotator and swings pretty hard for a 20-year-old, but his cut is quite long and grooved. Guzman has had concerningly high strikeout rates in the minors and lacks any kind of barrel feel, and he probably won’t get to all his raw power in games because of this. This is the biggest hurdle for Guzman to clear if he’s going to develop into an everyday shortstop. He’s more likely to be a utility infielder who runs into a dozen annual bombs.

Hurtado pitched in a piggyback role in 2023 and then as a starter for all of 2024, when he worked 138.2 innings at High-A Tri-City. He is still very unpolished, both from a strike-throwing standpoint and as far as repertoire depth is concerned. A full 87% of Hurtado’s pitches were either fastballs or sliders again in 2024, so unless you count his two different fastballs as independent offerings (they do have well demarcated movement profiles), he’s a two-pitch guy with well-below-average control. For this reason, Hurtado is projected as a reliever here at FanGraphs, but don’t let that discourage you from being excited about his prospects. Hurtado held mid-90s velocity across a huge innings uptick in 2024, and his slider generated a 44% miss rate, per Synergy. Because he throws so many of them nowhere near the zone, his 84-88 mph gyro slider only plays like a plus pitch when opponents decide to swing at it. He needs to improve his command, but if he does, his slider will be a plus offering, maybe even better than that.

A move to the bullpen might enable Hurtado to sustain the upper-90s velocity he shows at peak. He looks an awful lot like Cubs reliever Daniel Palencia in terms of his build, arm stroke, arm slot, and maybe even his peak velocity if Hurtado shifts into the bullpen. He’s on a December 2025 40-man/Rule 5 Draft timeline, so look for him to maybe shift into relief sometime this coming season so the Angels can see what that looks like and make an informed decision about whether or not to roster him.

Cortez began 2024 in Texas A&M’s rotation, but he quickly shifted into a relief role and thrived. He was incredible during the college postseason and mowed through several SEC lineups in a high-leverage long relief role, likely bolstering his draft stock late in the process. Cortez is a medium-framed guy with below-average athletic projection. He uses a short-striding, cross-bodied delivery with a low three-quarters slot, which causes his fastball to move and play like that of Justin Martinez of the Diamondbacks. Cortez can pump upper-90s gas with heavy sink across multiple innings. His upper-80s slider has curveball shape when he lands it in the zone, and more sweeper-style movement when it’s on the glove-side part of the plate. He threw a handful of changeups in 2024, but he’s mostly just a two-pitch guy — perhaps like Martinez, he is a candidate to add a splitter in pro ball. Cortez projects as a quick-moving, impact reliever who’d be the third-best bullpen arm on a good team.

Perhaps the weirdest of all 2024 draft prospects, Johnson had six double-digit strikeout starts in 2024, amassing 151 total strikeouts and just 14 walks in 106 IP. Johnson set the Dallas Baptist record for strikeouts in a season, became the school’s all-time strikeout leader, and finished the year ranked in the top 10 nationally in strikeouts (fourth), BB/9 IP (fourth), ERA (sixth), and WHIP (10th). Why so weird? Johnson has a funky low-slot delivery that features big effort and a huge head whack. He doesn’t look like a typical big league starter, but he certainly performed like a starting pitching prospect in college.

Johnson uses an east/west attack and throws a ton of low-80s sliders. His fastball sits 92-94 with tailing action, and the horizontal divergence between Johnson’s fastball and slider was too much for college hitters to deal with. Johnson often changes the pace of his delivery to home, with frequent quick-pitches catching hitters off guard. At first glance, he looks like a deceptive long reliever, but let’s be mindful that guys like Tanner Houck have paved the way for pitchers with funkadelic low-slot deliveries like Johnson to develop and thrive as starters. Ideally, Johnson will develop a splitter or something else to fill out his mix and make him better able to tussle with lefties. His grade here leaves room for starter outcomes even though I think it’s unlikely.

Urena remains a sushi raw strike-thrower who has walked a shade over six batters per nine throughout his three-year pro career. He generates upper-90s fastball velocity with comical ease for a pitcher who will only turn 21 during the 2024-25 offseason, but Urena’s release is wildly inconsistent, which impacts the efficacy of his stuff. Urena sat 94-99 across the entire 2024 season and was holding that velocity during instructs in the fall. His slider (anywhere in the 81-87 mph range) and changeup (84-88) both flash plus movement on occasion, but Urena’s lack of feel impacts their quality throughout his starts. None of his pitches generated a meaningfully good whiff rate in 2024 — Urena’s profile is entirely dependent on him improving his control enough for his stuff to play, let alone enough for him to start. He has as much upside as the pitchers in the 40+ FV tier of the Angels system, arguably more because there are glimpses of three good pitches here, but he’s also the most under-developed of the group and will probably take a while to make a case for a roster spot.

Flores is a skillful young defender whose offensive ceiling will likely be capped by his lack of size and his tendency to chase. He has some pull power but is much more likely to have a career as a glove-first backup than as a primary catcher. Flores is an unbelievably skilled thrower of the baseball. He has fairly average raw arm strength, but the quickness of his exchange and his ability to turn around poorly located pitches with pace and accuracy is remarkable. Flores’ hands are also an asset when picking pitches in the dirt. He’s a smaller athlete who needs to get stronger so his receiving can be quieter, but the other aspects of his defense are already very advanced and he projects as a plus defender with a plus arm.

On offense, Flores is best when he gets something up and in that he can turn on. He is otherwise not a very dynamic or patient hitter. He’s a compact athlete without a ton of physical projection and is unlikely to add much strength or power. He’s ahead of the typical promotion pace for a teenager, but likely won’t fight for a big league roster spot until 2028 or 2029.

Jordan was signed away from a Florida State commitment for about $1.25 million. Analytically inclined teams have frequently pursued pitchers of his ilk, but this is a bit of a departure for the Angels. Jordan has a drop-and-drive delivery, and a low, slinger’s arm slot. He bears some mechanical resemblance to Zack Wheeler, and creates nasty rise/run action that crowds the hands of righty batters. Off of that Jordan throws a two-plane sweeper-style breaking ball in the 77-82 mph range. He’s not as projectable as most high school pitchers, but he isn’t maxed out, either, and it’s possible he’ll add velocity as he matures, though via better conditioning rather than from him filling out. It can be tough for pitchers with deliveries like this to find a distinct third pitch, and that’s what the Angels will attempt to develop. This is an exciting, high-variance prospect whose acquisition signals something of a stylistic adjustment on the Angels’ part, while also continuing their trend of adding over-slot high school pitchers later in the draft.

Laverde is an exciting bat-first catching prospect who split time between the Angels’ Low-A and complex-level teams early in 2024 before entrenching himself at Inland Empire in the second half. Combined between the two levels, Laverde slashed .294/.371/.406 with 22 extra-base hits in 75 games. There are other position player prospects who have a better chance to remain at their up-the-middle position than Laverde, but one could argue Laverde has more offensive potential by a good bit. He has plus lefty bat speed with natural pull-side loft and enough barrel control to manifest that power in games. His stocky build lacks great long-term physical projection (Omar Narváez and Tucker Barnhart are pretty good body comps), but Laverde already has good offensive tools for a catching prospect.

His arm strength is fine, but his accuracy, receiving, ball-blocking, and some of the other more subtle aspects of catching (Laverde’s posture and early crouch often tip what pitch type is coming) will have to develop if he is going to stick behind the plate. All of that stuff is below average but not so bad that he’s less than a 50/50 chance to stay back there; his foundation as a defender is strong enough to project him to remain at catcher. As is always the case with teenage catchers, Laverde is a risky prospect who will likely take a while to develop. His ultimate upside is as a bat-first catcher in the Narváez or Victor Caratini mold.

Lugo’s rare power/speed combination drove his amateur clout, and he signed for $2.3 million in January of 2024. He was not ranked as highly here at FanGraphs as his bonus might indicate because Lugo had hit tool question marks and was at risk of a move to a corner. His arm strength gives him a chance to develop into a viable shortstop defender, but his size is going to be a barrier over time. Lugo hit for power in his pro debut, but also K’d at a 23% clip, which is pretty high for a DSL hitter but completely expected based on Lugo’s amateur report. He holds in this FV tier heading into his second pro season. This is a high-variance power-hitting prospect whose hit tool might cause the bottom to fall out of his profile eventually.

Scrawny speedsters like Ortiz often end up moving off of shortstop and out to center field, with Billy Hamilton a prime recent example. But Ortiz’s infield defense took a leap in 2024, and he not only looks like a lock to stay at short, he might become an impact glove there. Ortiz’s exchange can still be a little slow, but his range is great and his arm strength passes left-side muster. While that’s true, Ortiz hasn’t really gotten any stronger and it still takes so much effort for his little body to swing hard that he ends up struggling to control the bat. He posted a paltry 64% contact rate in 2024, which is scraping the bottom of the viability barrel. He has only been switch-hitting for a couple of years, and while Ortiz doesn’t have ideal body projection because he’s such a rail, he should get at least somewhat bigger as he matures, and take a step forward as a hitter via both improved skill and strength. At minimum, he looks like a plus shortstop defender with 70 speed — even with a flawed hit tool, that’s a good utility player. His upside will be driven by how much Ortiz develops on offense, so much of which is still TBD as he grows and changes as an athlete.

A 2022 undrafted free agent from Jacksonville University, Darrell-Hicks moved to the bullpen full-time in 2024 and thrived in a multi-inning role as a strike-throwing sinker/slider/cutter guy; he reached Salt Lake in the middle of the season. He fills the zone with greater consistency than most relievers, his fastball has enough sink to stay off of barrels (Darrell-Hicks generated a 53.6% groundball rate in his 20.2 Triple-A innings), and he commands his two distinct breaking balls (both of which are above-average) with aplomb. This was a nice pickup for the Angels. Darrell-Hicks has a good shot to make his big league debut late in 2025 and compete for a lower-leverage middle-inning role thereafter.

Fermin signed a month shy of his 22nd birthday, which is practically ancient for an international prospect. His 2024 debut season was messy but electric. He raced through both A-ball levels and ended the season at Double-A Rocket City. During his second half at Tri-City, Fermin was striking out a whopping 40% of opposing hitters. He has a high-effort, open-stride delivery that generates a 94-97 mph fastball with plus vertical break. More effective than his fastball is Fermin’s 84-88 mph gyro slider, which has nasty vertical movement for a pitch as hard as it is. All the effort in Fermin’s delivery makes him very wild, wild enough that he projects to middle relief rather than the late-inning role in which his stuff could conceivably play. If he can curb his walks against upper-level hitters in 2025, he’ll quickly have made a case to be on the big league roster.

The former Wake Forest closer was drafted by the Angels in the sixth round after striking out 34.3% of opposing batters in his final collegiate season. Minacci is a standard fastball/slider middle relief prospect who throws from a high three-quarters slot with significant effort in his delivery. His four-seamer, which averaged 95 mph in 2024 and has touched 97 mph, will flash late action; his mid-80s slider relies on the lateness of its break more than the amount of movement it shows. Minacci split 2024 between High- and Double-A, where he struck out 31.5% of opposing hitters. He is on pace to debut at some point in the middle of 2026.

A native of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Victor began his college career in Fort Myers at Florida Gulf Coast before transferring to UCF for his junior and senior seasons. A pure reliever, Victor surrendered 15 earned runs in his 24.1 senior innings and fell to the third day of the draft, where he signed for $150,000 (so $25,000 against the Angels’ bonus pool). He was impressive after the draft and lit scouts up at instructs, where he sat 95-98 with a plus slider. Victor likely won’t have the command to work in high-leverage situations, but he looks like a quick-moving middle reliever.

The toolsiest member of the Angels’ DSL team, Alvarez is built like a college wide receiver at a ripped 6-foot-3. He’s a plus runner with burgeoning raw power that hasn’t manifested in games yet due to Alvarez’s wonky swing, which isn’t in the zone for very long. His early-career chase and contact performance creates an exciting offensive foundation for an up-the-middle prospect whose career is just getting started.

The most recent mid-draft, over-slot high school pitcher selected by the Angels, TGA was a fixture on the high school showcase circuit. Between the summer of 2023 and the 2024 Draft Combine, he added nearly 10 ticks to his fastball, which touched 100 at the Combine. A big-framed, physically mature righty with below-average control, Gregory-Alford’s fastball was mostly sitting 91-94 when he was pitching with Team USA in the fall of 2023. Though it required a ton of effort, he was throwing much harder the following spring and he was working in the 94-97 mph range during 2024 instructs. TGA also has a vertical, mid-80s slider that looks like a potential finishing pitch. He’s not a premium athlete and he’s physically maxed out, both traits of a relief prospect. This grade awaits TGA showing that he can maintain plus velocity across a whole pro season before he climbs into a FV tier with the other upside relievers.

Marquez was maybe the DSL Angels’ most physically and offensively advanced player, as he slashed .294/.420/.395 with more walks than strikeouts and came to the U.S. for instructs in the fall. Marquez has a relatively mature, rectangular build, and is more likely to progress physically with the right strength and conditioning program rather than just via maturation. He has a line drive-oriented swing and plus barrel control, but he’ll probably need to add both raw and game power to his skill set to profile at second or third base, the two infields positions he’s most likely to be capable of playing.

Vargas is a stout, six foot righty who cut his walks substantially in 2024 compared to 2023, while also enjoying a two- or three-tick velocity spike. Vargas’ fastball averaged 92-93 mph in 2023 and a scout who saw him earlier this spring had him sitting 93-95, but when I saw him in June (before he became the youngest part of the Luis García deal), he held 95-96 and touched 98 across three innings of work. Vargas also has a snappy curveball in the 81-84 mph range that flashes plus. At his size, he’s perhaps more likely to be a reliever, but he made a ton of progress in the last year, especially in the strike-throwing department. Vargas is a young, hard-throwing (likely) relief prospect with a good two-pitch foundation.

Gomez was barbecuing on the complex for several years before the Angels moved him into a shorter relief role in 2024. He thrived and was dominant in May, June, and July before he was promoted to Inland Empire. The rail-thin Gomez had a velo boost into the 93-96 mph range, and his ability to bully complex-level hiters with that velocity allowed him to work more efficiently than ever and avoid walks. Gomez will also flash a plus two-plane curveball in the 78-83 mph range. He still has problems with mechanical inconsistency that need to be polished, but his uptick in stuff quality, his bodily fluidity, and his remaining physical projection make him another of the many interesting developmental reliever projects in the Angels system.

Key is a projectable 21-year-old developmental project whose max-effort delivery has made it very tough for him to throw strikes so far in pro ball. At a lanky 6-foot-3, he maintained mid-90s velocity throughout 94 regular season innings in 2024, and was 93-97 with natural cut during instructs. He complements that with a 76-83 mph slurve, which Key has better feel for locating than his fastball. Especially if he gets a bump to his heater with a move to the bullpen (ideally his breaking ball will become faster, too), he has the look of a pretty standard middle reliever. Key’s changeup is good enough to merit at least one more year of development as a starter just in case he starts locating more consistently.

Mershon signed for an over-slot $405,000 as an 18th-round draft-eligible sophomore. He mostly played shortstop at Mississippi State (where he hit a career .329/.447/.447) and he’s played mostly second base so far in pro ball, but his excellent speed (and flub-prone hands) make him a candidate to explore center field. Indeed, Mershon got reps in center field after he signed and again in the 2024 Arizona Fall League, where his time was cut short by what looked like a hammy tweak suffered on a dive for a shallow fly ball. Ji Hwan Bae and Garrett Hampson are examples of the sort of role Mershon could grow into as a defender. On offense, he has some pull power as a right-handed hitter and is more of a gap-pepperer from the left side. He has a shot to play a multi-positional bench role and impact the game as a runner.

Lugo was acquired from Boston at the 2024 deadline as part of a four-player package in exchange for reliever Luis García. Carlos Beltrán’s nephew moved to the outfield full-time in 2024 and it appeared as though a swing change unlocked an extra gear of power for him, as Lugo hit 17 home runs (one shy of his career high) in just 79 games. Lugo’s hands were setting up earlier than before, and the path they take to load has changed. His mistake-crushing style had him on pace to hit 30 homers in the minors before he was shut down with a thumb injury after just one game in the Angels org.

Always geared for pull-side lift, there hasn’t been a dramatic change to Lugo’s batted ball profile, but he hit the ball harder last year and chased less. Hell-bent on pulling the baseball, Lugo struggles to cover the outer third of the zone and swings inside of a ton of pitches out there. Given his projected hit tool limitations (his contact rates were average in 2024, but this eval thinks his approach will make it tough to sustain that) and the way his defensive versatility has trended down, he looks more like an above-replacement up/down outfielder than a consistent role player. This is a well-built young athlete who’ll probably play high-level pro baseball for quite a while, and if he can successfully revisit the infield during that time, then we’re talking about a more rosterable player.

Sanchez looks like the same player he was when the Angels acquired him from Philly as part of the Noah Syndergaard trade, which is a positive in some ways and a negative in others. The good: Sanchez is a lean and lanky switch-hitter who has demonstrated above-average overall feel for contact. The bad: He’s been rail thin for basically his whole career and has yet to get any stronger. Sanchez’s 2024 statline was pretty terrible, but Tri-City is a horrible place to hit. Sanchez’s lefty swing is beautiful and pure, and he can pull pitches on the inner third with power. It may end up being sexier looking than it is functional against big league velocity, but it’s a good enough reason to stay on Sanchez as a prospect to some extent. His underlying contact numbers are a bit better than average, and Sanchez’s build and bodily looseness indicate athletic longevity. His ceiling is capped by a lack of physicality, but there are still fifth outfielder tools here.

Foster was an Athens, Georgia high schooler who ended up at Florence-Darlington Tech (they’re the Stingers), a South Carolina junior college. He slashed .386/.481/.665 there and looks like a good Day Three pick, as Foster has slugged his way onto the prospect radar. He spent the end of 2023 and the first half of 2024 hitting some epic backfield blasts before thriving at Inland Empire for the last few weeks of the season. Foster has above-average raw power right now and might have another full grade in him at peak. Issues with plate coverage might become more of a problem for Rio as he climbs the minors, so he’s graded as a high-variance, power-hitting sleeper at the bottom of the system for now.

Morrobel is a toolsy developmental shortstop prospect who signed for just shy of a million bucks in 2023. Stocky and physically mature, Morrobel’s rocket arm strength is what gives him a shot to stay at short even if he continues to fill out more and slows down a bit. He’s capable of sizzling the baseball to first base from deep in the hole, and his arm could compensate for what might be below-average range during the bulk of his career, but like most aspects of his game, he is often playing a bit out of control.

On offense, Morrobel swings with impressive bat speed from both sides of the plate, but it takes him a ton of effort to generate it. He managed to keep his K rate down to an inspiringly low 12.9% in 2024 as he slashed .308/.400/.327 with as many walks as strikeouts for the Angels’ complex affiliate. Visual evaluation of his breaking ball recognition suggests there is a regression coming in this area, and Morrobel might be a chase-prone hitter as he climbs. His lefty swing has a downward-cutting bat path that looks rather ineffectual, and indeed Morrobel averaged a negative launch angle in 2024 (-3.9 degrees); he’ll likely require a swing change at some point if he’s going to make any sort of impact contact. You can clearly see why Morrobel got the signing bonus he did, but at this stage, he’s much more of a toolsy dev project than an ascendant everyday shortstop.

A sweet-swinging first base and corner outfield prospect (who got some third base reps in 2023), Martinez experienced a sizable offensive uptick in his second DSL season, slashing .275/.391/.394 with 11 extra-base hits in 45 games in 2024. He has a gorgeous lefty swing with beautiful fluidity and loft, and there’s a chance that Martinez will clear the relatively high bar for raw power at the corner positions depending on how his body develops. He’s swinging and missing a little too much to be a high-value prospect, but a relatively strong visual report has Martinez on the radar.

Gordon began his draft year in Clemson’s rotation but was moved to the closer role toward the end of March. He stretched out to five innings (and struck out 10) again at the very end of the season for a postseason game against Florida, and at his size (a wispy, loose 6-foot-5), there’s a chance he can be stretched out again in pro ball. Gordon sat 95 as a reliever and 92 as a starter in 2024, and his mid-80s slider is his secondary weapon of choice, with a slower curveball occupying most of the rest of his repertoire. He has a collection of average pitches, with great long-term physical projection for a college prospect. There are many developmental avenues that Gordon’s career might take, but he’s pretty likely to wind up a lower-leverage member of a pitching staff pretty quickly.

Espinosa pitched in a piggyback role with the Astros for the first two years of his pro career and then was traded to the Angels for Trey Cabbage before the start of the 2024 season. The Angels moved him to the bullpen, and Espinosa’s two-plane slider became his most frequently used secondary pitch. He posted a 30.7% strikeout rate at High-A and then wrapped the year with 10 fair outings at Double-A. It looks like Espinosa is having a velo spike during winter ball in Puerto Rico. In the days before Angels list publication, he was sitting 95-98 rather than his usual 93-96. If he can sustain that into 2025, then he might seize control of a bullpen spot in perpetuity. Here he’s projected as more of an up/down option due to the lack of a plus secondary pitch.

Lockhart began his college career at South Florida and then transferred to the College of Central Florida as a sophomore. He pitched for the Sanford River Rats in the 2024 Florida Collegiate Summer League and struck out 23 guys in 9.2 innings of work there (seriously). Lockhart then made himself known to the pro scouting community after the draft with a walk-prone 13 innings at Inland Empire, where his fastball was up to 101, velo he maintained at instructs. He has unbelievable arm speed and a whammer of an arm action that’s tough for Lockhart to control. He showed three different secondary pitches during instructs, my favorite of which was his upper-70s curveball; his mid-80s slider and upper-80s changeup were less consistent. Another of the many hard-throwing dev projects in the Angels system, Lockhart’s sparse experience and smaller school background indicate he will benefit from reps and pro instruction.

A relatively projectable 18-year-old righty, Soto struck out a batter per frame and posted a 1.09 WHIP across 56 DSL innings. He’s loose, strides down the mound well, and fills the zone. His low-90s fastball has a fair amount of carry, and one can project on Soto’s secondary stuff based on his athleticism and fluidity. He’s a very green developmental pitching prospect who had a strong age-17 season in 2024.

The Angels signed Texido for $250,000 out of Cuba in 2023 and he dominated the DSL in his first pro season. He had a rude, walk-prone awakening in 2024 as he struggled to throw strikes at Low-A Inland Empire, issuing free passes at a 16.6% clip. Texido also struck out a batter per inning despite having an 86-89 mph fastball because he’s incredibly deceptive. Most cross-bodied pitchers have lower arm slots, but Texido’s slot is vertical and deceptive. Ryan Yarbrough’s delivery is a close a mechanical comp, but Texido’s stride direction is more akin to DJ Herz or a younger Sean Manaea. Texido will show you a plus tailing changeup, but he struggled to get into changeup counts in 2024. He’s still an interesting smoke-and-mirrors prospect with a unique delivery and release.