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Below is an analysis of the prospects in the farm system of the Los Angeles Angels. Scouting reports were compiled with information provided by industry sources as well as our own observations. This is the fourth year we’re delineating between two anticipated relief roles, the abbreviations for which you’ll see in the “position” column below: MIRP for multi-inning relief pitchers, and SIRP for single-inning relief pitchers. The ETAs listed generally correspond to the year a player has to be added to the 40-man roster to avoid being made eligible for the Rule 5 draft. Manual adjustments are made where they seem appropriate, but we use that as a rule of thumb. A quick overview of what FV (Future Value) means can be found here. A much deeper overview can be found here.
All of the ranked prospects below also appear on The Board, a resource the site offers featuring sortable scouting information for every organization. It has more details (and updated TrackMan data from various sources) than this article and integrates every team’s list so readers can compare prospects across farm systems. It can be found here.
Other Prospects of Note
Grouped by type and listed in order of preference within each category.
Tweener Outfielders
- Bryce Teodosio, OF
- Anthony Scull, CF
- Werner Blakely, CF
- Jorge Ruiz, OF
Teodosio is a speedy, backwards-profiled (bats right, throws left) 24-year-old outfielder undrafted out of Clemson. His hitting hands have some thump to them and he’s performing well at Salt Lake, but his feel for contact is suspect. Scull, a 20-year-old Cuban outfielder, has been a slower burn in rookie ball and is as tweenery as tweeners get. He’s smaller but twitchy, and a little too aggressive at the plate for someone who isn’t a center field lock. Blakely, 22, was drafted as a toolsy, high-upside high schooler, but he’s made bottom-of-the-scale rates of contact as a pro. He has moved from third base to center field. He would do sensational things at the hot corner at times, while having issues with throwing accuracy at others. It’s feasible his athleticism could translate to center in a big way, enough for Blakely to reach the bigs. Ruiz is about to turn 20 and has a pretty good bat-to-ball track record in the low minors. He’s on the smaller side.
Higher Profile Guys
- Kyren Paris, SS
- Kenyon Yovan, RHP
- Jordyn Adams, CF
- Victor Mederos, RHP
Paris looks very lost at the dish early in 2024 (he’s striking out at a 40% clip), and while he’s fine at shortstop at times, his defense there isn’t consistent enough to be the driving force of his rosterability. Yovan was a good two-way amateur prospect who began his pro career as a hitter and has now reached Triple-A as a reliever. He sits 93-94 and has a fairly nasty cutter/slider. We hoped Adams might make a late leap as a center field defender and be good enough to hold down a defensive specialist/pinch-runner role, but he still presents a dicey look out there at times. Mederos has become a prime example of the importance of fastball shape. He’s been a mid-90s/breaking ball bully since high school, but his heater just doesn’t play.
Lefty Specialists
- Nick Jones, LHP
- Eric Torres, LHP
Jones (Georgia Southern) and Torres (Kansas State) were both part of the Angels’ 2021 Pitchers Only draft class and have reached the upper levels. Jones is a funky lefty who creates tough angle, while Torres has more of a vertical fastball/curveball combo.
Sleeper 2023 Draft Hitters
- Cole Fontenelle, 3B
- Rio Foster, OF
- John Wimmer, SS
Fontenelle hopped from the University of Washington to McLennan Community College (TX) to TCU in his three college seasons and was a seventh rounder last year. The Angels have already pushed him to Double-A. He has explosive hitting hands and would be our top pick of the entire Honorable Mention group, but his swing is pretty grooved for a corner guy. Foster is a 2023 Day Three pick out Florence Darlington Tech in South Carolina. He’s a well-built outfielder with a pretty, inside-out style swing. Wimmer was a $400,000-bonus high schooler from 2023 whose bat looks very raw in the early going of his pro career.
Hard Throwers
- Brady Choban, RHP
- Jose Fermin, RHP
- Jared Southard, RHP
Choban is a 2023 undrafted free agent who spent five years in college — three at Marshall and two at University of Rio Grande, an NAIA school. He topped out at 98 this spring and has prototypical power reliever size at 6-foot-5, 240 pounds. Fermin is a fairly stiff 250-pound 22-year-old righty with big arm strength. Southard, a 2022 12th rounder from Texas, sits 95 and has a 45-grade slider.
Funk and Deception
- Hayden Seig, RHP
- Jorge Marcheco, RHP
Seig is a super weird undrafted arm (St. Joe’s) from 2021 who has performed into the upper levels of the minors. He fills the zone with his funky sinker/slider combo. Marcheco, 21, sits in the upper-80s, but he’s had A-ball success because of his long-armed delivery’s deception and extension.
Injured Pitchers
- Kelvin Caceres, RHP
- Sadrac Franco, RHP
- Mo Hanley, LHP
Caceres was in the big leagues for a second last season. He has upper-90s arm strength, elite curveball spin rates, and 20-grade control when healthy. Franco was a rookie ball arm of note way back in 2019, but injuries cost him 2020-2022. Hanley looked like an exciting dev project coming out of college, but injuries have hindered his pro career.
System Overview
There is an alternate reality in which the 2023 Angels decide to proactively trade their departing/aging stars rather than make an ill-fated effort to support them. Even if they had only moved Shohei Ohtani, the return might have made a meaningful difference not only to the quality and depth of this system, but probably to their big league roster’s talent as well. In the latter portion of the Ohtani era, the Angels’ decision-making was consistently geared toward immediate contention. They prioritized player polish and proximity in the draft, high-floor/low-ceiling types who aren’t as likely to bring impact, in order to put talent around Mike Trout and Ohtani. The big league roster isn’t totally barren for the long-term, but the farm system is in a rough spot. It’s devoid of high-ceiling talent on both sides of the ball and might be the shallowest system in baseball. Even the most exciting prospects on this list project to be utility guys, back-end starters, or middle relievers. Signing Nelson Rada in 2022 was a step in the right direction, but the Angels’ international classes have fallen short in terms of producing significant offensive talent.
