It’s getting better in Anaheim, but slowly ... very slowly. One draft isn’t going to solve the problem, and two might not, but there’s a change in direction here and a clear emphasis on stocking the system with a mixture of high-floor college guys who’ll at least help fill out a major league roster and a very healthy sprinkling of high school athletes and ceiling guys who might take longer but give the Angels a new shot at developing some stars.
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1. Jahmai Jones, OF (Ranked No. 90)
2. Matt Thaiss, 1B
3. Brandon Marsh, OF
4. Jaime Barria, P
5. Michael Hermosillo, OF
6. Keynan Middleton, RHP
7. Nate Smith, LHP
8. Alex Meyer, RHP
9. Chris Rodriguez, RHP
10. Nonie Williams, IF
Non-top-100 guys
Matt Thaiss, a catcher at the University of Virginia, was one of the toughest hitters in Division I to strike out this spring, but he was unlikely to work out as a catcher in pro ball, so the Angels moved him to first base right away. He isn't a conventional power bat there, but there’s a good enough chance that he’ll hit .300-plus with doubles and walks that I think he’ll be an average regular.
Brandon Marsh didn’t play all summer, after he was the Angels’ second-round pick because of a stress fracture in his lower back, but he was more of an upside play than Thaiss. Marsh can run and throw and projects to plus power, but his swing would get long, and his ability to hit right now is an open question.
Jaime Barria gives the Angels their best chance for something more than a fifth starter after a solid season at age 19 in the Midwest League. He has an average fastball with good life, an average to slightly above curveball and some feel for a changeup, and he throws a ton of strikes, but so far, the fastball doesn’t miss many bats.
Michael Hermosillo was the Angels' 28th-round pick in 2013 out of an Illinois high school. He really did nothing through 2015, but he broke out at two levels last year. He doesn’t have a plus tool but has a good swing with a pretty simple approach, and he has a little pop, a little speed and definitely enough range to be an asset in a corner outfield spot.
Keynan Middleton moved to the bullpen at the end of spring training in 2016, saw his velocity and fastball life jump and ripped through the California League, ending the season in Triple-A and making the Angels’ 40-man roster. He’s mostly fastball/slider but had no problems with left-handed hitters in 2016 and should spend a good chunk of this year in the Angels’ bullpen. Nate Smith is healthy now after a sore elbow ended his 2016 season. He’s now fastball, slider, changeup, with everything average and the change maybe a soft 55. He is a good back-end starter but nothing more.
Alex Meyer is 27 years old, the oldest player on any team top 10 this year and maybe on any team list at all. He was drafted by the Red Sox out of high school in 2008 and by the Nationals out of Kentucky in 2011, and he has been traded twice since then without pitching enough to lose his rookie status. He’s 96-98 with plus life, and his slider is very hard, but he has never found a good enough changeup or any semblance of fastball command to let him work as a starter. I think the Angels should give him a major league relief job and tell him to go blow guys away.
Chris Rodriguez and Nonie Williams were the Angels’ fourth- and third-round picks in 2016, respectively, though Rodriguez showed a little more polish in pro ball and instructs and ranks higher here than Williams. Rodriguez turned 18 a month after the draft but already shows four pitches, with the curveball his best pitch, good sink and low-90s velocity on the fastball and feel for a changeup already. Williams is a shortstop now, but he will probably move to second base or center field in time. He is a plus runner who has been switch-hitting for only a year and whose body looks like it’ll eventually produce power. He’s really raw at the plate and is probably a two-year rookie-ball guy.
Catcher Taylor Ward (11) hit .249/.323/.337 as a 22-year-old in Inland Empire in the hitter-friendly California League. He threw out 38 percent of runners but did not catch especially well, and at this point, I’d project him as a backup. Right-hander Grayson Long (12) missed almost three months of 2016 because of injuries. He pitches with his fastball and locates it well, but the secondary stuff just isn’t there to make him a future starter. Shortstop David Fletcher (13) can play either middle infield position and rarely strikes out, but there’s no thump there at all, and he has an uphill battle to get to a utility infielder role.
Right-hander Vicente Campos (14) was in the Michael Pineda-Jesus Montero deal back in January 2012, got hurt twice, threw just 165 innings over the next four seasons and was traded twice in 2016. Then he ended up an Angel in the offseason. I saw Campos in early July when he was starting, and it was 91-93 with an upper-70s curveball and a stiff, one-piece arm action that ... well, it’s hardly a surprise he got hurt with that delivery, and I think he has to go to the bullpen too.
Right-hander Cole Duensing (15) played with Williams in high school and showed upper-80s velocity and a slow-roller curveball with a high-effort delivery. The Angels took Duensing in the sixth round and then took Ohio State outfielder Troy Montgomery (16) in the eighth. Montgomery can run and has a good enough approach at the plate to put the ball in play. If he can muster even grade-45 power, he’ll have a future as a fourth outfielder. Lefty Kevin Grendell (17) proved very hard to hit at three levels last year, and his lack of control means he’s his own worst enemy. The Angels picked him up as a minor league free agent in April after the Orioles, who never sent him to any full-season club, released him.
2017 impact: The Angels still need pitching, so Smith, Meyer and Campos should all see big-league innings somewhere, with Smith a possible fifth starter and the other two, in my view, clearly relievers. Middleton shouldn’t be too far behind, and he has more potential than any of those three to make a real impact this year.
Sleeper: I saw a good bit of Hermosillo in the Arizona Fall League, and while I don’t see a 6 tool, I saw a lot of 5s and a good approach at the plate, enough that I think he can hit his way to regular status in time now that he has enough strength to drive the ball to the gaps.
The fallen: Ward was a reach as the team’s first-round pick in 2015, part of a mandate to take college players, but he couldn’t catch even in college, and his hit tool lagged his power tool. The Angels' first pick in 2013, Hunter Green, retired last spring after years of injuries and non-performance.