The Angels’ player with most to prove in spring training

The Los Angeles Angels have not had a winning record since 2015. It’s been 10 seasons of miserable play on the diamond in Southern California. It is not easy playing in a competitive AL West division, and the Angels may have more difficult years in front of them.

The roster has some great talent on it, led by Mike Trout. It is a real shame that Trout doesn’t have an elite team to play for. Trout is 34 now and won’t have many elite seasons left in him. The Angels are trying to get back to the postseason, but they need more than 3-4 players to step up, which has not really happened since early in Trout’s career.

Logan O’Hoppe is a bright young catcher with a veteran power hitter, Travis d’Arnaud, behind him as the backup. There could be moments where d’Arnaud is the DH with his history of having power surges. Jorge Soler is a 20+ home run hitter when healthy, who only played 82 games last season. Josh Lowe is expected to play left field while Jo Adell commands either center or right field, depending on where Trout plays. Christian Moore has the potential to be a great infielder, with Zach Neto and Yoan Moncada rounding out the infield. There is not a lot to like offensively.

In the rotation, Yusei Kikuchi, Jose Soriano, Reid Detmers, Grayson Rodriguez, Caden Dana, and Alex Manoah are on the 40-man roster. Out of those six starters, it is clear that Manoah needs to have a successful spring training in order to make the rotation. He has been very good in the past, but fell off very hard at the end of his tenure with the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Angels’ player with most to prove in spring training

Manoah was a great rookie in 2021 with the Blue Jays when he had a WAR of 2.8, 3.22 ERA, 9-2 record, 1.05 WHIP, and 127 strikeouts in 111.2 innings. He pitched even better the following year with a 2.24 ERA and 5.8 WAR. Manoah pitched just shy of 200 innings with 180 Ks and 0.99 WHIP. Manoah became an All-Star in 2022 and was an All-MLB First Team player.

2023 proved to be a rough season for him, and then in 2024, he could not get things together and was designated for assignment, ending what could have been a superstar career in Toronto.

Now, across the country in Southern California, Manoah aims for a fresh start. There is no doubt that he is the one player on this roster with the most to prove. There is a real opportunity for him with the Angels to get back into his All-Star form. He was so dominant in 2022 that it’s still hard to imagine him in the position he is now. Manoah is still just 28 years old.

The former Blue Jay signed a one-year deal with the Angels. He’ll earn just under $2 million. He was on the Atlanta Braves before this, but never ended up pitching for the organization.

Spring training is starting later this week. It’s unclear what role Manoah will have, but he should get a couple of starts and relief appearances throughout late February and all of March. There is still time for the Angels to sign more starting pitchers before they get games in next week. However, Manoah is hoping that he is getting as many opportunities as possible to reinvent himself.

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