2 Angels 2026 draft targets that would turn page from Perry Minasian, 2 that would be more of the same

Now that Perry Minasian is out of the picture for the Los Angeles Angels, the team has some decisions to make with the MLB Draft just a few weeks away. Interim general manager John Mozeliak has said he is keeping the rest of the front office in place for now and will lean upon them during the draft which makes one wonder what direction the team will go.

Will they stick with the same playbook employed under Minasian in which the team spent its early draft picks on college players who could be signed for relatively cheap and get rushed up to the big leagues? Or will they decide to shake it up and try to draft some players with higher upside who may be ready for the big leagues several years down the road?

These are big questions and the Angels will have to find out what direction they want to go as a franchise.

2 draft targets who would reek of Perry Minasian influence

Cameron Flukey

A number of mock drafts, prior to Minasian’s firing, had the Angels going with right-handed pitcher Cameron Flukey. He fits the prototype as a tall 21-year old pitcher out of Coastal Carolina.

His scouting report suggests he doesn’t have too many glaring weaknesses but he would very much be in the same mold as Tyler Bremner who they drafted last year.

Chris Hacopian

If the Angels decided to go the position player route, Chris Hacopian would make sense. He’s 21 years old, out of Texas A&M, and hit .319/.405/.578 with 11 homers and 41 driven in this past season.

His contact skills in college suggest he could be a guy who wouldn’t get eaten alive at the big-league level but the Angels have drafted plenty of players who did not turn into anything special going off this M.O.

2 draft targets who would make the Angels forget about Perry Minasian

Carson Bolemon

The Angels typically go for college arms, but there have been some rumblings that they really like left-handed pitcher Carson Bolemon, who is just 19 and fresh out of high school.

It might be a bit of a reach since he’s considered the No. 23 prospect in the draft but if the Angels like him and actually let him develop in the minors rather than rushing him up, then that could represent a marked shift in approaches

Jared Grindlinger

The 17-year-old Grindlinger is a two-way prospect who will probably have to choose between pitching or hitting at some point, but he is the exact type of high-upside project the Angels usually steer clear of. Drafting him would show the Angels are looking further down the road than just next season and are swinging big.

With Minasian gone, it would probably behoove the Angels to ditch his typical draft strategy as well. The organization has been losing for a long time and needs to shake things up. The draft is where they can really begin to do that.

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