LA Angels prospects who’s hot and who’s not: Week three

The LA Angels season has pulled into May, which must mean it’s time to take our weekly look at Who’s Hot and Who’s Not in the the Angels minor league system.

As we have so far this year, we look at LA Angels Prospects – 2 Hot, 2 Not, and one player who has limited MLB experience (less than a full season total) but is doing well in the minors. This week we will also add a recurring piece (as applicable), Prospects in the Show. It will highlight anyone from the Top 30 who have seen action with the LA Angels during that week.

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Hot: Matt Thaiss – High A (Inland Empire). Thaiss has been warming up. While a .260 average may not seem like much, over his last 10 games the first baseman is hitting .342 with 1 HR, 7 RBI, and more walks than strikeouts. Those are the kinds of numbers you want to see from your # 2 overall prospect.

Not: Jahmai Jones – Low A (Burlington). Jones continues to struggle in 2017. He is hitting below .200 and striking out almost five times more than he walks. He has shown more pop in his bat and has already hit 3 HR, but 12 K to 3 BB to go along with a .191 AVG in the last 10 games just won’t work. Jones is still only 19, so the hope is this is just a bump in the road of figuring things out.

Hot: Eduardo Paredes – Triple A (Salt Lake). Parades strong work in 2017 just earned him a promotion to Triple A where he has pitched well so far. Before that promotion he had been doing excellent at Double A Mobile. He has also shown the ability to pitch effectively over multiple innings of relief. Paredes has gone 1+ IP in 5 of his last 10 games, including his debut with the Bees. In that same time frame he has managed 20 K to 4 BB while giving up 0 HR and just 2 ER total over 14.2 IP. At just 22 years old, Paredes looks poised to make the leap to the big club this season, even if just for a look.

Not: Vicente Campos – Triple A (Salt Lake). Campos’ year started rough with an injury. Disregarding a rehab outing with High A Inland Empire, Campos’ two starts for Salt Lake have not gone well either. Totaling just 5.2 IP to go along with 4 K: 4BB and opponents hitting .441 against him, the 14.29 ERA makes sense. It may just be a matter of shaking of the rust for the 24 year old with great stuff and a history of getting hurt. Hopefully, time and continued work will even things out.

Worth Watching: Kaleb Cowart – Triple A (Salt Lake). Cowart has cooled some in his last 10 games, but he has maintained a consistent ability to hit. Additionally, he has worked the walk over the first month and that deserves notice. I mentioned him back in the Week One worth watching as an extra note, however, with a .317 AVG to go along with more BB than K (including 13:5 in the last 10 games) Cowart deserves his own Worth Watching. His 3 HR, 12 RBI and 9 SB look excellent with his .438 OBP. It might just be time to give him another crack at the majors. Especially since there is still no long term solution for third base after 2017.

Next: Angels best pick from each of the last 10 drafts

Prospects in the Show: Brooks Pounders and Keynan Middleton have both been on the big club. Pounders may have been starting to find his stride. In his last two appearances he’s been almost perfect, striking out two while walking none and only giving up one hit. However, he was optioned back to Triple A. Middleton made his major league debut last night in the series opener against the Houston Astros in Anaheim. While he did surrender a run he also got his first big league K. He also showed the Halo faithful the fastball and slider they hope to see for many more years to come.