LA Angels: Six Prospects Who Proved Themselves in Spring Training

Brandon Marsh (OF)

Marsh is another future outfield star looking to roam the Angels outfield with Mike Trout for years to come. Marsh is a natural CF’er but has spent plenty of time at RF in the Minors back in 2018. When he eventually comes up full-time we may see the Angels maintain the best outfield in baseball by miles. Having Marsh and Adell holding down the corners for Trout seems almost impossible to beat. It might even be the greatest outfield the Angels have ever fielded. While it’s still much too early to call something like that it still strikes that their raw talent would encourage such visions.

Marsh has an aggressive style of defense and unnatural agility for a 6-4 outfielder. He’s constantly putting himself in the position to make plays defensively and we saw that multiple times this Spring. This kid is Charlie Blackmon 2.0 and I know I say that all the time, but it makes it easier to grasp the exact realm of talent he exists in. He’s a big bodied lefty hitter who roams the outfield with grace and presence. Of course there is still development to be had as Marsh is just 21 years of age and coming off his MiLB debut season, but from the raw tools that we saw it’s clear how big of a future he will have.

As good as his defense is there is still the matter of Marsh needing a little more tuning on the offensive side of things. 2018 saw Marsh slash .266/.359/.408 in a season that presented a big learning curve with Class A Advanced. This Spring was his first true big league exposure, so his Spring slash line of .238/.320/.286 in 25 PA’s isn’t bothersome, it just shows that there is still refinement to be had in the future. This is something that is very much to be expected from a 21-year-old; he may not develop as fast as Jo Adell or Mike Trout, but that doesn’t stop his future ceiling from sitting in the realms of elite.

One thing that stands out about Brandon Marsh after this Spring is how much more confident he is in himself after competing against big league talent. With Marsh taking that confidence back to the Minors there’s no telling how quickly he will find himself. If he can set off a stronger developmental pace with this Spring experience we will be seeing him in the Bigs faster than anyone can imagine.