LA Angels Opening Day Roster taking shape

It is nearly six weeks since the LA Angels opened their 2019 Sprining Training Camp.  There have been many position position battles that have been ongoing, but the dust is starting to clear and the 25-man Opening Day Roster is now finalized.

The LA Angels are starting a new era in tomorrow when they travel to Oakland for a four-game series against the A’s.  The Mike Scioscia Era is now behind us and now it is the Brad Ausmus Era.  How will the Angels fare is anybody’s guess.  If the team can stay healthy and produce at the level that is expected of them the 2019 Angels may make a return to the playoffs for the first time since 2014.

However, if multiple players underperform or there is a plethora of injuries the team will struggle to finish above .500.  No matter what it should be a fun ride and hopefully this will be the year the team will finally put it altogether.

So here is a look at the most likely Opening Day Roster as it stands right now.

First Base – 

Going into camp it looked to be a two-person race for the starting first base role, but the emergence of Matt Thaiss the Angels first round pick out of Virginia in 2016 made things interesting. Thaiss started hot batting over .500 for the first couple of weeks in the Spring.  He also showed superb defense and was definitely pushing both Albert Pujols and Justin Bour.

Thaiss cooled off some as he is now hitting .333 with a home run and nine RBIs. While Bour’s batting average wasn’t stellar (.250) he did manage to hit four mammoth home runs and also driving in eight runs.  What is most impressive is his .386 OBP courtesy of his eight walks which is one of the tops in the Spring.

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The incumbent at first is 39-year old Albert Pujols who is fresh off surgery during the off-season and looks good so far.  In Pujols is hitting .350 (14-for-40) with three homers and six RBIs plus an OBP of .409.  Hopefully it will carry into the 2019 season and Albert will bounce back nicely.

Most likely it will be a platoon situation with Pujols starting against lefties and some righties.  Bour will start against most righties, but Shohei Ohtani when he returns will take some starts from both Pujols and Bour at DH.  For now Pujols and Bour will alternate at DH and first base, although catcher Kevan Smith and even outfielder Peter Bourjos may get some opportunity at DH or even Justin Upton if he is not totally healthy.

Second Base and Third Base 

The incumbent at second and third base coming in to the Spring was rookie David Fletcher and veteran Zack Cozart who was trying to bounce back from a torn rotator cuff in his shoulder. Veteran Tommy La Stella and rookie Luis Rengifo were in the mix dependent also on what Taylor Ward did in th Spring. Ward was trying to win the third base job from Cozart.  Ward performed admirably and when Cozart went down with a calf injury in early March, Ward seemed primed to take over at third base to start the season.

Cozart however, bounced back and has played himself back into the third base spot.  In limited action this Spring Cozart is hitting .389 with a homer and three RBIs.  Ward despite a great start which saw him hit a pinch-hit grand slam is his first Spring at-bat.  Ward ended up hitting .250 with two homers and 10 RBIs, but a lackluster .291 OBP with only two walks and 16 strikeouts which solidified Cozart’s hold on third and in-turn gave Fletcher the second base job. (Ward was sent down to Triple-A Salt Lake over the weekend).

For Fletcher’s part he started very slowly hitting under .200 for the first three weeks of Spring, Fletcher righted his ship and is now hitting .275 with eight RBIs and a .333 OBP which was good enough for the Angels to give Fletcher the second base job.

Luis Rengifo, one of the Angels top prospects was in the race early as well, but he only hit .182 with no homers and four RBIs.  Veteran Tommy LaStella who was brought in as a utility infielder will most likely fill that role backing up both Fletcher and Cozart at second and third. He hit a paltry .182 in the Spring, but since he has a major league contract and can play multiple positions La Stella had the edge to be the utility man.

So to recap if you are keeping score David Fletcher will be the opening day second baseman and Zack Cozart will anchor down the hot corner with La Stella being their back-up and pinch-hitter off the bench.

Shortstop –

This has been a no-brainer for the Angels over the past three seasons since the Angels acquired shortstop Andrelton Simmons in a trade with the Atlanta Braves in the Winter of 2015.  Simmons has provided great stability at shortstop and has been possibly the best shortstop to ever don an Angel uniform defensively, but he has also provided a strong presence at the plate averaging 10 homers and 63 RBIs per season with a .285 batting average.

This was very unexpected for the four-time Gold Glove winner. Simmons has been deployed all over the Angels line-up especially in the last two seasons and he has produced. What’s even better is that he is only 29 years old and still has four or five good years left.  The Angels do have to re-sign him after the 2020 season which hopefully they can do, but he is a key piece to the Angels team in 2019.

Wilfredo Tovar, a non-roster invitee is worth mentioning. Tovar hit .326 with two homers and five RBIs this Spring and also played strong defense.  He could be someone you could see get called up if the Angels are able to keep them.

Catchers –

The Angels were in desperate need of a starting catcher and Billy Eppler looked long and hard finding veteran catcher Jonathan Lucroy available and signing the 12-year veteran toa one-year contract.  He also made a trade with he Chicago White Sox for Kevan Smith who would join Jose Briceno who finished the season behind the plate in 2018.

Lucroy has been a nice addition this Spring and was able to easily win the starting job. Lucroy hit a stellar .366 with three RBIs and a .422 OBP. He has also been doing a good job defensively.  They will roll with him into the season as the starter.

Backing up Lucroy will be Kevan Smith who edged out Jose Briceno because of his bat not his glove.  Smith hit .260 with a homer and seven RBIs.  The only negative for Smith is that he has 14 strikeouts and no walks in 50 Spring at bats.  Briceno only hit .150 in the Spring with three hits in 20 at-bats which earned him a trip back to Salt Lake City.  We will see what happens as the season goes along.  If defense becomes an issue Briceno may be back-up with the Angels quickly.

Outfielders – 

The Angels outfield is what will hopefully be the strength of the team both offensively and defensively.  This is also where a good chunk of the Angels salary in 2019 with nearly 50 million dollars invested in Mike Trout, Justin Upton, and Kole Calhoun.  Calhoun and Upton had subpar seasons in 2018, while Trout had another MVP type season.

The Angels are hoping Upton and Calhoun will have bounce back seasons which will go a long way to helping improve the Angels offense which ranked in the lower half of the Majors in almost every category other than home runs.  Calhoun slumped through the all-star break hitting under .150 the first two months of the season. He rallied to hit .208 and crack 19 homers and drive in 57 runs, still far below what the Angels would need from him.  Upton’s numbers don’t look terrible on paper, but it was a year marked with inconsistency.  Upton hit .257 with 30 homers and 85 runs batted in.

These numbers for Calhoun and Upton will not cut it in 2019.  Calhoun looked good in the Spring, but now that it matters he will need to continue to hit well.  Upton has been injured most of the Spring with tendinitis in his knee and he will begin the year on the injured list, but hopefully he will be back soon.

The fourth Angel outfielder will be an old favorite, Peter bourjos. Bourjos played four seasons with the Angels before being traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for David Freese in the winter of 2013. Bourjos was a non-roster invitee to Angels Camp and he had an amazing Spring to lock down the utility outfielder position and will now start the season in left field for Upton.

However, the Angels made another move to provide some outfield depth signing outfielder Brian Goodwin off the waiver wire from Kansas City.  He has played three seasons in the majors playing for the Washington Nationals and the Royals.  Goodwin is hitting .250 with 19 homers and 60 RBIs in that time.  Goodwin is a left-handed hitter and that makes him a possible platoon candidate with Bourjos for now and could be valuable off the bench because he is a lefty.

Goodwin has not been officially placed on the roster as of yet but is expected to be by game-time tomorrow afternoon against the A’s in the season opener.

Bullpen – 

The Angels needed to revamp a bullpen that struggled mightily most of the 2018 season.  The major changes were adding a bonafide closer in Cody Allen to anchor the back end of the bullpen.  They also added right-hander Luis Garcia in a trade for Jose Alvarez. Garcia is a hard thrower who will probably deployed in the 6th or maybe 7th inning.

The main set-up men will most likely be Justin Anderson, who filled that role for most of 2018.  Ty Buttrey also will be in the set-up mix after pitching as the closer last September.

The rest of the Angels bullpen will consist of Hansen Robles, Noe Ramirez, Cam Bedrosian, and the last spot will most likely go to Luke Bard or newly signed lefty reliever Sam Freeman who pitched for the Braves the last two seasons and has a career 8-7 record with a 3.61 ERA and a 1.41 WHIP.  Freeman has an impressive 226 strikeouts in 226.2 innings (1 strikeout per inning pitched).  His 127 walks is a little concerning, but he could be just what the doctor ordered for the Angels who have no lefty in the bullpen.

For Freeman to be on the Opening Day roster the Angels will have to move someone off the 40-man roster.  Taylor Cole, who will start the season on the injured list could be the player the Angels swap out of the 40-man roster.

Bard is eligible to be sent to the minors as he has options still left so this could be a seemless move as well.

We will see how Brad Ausmus and company finish out the Opening Day Roster.  This opening day will be even more interesting as it will be the first game under new manager Brad Ausmus.  Let’s hope that this the beginning of a special season.