LA Angels Player Grades for 3-1 Series Loss to Oakland

While the LA Angels obviously didn’t impress anyone during their first series of 2019, some individual players showed their abilities. This is the first Player Report Cards of the season, so a little introduction.

With the LA Angels going into 2019, Halo Hangout will be bringing you player report cards for every series, where we grade each player on their performance. Since this is the first of many, a little explanation for the grading scale.

An A grade means that player was absolutely amazing, and there isn’t a flaw in their performance. A B would mean the player was above-average and played very well during the series, but had one or two things keeping them from an A grade. C means the player was their average self in the series, while a D is below average, and an F means they were awful and better served to be on the bench.

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Catchers:

Jonathan Lucroy: AB, H, BB, SO, R, RBI

In his debut series, Lucroy was able to play in a familiar stadium after spending the 2018 season with the Athletics. Overall, the veteran catcher went 2-10 with a walk. On his two hits, he drove the ball well up the middle and put the barrel of the bat on the ball. An additional plus side was he put the ball into play every time, with no strikeouts in his three starts.

Lucroy’s real value comes behind the plate, and his game-calling was perfect. The A’s only scored 10 runs in the three games Lucroy caught. Despite this being his first time working with this group, Lucroy already showed he has a great chemistry with all the pitchers.

Grade: B+

Kevan Smith: AB, H, BB, SO, R, RBI

Given he only had one start and three at-bats, Smith failed to record anything positive at the plate. He struck out once and didn’t have any super encouraging at-bats.

He worked well with Tyler Skaggs and the relievers, and played solid defense. There were no negatives on this side, but nothing that screamed positivity either.

Smith showed he can provide some serious pop at the plate in limited time last year, and will need to perform better if he hopes to maintain the backup catcher spot.

Grade: D