LA Angels prospect Matt Thaiss gets first call-up

This is not the circumstances that LA Angels prospect Matt Thaiss envisioned for first call-up to the majors with the Angels mourning the death of Tyler Skaggs and Thaiss replacing injured Tommy La Stella.

No matter what the circumstances are for LA Angels Matt Thaiss, the fact of the matter remains, he is finally a major leaguer.  Thaiss and outfielder Jarrett Parker were called up on Wednesday due to injuries to both All-Star Tommy La Stella and super-sub Brian Goodwin.

Thaiss can play both first and third base of which La Stella played third base at times.  Parker is mostly been used as an outfielder so his call-up is to be a fourth outfielder who has some power from the left-side of the plate.

Parker has a career batting average of .257 with 15 homers and 51 runs batted in parts of three seasons for the San Francisco Giants. Parker played a total of 135 games and 342 at-bats.  He was tearing it up in Triple-A Salt Lake City hitting 19 homers with 56 RBIs and a .296 batting average,  He also had a .424 OBP.

Matt Thaiss has spent 3.5 years in the minors since being drafted in the first round of the 2016 Amateur Draft out of Virginia.  In that time Thaiss has hit .280 with 45 homers and 241 RBIs with a .363 OBP.  This season in Salt Lake City, Thaiss hit .274 with 14 homers and 49 RBIs and had an OBP of .390.

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Many fans have been clamoring for Thaiss to get a chance to show what he can do as he had been doing well in the minors.  Thaiss swings the bat from the left side of the plate and has also shown a very good glove at first base.  Recently the Angels have played Thaiss at third base in order to increase his flexibility for such a situation.

Thaiss has a 1.000 fielding percentage in 23 games at first base, but a .924 fielding percentage in 47 games at third (8 errors). Hopefully he will do better in the majors now that he is the major leagues.  We will have to wait and see what happens.  Matt Thaiss is in today’s starting line-up at third base and is batting 7th. Jaime Barria has also been called up and will start today giving Griffin Canning an extra day of rest.

We will see how both Thaiss and Parker will do for the Angels. Hopefully they will be able to provide a spark for the team in a tough set of circumstances .

Welcome to the LA Angels Jarrett Parker and Matt Thaiss!!! Good luck!!!