LA Angels top pitching prospect Hector Yan showing promise

Everyone is always clamoring about how the LA Angels need pitching.  There are some good young arms in the low minors for the Angels and lefty Hector Yan is one of the pitchers to keep an eye on.

LA Angels pitching prospect Hector Yan was signed as an international free agent in 2016 and the 20-year old La Romana, Dominican Republic native is now coming into his own in the low minors for the Angels.

Yan pitched for the Low-Single-A Burlington Bees in 2019 and put up eye-popping numbers striking out 148 batters in only 109 innings of work while walking only 52 batters (close to a 3 to 1 K’s to BB ratio). Yan throws four different pitches and will use any and all of them throughout the game.  Yan possesses a 95-97 MPH fastball along with a slider, change-up, and a split-fingered pitch that is very nasty.

What struck me about Yan was his spirit.  He seems to be the life of the clubhouse. Yan is always smiling and laughing and having a good time, but he is also very supportive of his teammates as well.  Yan and one of the other Angels top pitching prospect, Jose Soriano have both supported each other throughout the 2019 season. Yan has also mentored another young Dominican pitcher in Robinson Pina.

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“I try to help my teammates to be more comfortable. I try to help them in any way,” said Yan through an interpreter. “It is very comforting for me to have some players from my home country here with me.”

Yan has earned an invite to Spring Training in 2020 and he is going to be a pitcher that we could see make a quick rise in the next year or two to the majors.

Yan is very happy to be a part of the Angels organization and looks forward to the chance to play with Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani, and Dominican legend Albert Pujols.

“It would be amazing to make it up to the Angels one day. it would show that my hard work since I was a kid really paid off,” Yan said. “It would be very special to play on a team with such great players as Trout, Ohtani, and Pujols.  I know they would have my back and would be great teammates to have.”

What Yan really likes about the Angels organization is how much the coaches care about him.

“The pitching coaches have given me a lot of confidence and have told me to believe in my stuff,” Yan said. “I’ve always dreamed since I was a little kid to be in the majors.  They have helped me believe that this could be a reality.”

We will see how Yan develops over the next year, but don’t be surprised if he is in the majors before the end of 2020 and for sure by 2021. This kid’s stuff is electric and he pitched with such confidence that you need to get to the major league level.”