Angels in danger of losing prospect Jose Rojas in Rule 5 Draft.

The LA Angels upcoming Rule 5 Draft is looking to be one of the most important Rule 5’s in recent memories, if not for the team than at least for the fans.

The Angels currently have fan favorite prospect Jose Rojas sitting off of the 40 man roster, which would mean that any team could come in and swoop Rojas off the Angels roster come draft day in December. There is almost an air of guarantee that if the Angels don’t protect Rojas then there will be some team that will come in and take him, and when you look at his developmental progress why wouldn’t anyone want him?

Jose Rojas put together a 31 HR season across 578 Triple A plate appearances in his fourth full season in the minors (2019) and has consistently showed the ability to improve year after year, even on his best attributes. At the age of 26 it’s very clear that Jose Rojas is nearly ripe enough, if not already there, for big league Angels to pick him off the MiLB tree. His rise from being nothing more than a 36th round pick to his status as a burgeoning MLB prospect and hometown native has been a story that Angel fans fell in love with over the course of the 2019 season.

Normally you wouldn’t expect much from an 1086th pick in the draft, but as the right-handed power hitting infielder has shown us, there is always much more than meets the eye. Unlike a top draft pick who is given every chance to succeed by their respective organization, almost to the point where the organization will try to force success into their hands, Jose Rojas has been grinding himself to the bone with little help except his own. There is a real power to living on dreams and stopping for nothing, even when the world seems to get in the way.

And sometimes that power comes out in the form of big dingers.

The Road to the Show

2017 was Jose Rojas’ first full season in the MiLB and in that year he saw 185 plate appearances in Double A, at the age of 24, and logged a .227/.259/.360 slash line with 4 HRs and 20 RBIs. It was not the most impressive debut stint at Double A, although prior to this call-up Rojas was mashing the ball to the tune of a .319/.355/.479 slash line with 20 Doubles and 7 HRs in 317 High A plate appearances. Rojas was drafted by the Angels for his ability to make notably strong contact with the ball, though the main concerns surrounding his development regarded whether his power would develop into a more significant form as he learned to hit with more sophisticated form.

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The following year, in 2018, Rojas showed off the first real signs of developing most important ability any prospect can have; the ability to adapt and evolve. That year Rojas found himself returning to Double A for 352 plate appearances while collecting a .304/.381/.554 slash line, which included 17 HRs and 21 Doubles.

Of course the dreaded learning curve presented itself once more upon Rojas’ introduction to Triple A in 2018. During his Triple A time Rojas slashed just .217/.233/.261, though it was in an extremely limited 73 plate appearances. Not the greatest sample size, and surely not one to judge a developing prospects growth on.

Now before we continue there is one sticking point that needs to be addressed before we truly get into examining the exact value of Jose Rojas. The growth he displayed from 2017-2018 was significant enough to bring optimism to his continuing evolution, but the one factor that seems to (wrongfully) hurt his value is his age. Jose Rojas was 25 through the 2018 season, which again doesn’t sound so bad, but it was also just his second full-time season outside of rookie ball. There seems to be a general misunderstanding surrounding Rojas being that his age, at 26, shows that there is some type of developmental deficiency there. For the most part this isn’t an unfair scouting assessment to make, but at the same time it also has to be noted that Rojas wasn’t drafted into the Angels system until he was 23 years old. He didn’t see his first real MiLB at-bat until he was 24, an age when most prospects are already well underway with their development.

Politics ruining everything (as usual)

Amidst the 2019 there had been various rumors claiming that the Angels front office did not have confidence in Rojas ability to develop and produce at the MLB level and that’s why he never received a single MLB AB despite practically every Angels prospect getting at least one swing int he bigs. This  really stung the fans given Rojas extremely admirable work ethic, his mental approach, and general ability. Not only did Jose Rojas prove that he deserved to see some MLB time, the teams depth was shot horribly and it just seemed obvious that at some point Rojas wold get a shot just out of necessity.

Why is it that the Angels felt such discomfort at giving Jose Rojas a call up at any point through the 2019 season? For one his plate approach was one that could leave itself open for being cleaved thoroughly in the MLB. You can’t foul the team for thinking that he may still need a little time to clean up his approach before getting a taste of the big leagues, but at the same time the roster was so injury plagued that it still stings to see him completely overlooked despite being a top performer in the Angels system. Even a little experience in the MLB will do a prospect good, no matter if they cleaved up or not.

It almost seems like an overly intentional snub, and it kind of is but at the same time we’re getting into front office politics and that’s never something that a fan will find solace in. The major factor here is that Jose Rojas is simply 36th round pick with very, very little investment paid into him as opposed to first round picks like Matt Thaiss whom the Angels invested deeply in, so deeply that they had him switch positions multiple times just to give him a better path towards the MLB. That’s simply how front offices operate; they aren’t dying to see the investment in Jose Rojas pay off because they’ve invested so little in him in contrast to their top picks who’ve had major investment paid into them, investments which the MLB team reflexively NEED to see pay off. I know it sounds cold and almost neglectful and dismissive, but that’s the case when it comes to front office politics, it’s a very cut and dry business. It’s a shame that such a talent and such a moving and inspiring story as Jose Rojas stayed buried all of 2019 simply because of politics.

Willful Failure (aka the Angels special)

The deep, yet subsequently shallow politics, are really what bothers fans the most about this snubbing; Jose Rojas has had to force himself through the “you can’t” and “this is too big for you” naysayers his entire career. A deep pick in the 2016 draft at the age of 23 is almost nothing more than an organization roster depth kind of guy, someone to have floating around the lower levels and whatever happens happens. There is no stronger baseball player than the one who is fighting against the world to get to the show, in fact there is no stronger human than the one who fights the world so they can be where they know deep down in their hearts they need to be, even if it is something that seems like reaching beyond the stars. There is nothing that fuels the person who reaches beyond the stars more than the questions of “why are you doing that” or “we don’t have confidence you can actually do that”.

Now we’re at a point where Jose Rojas is hearing the naysaying from his own organization. Given to how Rojas responds to doubters it’s just a matter of time until he grows to be an infinitely powerful, omni-potent being thanks to all the roadblocks are being placed in his path, or should we say all roadblocks the Angels refuse to help him move. Again, while I don’t like coming off as being comparatively critical of athletes, which is a fools errand, it does need to be noted that guys like 1st rounder Matt Thaiss has had every opportunity thrown his way and then some. Thaiss has had every roadblock removed from his path and gently encouraged forward every step of the way while Rojas was left to his own devices grow and overcome on the strength of his own accord and nothing else. This is where we get into the point of the entire article, because if Jose Rojas is left off of the 40 man roster come December it is clear that some lucky team will see Rojas for what he is and give him the world he deserves while the Angels try to sell it as if that’s what was best for the roster going into the future.

It would be fitting for an AL West rival team like the A’s or Rangers to take Rojas from the Angels and turn him into a Vladimir Guerrero/Mike Napoli Jr. and see the Angels become the architects of their own doom. And to be honest with you, if they fail to protect Jose Rojas from the upcoming Rule 5 draft they will be nothing but deserving of whatever karma, or should we say incompetence, comes back to haunt them