LA Angels: Predicting breakout seasons for these 3 homegrown players

Through nine games this season, the Angels are off to their best start in over a decade with a 6-3 record. It’s still early, but the Halos are proving many of their preseason doubters wrong with their performances thus far against some of the best teams in the American League.

Many fans were upset general manager Perry Minasian did not bring in any high-level talent in the offseason, but now it’s looking like his decisions may not be so bad after all. It’s nearly impossible for teams to ‘buy’ a championship. It’s a burden financially, so most of the talent on the team needs to be developed internally.

Angels: Why these homegrown three players will have breakout seasons.

The Angels don’t have highly regarded farm system of top prospects, but right now there are a few homegrown players who are off to a strong start to begin their 2021 campaigns.

More importantly, all of the players I believe will have breakout seasons are under contract through at least 2025.

I also want to give an honorable mention to catcher Max Stassi. He was drafted by A’s and made his big-league debut with the Astros so he’s not homegrown, but he picked up where he left off a season ago.

In 17 plate appearances, Stassi is 5-for-14 with one home run, one RBI, and three walks. Stassi, 30,  has one final year of arbitration eligibility but it’s possible a contract extension happens if he continues to produce offensively.

Will the same be considered for these three Angels in the near future?

He doesn’t jump off the page in terms of an overpowering pitch arsenal, but it’s possible starter Griffin Canning is the most important piece of the current Angels rotation.

The 25-year-old will enter his first season of arbitration eligibility in the offseason and won’t be a free agent until the 2026 season.

Griffin Canning will be a piece to build around for the future Angels rotation.

Of the current six-man rotation, two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani is the only pitcher under contract for next season. Dylan Bundy, Jose Quintana, Andrew Heaney, and Alex Cobb will each hit the free-agent market. It’s possible the Halos bring one or more of those pitchers back, but if they don’t, Ohtani and Canning will be two pitchers with starting experience to build around.

This makes Canning’s 2021 season more important than ever. He needs to prove he can be a reliable arm in the big leagues, and Canning will get his first shot to produce in a full-162 game season.

Griffin Canning Career Statistics:

• 2019 (18 games, 17 starts): (5-6, 4.58 ERA) 90.1 IP 1.218 WHIP (4.37 FIP)
• 2020 (11 starts): (2-3, 3.99 ERA) 56.1 IP 1.367 WHIP (4.33 FIP)

Canning made his first start of the season in a 7-5 win (11 innings) on Thursday against the Blue Jays. He allowed three runs in the first inning, including a two-run homer to Vladimir Guerrero Jr, and a solo home run to Cavan Biggio in the six inning. Besides those blemishes, Canning’s start was encouraging.

Overall he allowed four earned runs on three hits while walking one and striking out seven through 5.1 innings pitched. He also retired 14 straight batters before the Biggio home run.

It wasn’t perfect, but if Canning can average around six innings and three earned runs per start, it’s going to give the Angels a great chance to win games, especially with this high-powered offense.

Of the current Angels position players not named Shohei Ohtani or Mike Trout, first baseman Jared Walsh is on pace for a monster season.

The 27-year-old is slashing .385/.467/.808 with three home runs and nine RBI in 30 plate appearances this season. More importantly, Walsh has come through during clutch situations in half of the Halos wins so far.

Walsh is proving his small sample size last summer was no fluke.

Jared Walsh Career Statistics:

• 2019 (31 games): 87 PA (.203/.276/.329) 1 HR 5 RBI (-0.3 WAR)
• 2020 (32 games): 108 PA (.293/.324/.646) 9 HR 26 RBI (0.7 WAR)

As future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols plays into the final days of his Angels career, Walsh will see more playing time at first base during the season.

Angels: Jared Walsh is on the verge of becoming an All-Star.

I will be the first to admit, I wasn’t sure if Walsh was the real deal after a small showing in 2020. Even though it’s still early, I think he’s clearly developed all the tools necessary to take the next steps towards becoming an All-Star caliber first baseman.

You can’t help but love a player like this. A former 39th round pick in 2015, Walsh has defied the odds to make it to baseball’s highest level and now he’s making his case to stay for good.

Even better news for the Angels is Walsh does not become arbitration eligible until the 2023 season.

Whether it was intentional or not, the Halos found a hidden gem in Jared Walsh.