Why the Angels should take flier, trade for former Blue Jays top prospect

The LA Angels have struggled when it comes to pitching this year, and should be looking for high-upside options this deadline season.

Angels pitching has amounted to the sixth-worst ERA in the Majors at 4.92 this year, and the 11th-worst batting average against mark (.245) in the MLB.

They need pitching that won’t cost much in trade value, and a former No. 21 overall pick with the Blue Jays should be seen as a nice option.

T.J. Zeuch needs a change of scenery, and the LA Angels should give that to him.

T.J. Zeuch would be a steal for the LA Angels.

Zeuch hasn’t pitched all that well this year, but hasn’t gotten much of a chance.

He’s pitched five times; only three starts. He’s posted a 6.60 ERA, and has walked 5.4 per nine innings while striking out just 4.8 batters per nine.

Last year, however, it looked much different. In three outings (one start), he put up a 1.59 ERA with a 1.147 WHIP. He only struck out 2.4 batters per nine innings, but he’s proven that he’s capable of striking batters out.

If he could get his walks down, I could care less about not striking guys out, but he’s obviously been walking too many hitters lately. In that case, I’d like to see strikeouts, but I’ve seen them before from Zeuch. In fact, he posted a 7.9 K/9 in 2019.

That’s not great, but shows that he has higher potential than what he’s been putting out this year.

In Triple-A in 2021 and in 2019 (there was no Minor League baseball season in 2020), Zeuch has posted a 3.84 ERA. This year, he’s struck out 42 batters and walked just 13 in 58 innings pitched.

He’s got plenty of potential; he just needs a new team and division.

Other teams are going to be taking interest in him, so the Angels need to move quickly.

The Halos won’t be improving without changing anything, and their pitching staff is definitely something they need to improve. Zeuch needs to be pitching, as a starter or reliever, for the Angels by the end of the trade deadline.

He’d cost little value, as he was just DFA’d by the team. The Jays have to trade him, as they wouldn’t want to release a player that has value. The Halos need to be the team to pounce on him.