3 Angels draft picks from 2024 who already look like huge steals

Ryan Nicholson

As previously stated, the Tri-City Dust Devils play in the most pitcher-friendly league in the MiLB. So, you might do a double take when you see Ryan Nicholson's stat line so far in 2025 there.

The first baseman leads the Dust Devils in essentially every major offensive category. Most notably: batting average (.300), OBP (.445), SLG (.530), hits (30), doubles (8), home runs (5, tied with Adrian Placencia), BBs (23), XBHs (13), and total bases (53). So, if he is hitting for so much power, then he must be striking out a lot, too? Think again, Nicholson's 19.5% K% is the second lowest mark on the team to Capri Ortiz (an aggressive, slap-hitting speedster with a 7.0% BB%).

Nicholson was a 10th round pick out of the University of Kentucky, and has yet to debut on the Angels' top-30 prospects list. That will not be the case for much longer given what he is showing in High-A, and he will almost definitely be moved to either Double-A or even Triple-A before May is over. Nicholson might be the best power-hitting, left-handed hitting prospect in the Angels' pipeline, surpassing Niko Kavadas for those honors.