3 breakout candidates who are already being overlooked on Angels' roster

The 2025 season was a frustrating one for the Los Angeles Angels; however, in the midst of another campaign mired in mediocrity, the club did see some returns on the long-awaited promise of players they once viewed as building blocks.

Among the wins was Jo Adell, who tantalized for so long but finally moved from Statcast darling to consistent power threat with 37 dingers in 2025. Reid Detmers (the reliever) joined Adell in the process of turning potential into production, finally solving his homer-prone tendencies to consistently get outs without the back-breaking mistakes.

For those two, there is still work to be done, but three others on the Halos' roster look to follow in their footsteps and make a leap towards a breakout in 2026.

Three Angels players who could level up in 2026

1. Nolan Schanuel

For as much talk as there was about Nolan Schanuel improving his bat speed last winter, the real-life improvement was pretty marginal. Schanuel posted a second percentile mark of 65.2 miles per hour in 2024, and saw that rise to just a fourth percentile mark of 67.5 miles per hour in 2025.

In totality, the early-season progress Schanuel showed dropped off during the dog days of August, as he wore down and then succumbed to a wrist injury. The end result was more or less what we've seen from the unique first baseman so far in his young career: exceptional plate discipline, strong bat-to-ball skills, but not nearly enough pop.

Under the hood, though, there were some positive developments. Schanuel has always had good angles, typically hits the ball square, and rarely chases outside of the zone. That stuff has always been in play for him. But in 2025, he started hitting the ball in the air more frequently. His air percentage jumped from a tick below average at 53.8% in 2024 to a tick above at 57.1% in 2025.

A lot of that had to do with his performance against velocity. Schanuel posted negative run values against four seamers and sinkers, minus-5 and minus-2, respectively, in 2024, but in 2025, he handled the hard stuff much better, coming with run values of five against fastballs and two against sinkers. He also managed to post decent SLG numbers against those offerings, slugging .432 versus heaters and .462 against sinkers. Oddly, his performance against breaking and off-speed stuff went the opposite direction.

The key for Schanuel is level that out, and attack with a bit more vigor. His pitch recognition skills and strike zone mastery will help him draw walks and avoid Ks, but if he can hit the ball with authority more frequently, he'll take advantage of his already solid angles to truly produce. That might mean a few more whiffs, but if it comes at the expense of some soft-contact outs, it won't have much effect on his average and on-base skills. The Angels don't need him to be a 30 home run hitter, but if he can get into the upper teens or low 20s while consistently attacking the gaps, it will be transformative for his production.

2. Jose Soriano

Jose Soriano is a frustrating player because his bread-and-butter, a bowling ball of a turbo sinker that comes in at impossible velocity, is one of the best weapons in the game. With that pitch, Soriano generated a 66% ground ball rate, a 100th percentile performance.

But that cuts both ways. Soriano's dynamite weapon makes him look like a potential ace at times, while ultimately producing like a mid-rotation starter.

The issue comes down to his secondary stuff. Soriano's go-to secondary is a wicked knuckle curve that has potential, and he rounds out his arsenal with an effective, if infrequent, splitter, and an equally blazing, though seldom used, four-seamer.

The result is that Soriano can get a lot of whiffs (27% whiff rate, 67th percentile), but batters rarely chase outside of the zone (26.8% chase rate, 32nd percentile). That's because the sinker, for as strong a pitch that it is, generates a lot of contact, while the curve and the splitter both generate elite whiff rates at 43.2% and 39.5%, respectively. While hitters struggle to make contact with those secondaries, they rarely chase them outside of the zone because nearly everything coming out of Soriano's hand is darting down.

If Soriano can figure out how to effectively pitch with his four-seamer up in the zone, it will maximize the effectiveness of those other pitches and vault him into ace territory. He doesn't need to change up his mix dramatically, but switching the hitters' eye levels and attacking both planes is necessary. If he can unlock that in 2026, watch out, because the big-armed righty has everything else he needs in order to dominate.

3. Matthew Lugo

We didn't see much of Matthew Lugo in 2025, but heading into spring training, he'll have an opportunity to win an outfield job following Taylor Ward's departure. The 24-year-old was put in the worst-case scenario, being yo-yo'd back and forth between the bigs and Triple-A Salt Lake, logging just 70 plate appearances in 31 games that were sprinkled throughout the 2025 campaign.

What we did see from Lugo were some impressive power tools that, with consistent at-bats, could blossom. Lugo recorded a well-above-average bat speed of 73.4 miles per hour, which led to an impressive 13.3% barrel rate. Unfortunately, much of that was undone by big whiff and chase numbers, coming in at 37.6% and 39.2%, respectively. Because of that, Lugo posted a putrid 34.3% strikeout rate and failed to draw a single walk.

However, it's easy to imagine that the youngster was pressing, knowing full well that opportunities were few and far between and feeling as if he needed to make a dramatic impact every time he stepped in the box in order to earn playing time the following day. As a result, he was swinging out of his shoes.

With the power potential he possesses, combined with a cannon for an arm and 95th percentile sprint speed, Lugo has the chance of becoming a dynamic player. He'll need to settle down first, though.

Whether or not he breaks out in 2026 will come down to whether or not he wins a job coming out of spring training, and the Angels' level of patience with him should he get a chance at an everyday role. If that comes to fruition, you could see a superb power-speed combo, even if the strikeouts might be a bit higher than you'd like.