3 players who need to step up to avoid Angels being trade deadline sellers

The Angels are exactly where organizations do not want to be right now -- smack-dab in the middle. They are not in the tank, but they are not seriously threatening the playoff teams ahead of them right now. The entire Angels braintrust is looking for any reason to not offload assets in the next few days, but they desperately need these three players to break out of their funk to inspire hope.

Logan O'Hoppe

The Angels catcher has been making offensive and defensive adjustments all season. Whether it's his batting stance or catching stance, the kid is trying things on the fly.

“Even dating back to the past three or four games before the break, it’s the best I’ve felt at the plate in a long time,” O’Hoppe said in Philadelphia to Jeff Fletcher of The OC Register. “So I’m happy with it. I feel like my takes are better. I’m seeing the ball better. … It’s felt pretty night and day at the plate, but the game’s too hard to think you’re in a good spot.”

Despite the lofty K% and terrible whiff rate, the 25-year-old is one of the best hitters in the league in terms of hitting balls hard and catching barrels. O'Hoppe has shown he can hit moonshots and is one of the best offensive catchers in baseball when he is right. Clearly, he has immense talent and the clubhouse/defensive leader puts a ton of pressure on himself to carry the team. However, he simply cannot be getting outplayed by Travis d'Arnaud for almost two months now.

Angels fans have stressed about O'Hoppe the past few months, but he has outstanding coaching and mentors in-house as well as a tremendous work ethic. By doing less, he will do more. He is the linchpin of the lineup, so if he starts clicking in the bottom third of the batting order then the entire unit looks so much better.

Tyler Anderson

Between Yusei Kikuchi and José Soriano, the Angels more-or-less know what they are getting out of 40% of their starters during the games they are on the bump. The other 60% is kind of all over the place. With Jack Kochanowicz's demotion, 20% is completely unknown. So, between Tyler Anderson and Kyle Hendricks, the Angels need at least one of them to turn back the clock and stabilize the entire rotation.

For Anderson more so than Hendricks, he is pitching for his spot on the Angels roster. T.A. is on the record as to saying he does not want to leave Anaheim and loves playing for the Angels, but it's a business. Anderson needs to step up himself, and the team around him to win for him to stick around.

It's almost a paradox. If Anderson pitches better in his next couple starts but the team remains stagnant, he could get traded to a contender and would be forced to leave the place he wants to stay. If the 35-year-old does not pitch well, then he will not go anywhere as he would lose any trade value he's retained.

Ryan Zeferjahn

In theory, Zeferjahn is either the Angels' third or fourth most important reliever behind Kenley Jansen and Reid Detmers. Zeferjahn and Brock Burke are the pitchers the Angels will normally try and bridge the gap between the starters and back-end relievers with, and Zeferjahn is just not holding up well enough right now.

In his eight innings pitched in April, Zeferjahn showed that he could step into the hole that Ben Joyce left behind. He posted a 2.92 FIP and a whopping 17:2 K:BB. The wart on his stellar April was him allowing two home runs...which is a trend that has unfortunately continued. Zeferjahn has allowed at least two home runs each month, and is up to three in July. Through July 18th, Zeferjahn allowed more hits this month than he allowed in both April and June...and July has an All-Star Break!

Zeferjahn has three minor league options remaining. You better believe the Angels will use one of those if he continues struggling.

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