3 players who will eventually steal a roster spot for the Angels in 2025

As is the case every year, the players who start the season on the 26-man roster likely won't all maintain their spots until the end of the season. This is especially true in 2025 with the Angels, a team in transition with a collection of burgeoning youngsters knocking on the door of the majors.

Spring performances will play a role, as will minor league stats during the season and past track records. For the Angels, this is a bit of a tough exercise. Some roster spots are currently up for debate, but what is a near-certainty is that the team will move on from veterans in favor of up-and-coming young talents as the season progresses.

These three stand as the players with the best shot the grab a roster spot in 2025 and also look to be building blocks for the future. Their big-league roles once they arrive may start small and their ascent might be accelerated due to injury-related needs, but ultimately all three have a good chance to make it onto the major league roster and make their case for even larger roles in 2026.

Matthew Lugo will crack the outfield rotation

Matthew Lugo is often overlooked. Depending on the source, he's ranked anywhere from 13th to 32nd among Angels prospects, in a system that the experts rank as nearly unanimously the worst in baseball.

He was an overlooked part of the Luis Garcia trade last season as well, as pieces that got big league exposure immediately like Ryan Zeferjahn and Niko Kavadas receive more attention than Lugo. His 2024 season was ended prematurely by a hand injury on August 2nd, shortly after the Angels acquired him.

While the injury was less than ideal, Lugo split time between AA and AAA and tore the cover off the ball. He clocked 17 long balls with a combined line of .287/.376/.578 with an eye-watering .291 ISO, showcasing his power potential.

In big-league camp, he's picked up where he left off this spring with a .321/.357/.509 line, which has generated very little buzz. Lugo's only walked twice in 56 spring plate appearances, but his 10.1% walk rate from last season indicates he can display the requisite plate discipline to make the rest of his offensive skills play.

Lugo turns 24 in May and has multiple pathways to a big-league spot. He could be the first man called up should someone get hurt in the outfield. He could also be brought up in the event that the Jo Adell-Mickey Moniak platoon falls flat in center. Lastly, if the Angels fall way out of the race and decide to sell veteran assets at the trade deadline, Lugo could be fast-tracked to a starting role.

It's a near-certainty that Lugo will make his arrival on the major league team in 2025, and should very quickly establish himself as a player who can compete for a starting role in 2026, if not earlier.