3 surprising players who are off to strong starts for the Angels

The Angels have been one of the most fun teams to watch in the league so far, largely because many of their success stories are coming from unexpected players. Everybody knows that having Mike Trout healthy makes the Halos watchable, and additionally that he needs the role players around him to step up in order to turn the team from watchable to in contention.

Well, there are a few players that are doing their best to get Trout back to the postseason for only the second time in his career. They are not the players Angels fans foresaw taking on this burden, but it's incredibly pleasant to see them blossom before our eyes.

3 surprising players who are off to strong starts for the Angels

Kyren Paris

We here at Halo Hangout officially apologize to Kyren Paris for constantly mentioning him as a player who should have been designated for assignment this offseason. We were not familiar with your game, vis-à-vis re-modeling your swing after Aaron Judge's and thereby becoming Aaron Judge.

Paris only ranks fourth in the league in fWAR now, now trailing Arizona's Corbin Carroll, Judge, Fernando Tatis Jr., and tied with New York's Pete Alonso. On the bright side, of all MLB players with 40 or more plate appearances this season he leads the league in SLG, wRC+, ISO, ranks sixth in OBP, tenth in batting average, and is one of 19 players with five or more steals. To call his start strong is the understatement of the century.

In spring training, everybody expected Christian Moore to make the team and Paris to inevitably get both DFA'd and sent to minor league camp. Just in the sense of allowing the Angels to slow-cool Moore, Paris making the team was a win. For him to turn into one of the best players in the sport a few weeks into the season is jaw-dropping. Note to self: if a highly touted prospect suffers a debilitating thumb injury, do not write him off.

Hey Shohei Ohtani, we have Kyren Paris now. We're good.

Ryan Zeferjahn

Of all MLB relievers to make five or more appearances this season, Zeferjahn's 47.4 K% ranks fourth. He only trails ATH's Mason Miller, SDP's Yuki Matsui, and LAD's Kirby Yates.

Before the regular season, many pundits hated the Angels' roster but pointed to the bullpen as a strong unit. Well, fast forward to mid-April and the lineup is one of the best in the league and the starters and relievers have been terrible (for the most part, apologies to José Soriano and Kenley Jansen specifically). Ben Joyce unsurprisingly went down with injury, and the bullpen's depth has been exposed as relatively non-existent outside of Jansen and Zeferjahn. Brock Burke, Garrett McDaniels, and Ryan Johnson have been streaky.

In terms of the average statistics of Angels relievers, Zeferjahn is way above the mean in every category. It's been awesome to watch this guy come over as the third piece in the Luis García trade (behind Matthew Lugo and Niko Kavadas), and turn into the most important and effective non-closer the team has going for them right now. Keep spinning those cutters, sweepers, and four-seams, Ryan!

Tim Anderson

Are you aware of how good Tim Anderson has been defensively so far?

Timmy A ranks eighth in the league in defensive fWAR for his play at both second base and shortstop. He has been absolutely electric -- he makes both the routine and highlight plays due to his elite range and instincts up the middle. He clearly has been the biggest recipient of Ron Washington's encyclopedic knowledge of infield defense.

Anderson's stabilizing presence in the infield is a welcome sight for Angels pitchers for a couple reasons. Angels pitchers, especially the starting pitchers, predominantly get their outs via ground outs. Angels starters rank eighth in the league in ground ball percentage. Specifically on the staff so far, Garrett McDaniels, José Soriano, Ian Anderson, and Jack Kochanowicz are the leaders in generating ground balls. The other reason is this -- the Angels pitchers have been awful so far this season, so imagine how much worse it would be if Anderson was not one of the best defensive players in the league thus far?

Anderson's playing time moving forward will be interesting to monitor with Zach Neto returning any day now, but he absolutely should be playing second base on most days to continue making up for Angels pitchers' inability to miss barrels. Fans might have expected solid defense from Anderson when the Angels signed him to a minor league contract in the offseason, but his upper echelon glove-work is certainly taking many by surprise.

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