A $6 million back-up catcher is becoming a folk hero amongst Angels fans

The Los Angeles Angels are notorious for spending inordinate amounts of money on star players, and not necessarily doing a sufficient enough job of rounding out their roster. Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon both make $35 million in average annual value, Yusei Kikuchi ~$21 million and Tyler Anderson $13 million. Going on a decade now, the highest paid players on the team have not lived up to their salaries and the organization has severely paid the price. Things are starting to look better, however, as the players on the periphery are picking up their play around the big-ticket items.

The pre-arbitration and arbitration eligible players are carrying the team in a major way -- namely Zach Neto, Nolan Schanuel, Taylor Ward, Jo Adell, José Soriano, Reid Detmers and Sam Bachman. Earlier in the season, Logan O'Hoppe was among the core group of highly productive players but he has taken a dive. His back-up, a 36-year-old on his fifth MLB team, has picked him up and then some.

A $6 million back-up catcher is becoming a folk hero amongst Angels fans

Travis d'Arnaud's been barreling balls all season, and the results are starting to turn for him. d'Arnaud leads the Angels with a .512 SLG and a 7.1% HR% the past month (from June 12th on). The pure counting stats are not in his favor, as he has only played in 12 of the last 27 games, but he has come up huge for this ball club over-and-over again.

His walk-off against the Arizona Diamondbacks was the stuff of legends -- the Angels' $13 million starter (Anderson) coughed up a 4-0 lead the hitters gifted him in the first the very next inning, but d'Arnaud walked the Snakes off in the bottom of the 9th with a pinch hit, soft liner down the left field line. A few days before that, he took Jacob deGrom deep and the Angels wound up beating the Rangers 6-5...which is nearly impossible on days the future Hall of Famer pitches.

The catcher does a lot that does not necessarily show up in the box score. His ability to shift his pitch calling depending on what he sees that day is an invaluable tool. Additionally, d'Arnaud is the definition of an eccentric player and has hilarious antics nearly every game. Whether he is face-planting on a slide, making funny faces in the dugout or coming up clutch, his teammates and fans love every second of the Travis d'Arnaud experience. He has a tangible impact on the Angels' positive vibes, which is a large reason why Perry Minasian signed him to a two-year, $12 million deal in the offseason.

Between d'Arnaud, Yoán Moncada, Kyle Hendricks and (fingers crossed) Jorge Soler, the non-arb, non-pre-arb and non-Trout Angels guys are actually playing up to their billing for a change.

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