Angels international free agent class looks promising, but features familiar omission

It's been a slow build bringing the Los Angeles Angels' minor league system back to relevance. The club has long failed on all fronts, from drafting poorly, largely ignoring the international amateur market, and refusing to trade away veterans for prospects when it was clear that winning wasn't a possibility.

However, in recent years, they've started to get back on track in the international market. Nelson Rada seems like he's on the verge of forcing his way to the big leagues. Joswa Lugo has flashed, even if there have been moments of inconsistency from the teenager. Last year's top international signing, Gabriel Davalillo, lit the DSL on fire with a .302/.408/.518 line, a hearty 13.6% walk rate, and a microscopic 12.4% strikeout rate.

The Halos look well-positioned to add more talent to their ranks. Shortstop Yeison Horton ranks 16th on Baseball America's bonus board, and the Angels took advantage of his deal with the Yankees falling through after they lost bonus pool money by signing Max Fried. Carlos Castillo ranks 49th and looks like a smooth operator in center field who can grow into some power.

Notice what's absent? All of the top signings from recent classes are bats, and this new crop is no different.

Angels look to have a strong crop of IFA signings, but once again neglect pitching

The Angels and pitchers. It's been a never-ending headache. One would think that a club that did something as ridiculous as having an entire draft class made up of pitchers would have put at least a fraction of that focus into finding hurlers on the international market.

Yet, Los Angeles is often clueless when it comes to identifying, developing, and preserving pitching talent. Look no further than the treatment of Caden Dana and Sam Aldegheri last season for prime examples as to when the club lucks into some arm talent, they'll do everything in their power to try and destroy it.

The last international amateur hurler (so, no, Shohei Ohtani doesn't count) to actually make a name for himself with the club is Jose Soriano. The right-handed groundball specialist has worked out very well for the Halos, but things came together almost by accident.

Soriano signed for just $70,000 out of the Dominican Republic, making him an afterthought rather than a centerpiece of the international haul. The Angels later lost him in the Rule 5 draft to the Pittsburgh Pirates, only to mercifully have him returned by Pittsburgh.

So while Horton looks like a special talent, Castillo is an exciting prospect, and the recent hits on the offensive side have the system ever-so-slowly lurching forward in the rankings, the club continues to ignore pitchers in Latin America and beyond to their own detriment. Until that changes, they can't be taken seriously when it comes to building an actual farm system that can serve as a talent pipeline to the bigs.