Angels’ long-term future at catcher in question after Logan O’Hoppe’s slow start

While the Los Angeles Angels had no shortage of players that needed to rebound heading into the 2026 season, few were in the same precarious position that catcher Logan O'Hoppe was in. O'Hoppe was considered by many to be a cornerstone catching prospect when he was first called up by the Angels in 2022. O'Hoppe has had his moments since then, but the bad has heavily outweighed them in recent years.

After a decent, if unexciting, 2024 season, there was hope that O'Hoppe was figuring things out. However, after giving LA a .213/.258/.371 line across 119 games last season, there were more than a few whispers that O'Hoppe was going to have to turn things around if he wanted to stick around in the majors at all.

Fast forward to spring training 2026, and it looked like O'Hoppe had finally risen to the challenge as he was one of the Angels' best hitters in camp. However, after 12 games in the regular season, O'Hoppe's future with the Angels is up in the air once again.

Even for a catcher, Logan O'Hoppe is not hitting enough to justify his Angels roster spot

The bar for catchers on offense is very low. It is a niche skillset that is particularly tough on players' bodies. If a guy can be a league-average hitter while playing behind the plate well, teams will take that 10 times out of 10. Unfortunately, O'Hoppe has fallen short on both sides of that coin.

In 2024, O'Hoppe posted a sub-par, but passable OPS for the position of .712. Given that it came with 20 homers, LA was probably fine with that. However, following that with a .629 OPS in 2025 and a .552 OPS to start this season, it is becoming clear that O'Hoppe is not going to be an average or better hitter without a serious overhaul. At least he has value defensively, right?

Sadly, no. O'Hoppe has ranged from mediocre to bad at controlling the running game since he arrived in the majors. The same is true of his ability to block balls in the dirt. On top of those deficiencies, O'Hoppe has been one of the worst-qualified pitch framers in all of baseball the last couple of years. If he was good at the plate or good defensively, shortcomings could be given a pass. You can't be bad at both.

O'Hoppe's saving grace at the moment is his prospect pedigree (everyone agrees he is talented, after all) and the fact that he plays for the Angels. Not only are the Angels not going to pay up for an everyday catcher anytime soon, but all of their decent catching prospects are in the lower levels of the minors. That isn't going to stay true forever, though, and O'Hoppe could find himself out of a job if he doesn't figure out how to contribute and soon.