Angels Prospect News: Best player finally showing signs of life after terrible start

On April 15th, we here at Halo Hangout posted an article that discussed how poorly the Angels' top prospect was faring at Double-A Rocket City. Since then, Christian Moore has started to hit and showing that his beginning to the minor league season was a mirage. While the numbers are not overwhelmingly positive, Moore's turning things around and showing exactly why he was being seriously considered for the major league roster after spring training. Moore's career will be a massive litmus test for the Angels' future, given that he was their highest draft pick in years and their minor league position players leave little to be desired.

From April 15th on, Moore has a .372 SLG, a .742 OPS, .140 ISO, and .331 wOBA. In those 12 games played and 54 plate appearances, Moore has 10 hits (including two doubles, and two triples), and a 16:10 K:BB. Moore's clearly been keeping a gap-to-gap approach at the plate -- he has started to spray balls in between the outfielders and using his speed to turn doubles into triples.

The strikeout numbers and swing and miss (he has a below 38.0% miss rate and 62.0% contact rate) in that time span (and for the whole season) are still semi-alarming for a guy who was lauded for his elite hit tool at the University of Tennessee. His K% is down of late, but is still not what you want. Add in the fact that the Angels' major league hitters are striking out at a historic rate and Moore's whiff rate should make fans bang their heads against the wall. However, he obviously was just drafted last season and in most farm systems he would not already be playing every day at Double-A.

Moore's struggles early in the season highlighted that optioning him down to the minors was the right call. He is playing better of late, but he is still not the best middle infielder on his own team right now. The 21-year-old Denzer Guzman (Moore is 22) is absolutely crushing it right now for the Trash Pandas, slashing .262/.364/.477/.841 with four home runs and 12 RBIs.

One of the biggest questions surrounding the Angels' 2025 season is when they will call Moore up. As of right now, if Moore continues to ramp up his game, it seems logical that he will get the call after the All-Star break. He will get more seasoning on defense and the Angels might need his services when players start getting injured and their record gets worse-and-worse.

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