Angels reportedly sign former Braves standout pitcher to minor league deal

Perry Minasian has a couple of traits as a general manager -- he loves signings players he has a past connection with, and moves early and often during the offseason. Minasian just checked off those spaces on the bingo card, after it was reported that he came to deal with a former flame-throwing Atlanta Braves prospect.

Angels reportedly sign former Braves standout pitcher to minor league deal

It is still unverified as of now, but it appears that Minasian just signed Huascar Ynoa to a minor league contract. Ynoa was a big name to follow for Atlanta Braves fans back in 2019, and he never really materialized into what the expectations were. In his MLB career, Ynoa has a 5.22 ERA, 4.35 FIP, 3.78 xFIP and a 1.32 WHIP to go with a 24.4% K% and 8.6% BB%.

Ynoa's career year came in 2021 (Minasian's first season as the Angels' general manager), when in 18 games he posted a 4.05 ERA, 3.93 FIP, 3.29 xFIP and 1.11 WHIP with a 26.9% K% and 6.7% BB%. His stuff that year consisted of a 78th percentile Pitching Run Value, 93rd percentile Breaking Ball Run Value, a 96.5 MPH average fastball, and above average metrics in chase rate, whiff rate, strikeout rate, walk rate and ground ball rate.

Ynoa underwent Tommy John surgery in September, 2022 and has not appeared in MLB since as he was dealing with setbacks in 2024. He spent the 2025 season in the Mexican League with the Aguilas Cibaenas and the Minnesota Twins' Triple-A team (St. Paul). He was unplayable with the Twins' affiliate last year, but a glass-half-full philosophy with Ynoa entails he was still not all-the-way back from his elbow issues!

The Angels always need pitching depth, and signing a 27-year-old to a MiLB contract will never be criticized. It appears that with the Grayson Rodriguez trade and the Ynoa signing (to a way lesser extent) the Angels are fully prepared to take fliers on former top prospects with risk to round out both the MLB and MiLB rosters. That is a perfect direction to go in, especially with a pitching coach in Mike Maddux who can make chicken salad out of chicken stuff.