Angels seeing limits of Nolan Schanuel patient approach as frustration begins to build

Nolan Schanuel has been one of the key young cogs that the Los Angeles Angels had hoped would spark a revival. The 2023 first-round pick found himself in the majors the same year he was drafted, which would be a rare development for any team but the Angels. Walking more than he struck out over those first 29 big league contests, Schanuel posted an interesting .275/.402/.333 line.

Schanuel would never see the minors again, playing just 22 contests in total down on the farm. He entered 2024 as the starter at first and did more of the same as what he showed in 2023, albeit to a lesser extent. His .250/.343/.362 line was worth only 0.7 fWAR over 147 games, thanks in large part to some questionable defense and the positional adjustment for first base.

The youngster's biggest problem was his SLG. It wasn't just the paltry 13 homers he recorded in 2024, but the lack of any sort of consistent extra-base thump. He went into 2025 trying to increase his woeful bat speed. To a degree, he was successful. Schanuel increased his average swing velocity, the sixth-biggest jump in the bigs. Unfortunately, in real-world terms, that only represented an improvement from the second percentile to the fourth.

Now in 2026, we're seeing more of the same, and for the Halos it just isn't enough.

The Angels are learning that Nolan Schanuel is a one-trick pony

So far this season, Schanuel is hitting .239/.308/.380 through 104 plate appearances. He's still walking at an above-average clip, 9.6%, but he still hasn't made the necessary improvements. In fact, he may have even regressed a bit.

Schanuel's game has been about his plate discipline. His career walk rate is 11.2%, making this year's performance look like a disappointment even though it's still above league average. The story with him has always been average-ish contact skills and subpar power flanking the ability to draw a walk.

Some projections had the Florida Atlantic product finally showing some power. It made sense, Schanuel's now entering his third full season, and his six-foot-two, 220-pound frame has him looking like a prototypical slugging first baseman. Despite all the work over the years, any gains he's made now that the games are actually being played have been incremental.

Schanuel's ISO is up to a career-high .141 as he has three homers on the season. Unfortunately, the actual effect of that has been muted as it seems trying to hit for more power has brought his average to an all-time low. He slugged .389 last season, which is a hair better than what he's done so far this year.

At a certain point, this can't go on. The Angels could live with this kind of performance if he were a speedy center fielder or a defensive whiz at short. He's not. He's a lumbering first baseman, and one that comes with a relatively porous glove to boot. All of that makes him a strange roster fit.

You never want to write off a 24-year-old, but with his experience, he's not like most 24-year-olds. Still, he hasn't figured out how to do anything more than walk consistently, and his bat still lags, coming in with a sixth percentile average bat speed so far. It doesn't look like it will change, and the Angels should be planning how they can move forward without Schanuel as part of their core.

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