Angels' top prospect showed he's ready for a September promotion when rosters expand

The Angels' promotion of Caden Dana last season would have shocked the world, if not for the fact that the organization speeds up the development of each and every one of its top prospects. The then-20-year-old made his MLB debut on September 1, 2024 against the Houston Astros, and allowed two hits, two runs and four walks in six innings. Unfortunately, that ended up being by far Dana's best appearance in the big leagues. By that time last season, the Halos were playing meaningless baseball games with a roster full of non-assets so they decided to get a look at Dana (and Sam Aldegheri).

Well, fast forward to 2025 and the Angels are inching closer and closer to playing meaningless baseball games around the time when MLB rosters are about to expand from 26 to 28 men. Given their history, the current state of the roster and the fact that the Angels can carry an extra arm in September, do not be surprised if Dana gets another call-up in a little over a week. He just had his best outing of the season.

Angels' top prospect showed he's ready for a September promotion when rosters expand

Is 13 strikeouts in seven innings good? Or a 13:1 K:BB? Or 10 of those strikeouts coming on whiffs? Dana's suboptimal MLB success never quite made much sense, as his blend of "pitchability" and pure stuff is rare. He knows how to pitch and can spin the ball as well as anybody in baseball. Angels fans should not read much in him moving down in rankings, he's still a top prospect with immense upside.

For one reason or another, MLB.com decided to move Tyler Bremner, Ryan Johnson, George Klassen and even Johnny Slawinski ahead of Dana in their Angels prospect rankings. One would hope that they would not judge a 21-year-old too hastily based on pitching results in the Pacific Coast League, or that he was shut down from pitching to manage his workload and potential arm fatigue. He has five appearances in The Show, but the 11th round pick in the 2022 MLB Draft truly is not that far removed from being selected out of high school.

So, look for a potential Dana promotion soon. He could be added free of charge in September, or hopefully the Angels skip Tyler Anderson's next start in favor of Dana? He's earned it. Let's just hope if he does get brought up that it's not as a reliever once again.

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