Are Angels fans sure that Nolan Schanuel is the first baseman of the future?

Nolan Schanuel is a divisive figure. There is a lot to like in his game, but also a lot that he needs to improve upon. He is turning 23-years-old next season, and is one of the highest priority members of the team. He will be, and has been, given every opportunity to become a great big leaguer, as he entered the organization via the MLB Draft and immediately began working with big league players, coaches, and front office members.

So what is the problem? He is an OBP king, and overall great kid who clearly wants to be as good as he possibly can be. Why is there any question that the young, up-and-comer will not have a long, outstanding career?

There are a lot of holes in his game. Sure, he is still very young and was told by Ron Washington and other Angels' staffers what he needs to work on. The issue is he is not a prototypical first baseman. He said so himself.

"“Hitting-wise, my whole philosophy was getting on base for the guys behind me. I think I kind of stuck with that same approach. Just set up the guys behind you, help the team win. … I pride myself on that. Just get on base, help the team win. Something I need to work on is the slug and helping get the guys in, scoring runs and getting some RBIs.”"

Nolan Schanuel

Being prototypical is not mandatory, but Schanuel's game just does not seem like it will be complete. Schanuel has the skillset of a speedy leadoff hitter, and the vast majority of his games played came as the leadoff hitter (similar to how they used Anthony Rendon as a leadoff hitter in the past). Those high highs that were mentioned? Well, he has a miniscule whiff% that is in the 96th percentile of hitters in 2024. Schanuel does not swing and miss. He squares balls up and does not chase outside the strike zone as good as anybody else too. So naturally he rarely strikes out and walks a lot. He sees pitches and can foul off anything around the strike zone to keep an at bat alive. Schanuel has a lot of Luis Arráez in his game.

The issues with Luis Arráez and Nolan Schanuel? They are first baseman who are poor fielders, slow on the basepaths, and have no power or bat speed. For Arráez, it works for him because he is surrounded by monsters like Fernando Tatís and Manny Machado, so Schanuel desperately needs Mike Trout back and Zach Neto to maintain his greatness in order for his current skillset to contribute more to winning. To become more like Arráez, Schanuel needs to boost his batting average close to 70 percentage points and cut his strikeouts down by roughly 15%.

Schanuel said bat speed will be a huge point of emphasis this offseason, but could that mess up his approach to the game? If he is a slappy, contact hitter, is that just who he is or will Angels fans see him develop into more of a power hitter? Schanuel hit 13 home runs this year and posted a paltry .362 SLG. Would anybody rule out a move back to the Minor Leagues for a player who has spent virtually his entire career in the bigs? If they can send Reid Detmers down, they can do it for Schanuel too if he does not quite latch on again next season. The Angels have been forced to rush their prospects to the big league team for years (because of when they rostered both Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani), and there could inevitably be consequences for hurrying development. Namely, crushing the confidence of a 1st round pick because he could not live up to everybody's expectations right away. Development is not always linear.

It's pretty easy to say that Schanuel is an untouchable member of the Angels' core, alongside Neto and Logan O'Hoppe. Of the three, Angels fans would largely agree that Schanuel is the most available member of the core for a win-now trade. After the season, Angels' GM, Perry Minasian, said, “We’re going to look at everything. We’re going to look at this club. What makes the best sense for this organization." Clearly everybody is up for evaluation, and candidly, Schanuel has a lot of warts in his game. He is supremely talented and a developing player. However, he needs to show everybody this Spring Training that he developed his game more in the offseason or there will be serious doubts that he can be an everyday first baseman right now.