Christian Moore is now in the big leagues and he ought to be playing every day

Angels fans are beyond excited to see Christian Moore's debut, and everybody is hoping that he sticks in the starting lineup. Knowing Ron Washington, he will be highly critical of the no. one prospects defense and will ride him during pregame warmups. If there is ever a world in which Moore does not start games for defensive purposes, fans should riot. The team needs to let the kid have a long leash for potential physical and mental mistakes in the field, and just roll with it for developmental purposes.

The Angels are hopefully going to make Christian Moore the every day second baseman! That sure seems like the plan. I mean, it's hard to look at this lineup (that features Yoán Moncada when he eventually returns from the injured list), and decide that rolling with Luis Rengifo, Scott Kingery and Kevin Newman as starters at any point moving forward is the best move:

1. Neto—6
2. Schanuel*—3
3. Trout—DH
4. Ward—7
5. Soler—9
6. Moncada**—5
7. O’Hoppe—2
8. Adell—8
9. Moore—4
Bench: Wade*, Rengifo**, Newman, d’Arnaud
*correspondingly option Matthew Lugo and Scott Kingery down to Triple-A*

Christian Moore is now in the big leagues and he ought to be playing every day

Everybody lauds Kingery for his hitting prowess at Triple-A this season, and that inevitably led to his promotion. Even though Kingery had not played in MLB since 2022, he had crushed it at the level below for the Phillies in the past two seasons. Well, here are his 2025 stats with the Bees compared to Moore's to provide some context as to how good Moore has been in his first full professional season:

Kingery: 21 games, .373/.418/.578/.996, .423 wOBA, 48 total bases, 10 XBHs
Moore: 20 games, .350/.424/.575/.999, .423 wOBA, 46 total bases, 9 XBHs

Given how Chris Taylor is on the IL after fracturing his hand and Rengifo and Newman would be much better suited to bench roles, starting Moore every game would allow the Angels to just set the lineup with him every day at second and not think twice about it. Let Moore play alongside his idol Mike Trout, future long-time double play partner Zach Neto, Logan O'Hoppe, Nolan Schanuel, Jo Adell etc., and let them help build him up like the gracious teammates and leaders they are.

Bringing Moore up was in no way the Angels shoe-horning him in, he has a CLEAR path to playing every day. It's also not going to sacrifice wins given how bad Rengifo, Newman and Kingery are playing while at second this year. Rengifo has been halfway decent defensively, but his complete lack of production at the plate has more than negated his glovework. Give the kid a chance to play every day. Every other team is!

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