Injuries decimating virtually every member of Angels young core as season wraps up

On February 11th, Sam Blum of The Athletic posted the results of an Angels fan survey he conducted. One of the questions was "Who is your favorite player, not including Mike Trout?" The answers: Logan O'Hoppe, Zach Neto, Taylor Ward, Luis Rengifo, Ben Joyce, Jo Adell, Nolan Schanuel and José Soriano.

Of that group, O'Hoppe, Neto, Joyce, Adell, Schanuel and Soriano are the crowned jewels of the Angels franchise moving forward given that they are all age-27 or younger and have shown that they belong at the major league level. Well, those six fan favorites plus another spectacular youngster are either dealing with injuries here in mid-September as the Angels season is coming to a close.

Injuries decimating virtually every member of Angels young core as season wraps up

In the Angels most recent game, José Soriano was hit by a comebacker from Milwaukee's Jake Bauers and was removed from the game. Soriano was struck on his throwing arm, and while the results were not disastrous that was likely the last pitch he will throw this season. This comes days after the 26-year-old Reid Detmers, who will assuredly receive some votes as fans' favorite player on Blum's next survey, was ruled out for the rest of the season with left elbow inflammation. The flamethrowing Ben Joyce could only amass 4.1 innings pitched this season before going down with yet another arm injury.

On the position player front, Zach Neto's season is likely over due to a hand sprain. The Angels star shortstop is technically eligible to return before the season ends, but it appears the team will not risk further injury for the 25-year-old in a now-lost season. Neto's absence the rest of the way hurts the most, as he was far and away the most watchable player on the roster.

Logan O'Hoppe, who received the most votes in Blum's poll, will drastically fall down that list heading into 2026. The catcher recently returned from the 7-day concussion injured list, and is hoping to salvage a season in which he underwhelmed fans with a sky-high strikeout rate and well below average defense. Nolan Schanuel should be back in the lineup aside O'Hoppe soon, as the first baseman was just sent out on a rehab assignment. Schanuel sustained a wrist injury post All-Star break that severely hurt his production, so he might be able to get back to his old self now that he is healed.

Jo Adell is by far the healthiest of the Angels young core, but he was suffering from vertigo soon after being voted as the American League Player of the Week to begin September. The surging star missed three of four games from September 8th through September 11th, and has gone 2/16 since returning to the lineup.

The Angels do have several exciting prospects to fill in for their injured young core like Caden Dana, Sam Aldegheri (who will fill Soriano's vacancy), Christian Moore and Denzer Guzman. They are unproven commodities like Neto, Detmers, etc. but could blossom into stars soon for all we know. The Angels extended their playoff drought and now all the best players are coming down with injuries. This team really knows how to add insult to injury, huh?

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