Matthew Lugo is an under-the-radar Angels prospect to watch in 2025

It's time to get familiar with Matthew Lugo, a minor league outfielder the Angels acquired from the Boston Red Sox for reliever Luis García at last year's trade deadline. You'd be forgiven if you don't know much about the 23-year-old as he played just one game in the Angels organization before missing the rest of the season with a hand injury.

Lugo was the Red Sox second-round pick back in 2019, coming out of Puerto Rico as one of the island's top players in his draft class. Originally a shortstop, Lugo has seemingly transitioned to the outfield full-time, playing there exclusively in 2024. The Angels apparently plan to give him some reps at third base in 2025.

While he isn't at the top of the Angels' prospect lists – Baseball America ranks him 15th and FanGraphs pegs him at no. 31 – Lugo is a player who many believe will contribute to the big league club in 2025.

The Halos clearly think highly of him, DFA'ing former first-round pick Jordyn Adams in order to add Lugo to the 40-man and protect him from the Rule 5 Draft.

What does Matthew Lugo bring to the table for the Angels?

2024 was a season of adjustments for Lugo, who changed the positioning of his hands in his stance, altered his swing path, and ultimately generated impressive results between AA and AAA last year.

In AA, Lugo played 43 games and collected 171 plate appearances, posting a sizzling .315/.405/.664 line with 11 homers. He also showed decent plate discipline, drawing walks at an 11.7% rate and striking out at a 21.1% rate (which is acceptable, given his power).

AAA was a bit more of a struggle, but the results still weren't all bad. Lugo slashed .250/.340/.452 with 5 long balls in 35 games and 141 plate appearances before the trade. His walk rate decreased to a more pedestrian 8.5% while his strikeout rate climbed to a 27.0% rate, raising some concern. Overall between the two levels, he finished with a .287/.376/.578 line, 17 home runs, a .291 ISO, and 16 steals showing off an impressive mix of power and speed.

Lugo posted solid contact rates and has a pull-heavy approach that makes the most of his power potential. The flip side of that coin is his approach leaves him vulnerable to pitches on the outside part of the plate and he'll need to learn how to make adjustments in order to not consistently get beat that way by opposing pitchers at the higher levels of competition.

Ultimately, Lugo is a prospect who could have a wide range of future outcomes. If he can maintain a level of defensive versatility while making the necessary adjustments to preserve his hit tool he could become an impact player with excellent power potential. The Angels surely could use someone with his positional versatility and offensive upside coming out of spring training...

If one of those objectives is missed, he could still find himself carving out a role as a productive benchpiece. However, if he were to fail to make any of the necessary adjustments, he may stall out as a quad-A type – good enough to intrigue, but not good enough to find a consistent role at the highest level.

Whatever the future ultimately holds for him, 2025 will be a crucial year for his development making him one of the Angels' most intriguing prospects to watch during the upcoming season.

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