2 Angels moving up the depth chart at the break, 2 falling out of favor fast

The Los Angeles Angels entered the halfway mark of the season playing their worst baseball of the season. Losers in nine of their last ten, the Halos are now under .500 and the talk around Shohei Ohtani and a trade has intensified.

Despite this awful start to the month of July, the Angels are still not completely out of it yet. A good stretch of games against Wild Card contenders right out of the break is a good test for this team.

If the Angels are able to win some games quickly, the conversations around them maybe being buyers can start up again. They're going to attempt to win games with players the coaching staff has seeminlgly bumped up and down on the depth chart.

LA Angels infielder Luis Rengifo is finally swinging a good bat entering the second half of the season

Isn't it unfortunate that we wait all season for Luis Rengifo to show signs of life and when he finally does it's right before a six-day break? Hopefully the off-days won't impact him, but Rengifo was finally playing well for the Angels despite the team struggling.

In his last eight games, Rengifo has eight hits in 21 at-bats with a home run, a double, and a triple. He has hits in each of his last six starts including a three-hit game in San Diego.

He's only hitting .219 with a .637 OPS on the season, but his recent good stretch has made him one of, if not the hottest Angel on the team right now. That combined with the injuries this team is dealing with has opened up a spot for Rengifo in the lineup.

Whether Anthony Rendon is back or not, it feels likely that Rengifo will slot in at second base most of the time with either Rendon or Eduardo Escobar at third. He'll be given every opportunity to try and show signs from last season, whether it's justified or not.

LA Angels infielder David Fletcher continues to struggle and has lost his starting spot because of it

After fans had been begging for it, the Angels finally promoted David Fletcher from AAA Salt Lake. He had been swinging a red-hot bat for months, and the Zach Neto injury opened up some playing time for him to finally come back and join the Angels.

The first game was one to remember for Fletcher and the team. His two-run single began the Angels 25-1 rout in Colorado, and his three-run homer got them to 20 runs. He had four hits in six at-bats that night with a rare home run and five RBI.

That four-hit game was awesome to witness from a player who had struggled so mightily offensively for years, but since that happened he's recorded just four hits in 25 at-bats over his last ten games.

As a guy who rarely walks and doesn't hit for power, Fletcher has to find a way to get base hits to be a productive offensive player. He's been pretty unlucky boasting a .225 BAbip on the season, but a lot of the balls he does put in play aren't hit very hard.

With Fletcher struggling offensively, the Angels have turned to Andrew Velazquez at shortstop. Squid has started each of the last four games at shortstop (despite picking up just two hits in his 12 at-bats during those starts), because of his defense.

I would've given Fletcher a bit more rope at shortstop when the alternative is Velazquez, but it's clear that the Angels are leaning another direction.

LA Angels pitcher Jacob Webb has been consistently reliable all season

There was a lot of talk about Chris Devenski and the success he had as a reliever on a minor league deal, and rightfully so, but Jacob Webb is in the exact same boat and hasn't had any of the struggles that Chris Devenski has had lately.

Webb is a guy who for some reason has always been solid in the majors but really struggled in the minors last season. This gave Perry Minasian the opportunity to scoop him up on a minors deal, and the Angels have been rewarded for taking on that minimal risk.

Webb has a 2.49 ERA in 20 appearances and 21.2 innings pitched. Despite a slightly elevated walk count, he's given up just 12 hits with two leaving the ballpark. He's pitched in some higher-leverage situations of late, including the eighth inning of the last game they won, recording his sixth hold of the season in a 1-2-3 inning against Arizona.

The 29-year-old has struggled a bit recently, allowing three runs in his last four innings pitched across four outings, but had delivered ten consecutive scoreless innings including five holds and a save. Remember the game Carlos Estevez looked like he didn't have it and Jacob Webb came in and saved the day in Texas? That might've been the high point of the season.

Regardless, with some relievers, mainly Devenski, struggling, Webb has elevated into Estevez's primary set-up man and he's been really good all season.