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3 prospects the Angels should be happy they held on to at the deadline

The Angels traded away a slew of prospects at the trade deadline but should be happy these three remain with the organization

By Zachary Rotman |
SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game
SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game / Alika Jenner/GettyImages
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The Los Angeles Angels made a massive statement at the trade deadline that they're all in on 2023. It remains to be seen whether this move was justified or not as the Halos sit four games back of the final Wild Card spot having to leapfrog ahead of a bunch of teams, but they did pick a direction which was very important.

The Angels decided to put their best foot forward and try to win in 2023 with hopes of retaining Shohei Ohtani and who can blame them? The unfortunate reality of that situation is while 2023 should be better, the Angels weakened their already subpar farm system.

Top prospects Edgar Quero and Ky Bush went to Chicago for Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez. The Angels also traded away a ton of their minor league pitching to add players like Mike Moustakas, Eduardo Escobar, Randal Grichuk, and C.J. Cron. The system is definitely weaker, but the Angels also held onto some promising prospects.

1) The LA Angels should be happy they held onto Kyren Paris at the trade deadline

The Angels had two representatives at the Futures Game this season. One was Edgar Quero, their top prospect who was moved for Giolito and Lopez. The other representative was Kyren Paris.

I'm not here to tell you Paris is the prospect Quero is, because that's not true. The Angels traded away a guy who could wind up being a special catcher one day. Paris, however, has a chance to be a pretty good player in his own right.

The 21-year-old is slashing .243/.373/.415 with 13 home runs and 39 RBI. He's tacked on 17 doubles and 31 stolen bases (in 36 attempts). Paris is a player with speed and power as a middle infielder which should get fans excited.

He does have to work on his hit tool. The average is a bit low, and he's struck out 121 times already in 337 at-bats. However, if he can ever improve that, this guy could have a really bright future with the tools he does have. He's already set a career high in home runs, is on his way to do so in stolen bases, and is sound defensively.

2) The LA Angels should be happy they held onto Nelson Rada at the trade deadline

Nelson Rada is the prospect I personally am most excited about in this Angels system. As a 17 year old he's already in Single-A and has had a really strong season. Rada is slashing .263/.395/.325 with two home runs and 38 RBI. The most impressive part of his stat line is the fact that he already has 43 stolen bases.

Rada is an on-base machine at such a young age, and has the ability to turn a walk into a double in an eye-blink. Again, he has a .395 OBP with 43 stolen bases as a 17-year-old in Single-A! At this rate, with how aggressively the Angels promote their prospects, would it be shocking to see Rada in the majors as a teenager assuming he continues to develop?

The power isn't quite there yet, but as a 17-year-old who still has plenty of room to grow, it's not unreasonable to think it won't come. He doesn't have to be a 30+ home run hitter to be effective either. Even if he hits 10-12 with his on-base ability and speed he can become quite the force.

Rada might only be the eighth-ranked prospect in the Angels system according to MLB Pipeline for now, but there's a good chance he ranks higher when the list updates and pushes towards being a top-100 prospect in the not-too-distant future.

3) The LA Angels should be happy they held onto Caden Dana at the trade deadline

Landon Marceaux, Coleman Crow, Connor Van Scoyoc, Ky Bush, Jake Madden, and Mason Albright are all pitching prospects that the Angels moved at the deadline to try and upgrade the current roster.

Trading away pitching prospects is something the Angels could afford to do thanks to their all-pitching draft of 2021, and of the guys moved, none of them with maybe the exception of Ky Bush project to be anything other than back-end starters at best.

While they could afford it, that doesn't mean trading away six pitching prospects doesn't hurt. With Bush gone, Caden Dana is the best pitching prospect in the Angels system, and it isn't particularly close.

The 19-year-old dominated Single-A before being promoted to A+ Tri-City. Pitching at an advanced level, Dana has still found success. His ERA is at 4.22 but he's struck out 12.0 batters per nine and has allowed just three home runs in 53.1 innings pitched. He walks too many, but Dana's stuff is solid. If he can ever control it, who knows what his potential is?

Dana won't factor into the MLB equation for a couple of years but has the potential to be a rotation piece of the future or a good trade chip if the Angels choose to go in that direction. For now, it'll be fun to continue to watch him develop.

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