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3 reasons the Angels will be significantly better in 2024

It can't get much worse, can it?

By Zachary Rotman |
May 15, 2023; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Los Angeles Angels center fielder Mike Trout (27) high
May 15, 2023; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Los Angeles Angels center fielder Mike Trout (27) high / Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
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The Los Angeles Angels finished the 2023 season with a 73-89 record. It was their second consecutive season finishing with that record, and their eighth consecutive season where they failed to post a winning record.

This lack of success was surprising for an Angels team that was 56-51 at the trade deadline. A 17-38 record from August 1 on did this team in, and robbed Angels fans of watching this team potentially play some meaningful games for a change.

Now, as we look ahead to the 2024 season, the Angels will hope to be much better. Here are three reasons to believe they can do that.

1) The Angels' injury luck simply has to be better

It's unreasonable to only blame the Angels struggles down the stretch on injuries, but this team wound up being absolutely decimated. Out of the 26 players who made the team's Opening Day roster, only two lasted the entire season without being waived, traded, DFA'd, sent down, or placed on the IL. Those two were Carlos Estevez and Reid Detmers. Guys like Patrick Sandoval and Tyler Anderson were close, but they landed on the IL by the time the season ended.

Shohei Ohtani led the team with 135 games played despite missing most of the entire month of September due to injury. Hunter Renfroe was tied for second on the team in games played and he was claimed off waivers by the Reds at the end of August. Luis Rengifo was the player tied with Renfroe and he didn't even begin the year in a starting role. Brandon Drury was the only other Angel to reach 100 games played.

Some of their best players were limited in a big way. Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon combined to play in just 125 games this season as their injury woes continued. Guys like Logan O'Hoppe, Zach Neto, and Luis Rengifo all landed on the IL at times where they were red-hot offensively. O'Hoppe wound up missing most of the season due to a torn labrum that wasn't even in his throwing shoulder.

The pitching side of things were a bit better health-wise, but the Angels had several relievers go down for the year early after undergoing Tommy John Surgery. They also were without Jose Suarez who was expected to be a big part of the rotation for several months.

Things simply have to be better health-wise. If they can get more than four players to appear in 100+ games, chances are they'll at least show marginal improvement. The Angels used well over 60 players in 2023. No team can succeed if they have to find that much quality depth.

2) Angels young players should continue to show improvement

This Angels roster is littered with young talent that showed they can be considered future pieces of this roster.

Zach Neto opened some eyes this season with his offense, defense, and hustle. There are reasons this Angels team went 43-41 with him and 30-48 without him. Neto was a rare example of an Angels player who seemed very capable of hitting in the clutch, and also seemed to make every routine play.

Logan O'Hoppe is a catcher that can hit and defend. He was one of the Angels best power bats in the month of April, and was the team's best power bat in September. Those were the only two months in which he was fully healthy. There're always things he can be working on but O'Hoppe is another young, gritty player that showed immense potential and should continue to grow.

Mickey Moniak rose to the spotlight for the Angels this season, going from a minor leaguer to a player they couldn't take out of the lineup against right-handed pitching. What if Moniak can strikeout less and learn to hit left-handed pitching? Those can be pretty huge developments. What if Nolan Schanuel can develop some power to pair with his elite on-base ability? What if Jo Adell finally shows he belongs at the big league level.

On the pitching side there're plenty of young players to be excited about. Reid Detmers is still just 24 years old and saw a major uptick in his strikeouts. What if that continues? Patrick Sandoval took a step back in 2023 but he's only 26 and has been great before. The bullpen is stacked with young arms in Jose Soriano, Ben Joyce, and Sam Bachman all who appear capable to take another step thanks to their electric stuff.

Obviously, not every young player is going to develop as quickly as you'd like. However, the Angels appear to have several young guys who have given you no reason to believe they can't be even better than they were in 2022. If that's the case, why can't this team be much better?

3) The Angels should be much better with runners in scoring position leading to a more potent offense

Look. If this team loses Shohei Ohtani in free agency, it's going to be very hard to argue that the offense will be better. The offense ranked 16th in runs scored with Ohtani playing at a historic level for five of the six months. That's very obviously hard to replace if he departs, but there're reasons to believe things can be a bit better.

The Angels ranked 28th in all of baseball in batting with runners in scoring position as they hit at a .236 clip in those spots. The only teams worse than them were the disappointing New York Yankees and the historically bad Oakland Athletics.

The Angels had an 86 WRC+ in these moments which simply is not good enough. Some of that was due to the team simply not having a good approach with runners in scoring position, but some of that also has to do with their .289 BAbip being a tad unlucky. 20 of the 30 teams had BAbip's over .300. If the Angels can get there, their average would improve.

Another reason this mark should improve is some of the players who stunk with runners in scoring position are and/or will be gone. Hunter Renfroe was one of the worst hitters in all of baseball in these spots posting a WRC+ of 50. He's gone. Randal Grichuk had just five hits in 47 at-bats with the Angels with RISP. He's most likely gone. Jared Walsh had four hits in 24 at-bats in these moments. He's gone. Gio Urshela hit .229 in these spots and is most likely gone.

Meanwhile, the Angels will hope for better injury luck from guys who excelled in these big spots. Anthony Rendon hasn't done much of anything with the Angels but when healthy, he's been great with RISP. Brandon Drury was the Angels best hitter in these pressure spots for much of the season and he missed a month with injury. Nolan Schanuel showed that he's capable of hitting in big moments.

Whether it's because of positive regression, the team being healthier, or a change of approach I would be surprised if this team finished 28th with runners in scoring position again.

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