3 reasons why Zach Neto will be baseball's next star shortstop

The Los Angeles Angels selected Zach Neto with the 13th pick in the first round of last year's MLB Draft. He was drafted out of college and you could tell immediately that he was going to be fast-tracked to the majors.

After just 44 minor league games, Neto got the call. He was an Angel. This came out of nowhere as Gio Urshela looked like a capable option, but with the team needing a spark, Neto was the player they called upon.

The rookie shortstop started his career with one hit in 16 at-bats. This had people thinking Perry Minasian might've jumped the gun. Nope. Since then he's been unbelievable and looks not only to be the Angels shortstop of the future but one of the best shortstops in all of baseball.

It's only been 54 games but it looks like the Angels struck gold with Zach Neto. He continues to impress and has only been getting better. There will always be bumps in the road, but he truly does look like baseball's next star shortstop. Here're three reasons why.

Zach Neto is a rookie who plays like a ten-year veteran

When a young player comes up for the first time, you often expect them to try and do too much. They swing out of their shoes trying to hit home runs, they chase out of the zone, they try and force the action on the basepaths, there're many things players can do to try and push the envelope.

We've seen this before with a hyped up young player who comes up and disappoints. Jo Adell has all the tools in the world but had no idea what he was swinging at and was striking out at rates that made him unplayable regularly at this level. Adell can still be a great MLB player, but we haven't seen it yet.

Neto came up as inexperienced as anyone, but he looks and plays like a ten-year veteran out there. His baseball IQ is off the charts, and his poise has been something to admire.

Often we see rookies chase. Neto ranks in the 77th percentile in chase rate according to baseball savant. Playing on a team with superstars like Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani he's still super selective and rarely chases.

How about his approach at the plate? We all know and love the wild leg kick he has. Neto has as high of a leg kick as anyone in the game, but only until there're two strikes. The youngster does not ever want to strikeout and completely changes his approach with two strikes. He shortens up, and loses the high leg kick. You just don't see these things from rookies.

We've seen Neto make heady defensive plays and he's provided value on the basepaths as well. He has speed and picks his spot to steal bases really well, as he's swiped five bags without being caught.

His feel for the game as a 22-year-old is unlike anything I've seen in a long time. His maturity and baseball IQ will help him become the star we all know he's capable of becoming.

LA Angels shortstop Zach Neto is starting to hit for power

We've all seen and rave about his plate discipline and ability to put bat on ball, but now we're starting to see the power come along. In his short stint in the minors, Neto did hit for some power as he hit eight home runs in 44 games. That's a 29 home run pace in a 162-game season.

While I don't expect Neto to be a 30 home run guy, who's to say he can't hit 20? After hitting mostly singles to begin his career, we're starting to see his power come along.

Neto went his first 22 games without a home run. Of his 18 hits in those games, only four went for extra bases. All four were doubles. There's nothing wrong with hitting singles, but he just wasn't hitting for much power at all.

Ever since he hit his first home run he's looked a lot more capable driving the baseball.

In the last three games alone Neto has hit three home runs and two doubles. Two of the three home runs came in one game.

Neto has six home runs in 54 games played in his rookie season which puts him on pace to hit 17 home runs over a full 162-game season. Getting 20 home runs in a season out of a shortstop who does seemingly everything else at an elite level would be outstanding.

Since we've seen him hit for more power of late, who really knows what his ceiling is in that department? It'll definitely be exciting to see.