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5 players you completely forgot played for the Angels in 2023

The Angels have had to cycle between 64 players this season. It's easy to forget that some of them have played for the team in 2023.

By Zachary Rotman |
Boston Red Sox v Los Angeles Angels
Boston Red Sox v Los Angeles Angels / Ronald Martinez/GettyImages
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64 players have played in at least one game for the Los Angeles Angels in 2023. That ties the second-highest mark in franchise history, and they are just three away from setting a new franchise record. The bevy of injuries and constant roster turnover are to blame for this.

The Angels have had to dig well beyond their initial 40-man roster, something teams wish they didn't have to do. Part of the reason the team collapsed the way they did is because of the lack of depth in the organization.

Each team cycles through some young players and veterans who rarely appear in games so fans forget they were even there. Did you remember the three games Austin Romine caught last season? Or the one appearance Brian Moran made out of the bullpen? Hard to remember. There're many examples of this from this season alone.

1) LA Angels fans forget Chris Okey played for the team in 2023

The Angels entered the season with Logan O'Hoppe and Matt Thaiss as their catching tandem. O'Hoppe won the starting job, but the Angels were determined to give Thaiss, a former first round pick made by the Angels, a long look as well with him being out of options.

O'Hoppe went down with injury early on this season, and that immediately thrust Thaiss into the starting role. Fortunately, the Angels had a third catcher in AAA in Chad Wallach who was a solid option for a third catcher. The problem is, beyond Wallach the options were very limited. This meant if there was any injury to either Thaiss or Wallach, the Angels would be in trouble.

Wallach landed on the concussion IL in early May which meant the Angels would have to call up a man by the name of Chris Okey, a player the team signed on Opening Day to a minor league deal. Okey had two hits in 12 at-bats in seven games for the Reds in 2022, that was it for his MLB experience.

Despite the fact that he wasn't on an organization before Opening Day, the Angels still for some reason felt it was in their best interest to have Okey make his Angels debut catching Shohei Ohtani. Not only did he strike out in both of his at-bats against the Astros, he had issues catching Shohei. Okey wound up appearing in just two games for the Angels, with the second game seeing him come in for defense. The team DFA'd him in July to open up 40-man roster space, but he went unclaimed and has been in AAA Salt Lake ever since.

2) LA Angels fans forget Reyes Moronta played for the team in 2023

Once upon a time, Reyes Moronta was a really good reliever for the San Francisco Giants. The right-hander had a 2.65 ERA in 135 appearances with San Francisco over a four-year period, but his tenure with the team ended prematurely due to some injuries.

Moronta was able to stay mostly healthy in 2022 and made 39 appearances for the Diamondbacks and Dodgers, posting a 4.30 ERA. He began this season as part of the Rangers organization, but when he didn't make their Opening Day roster, he was released by the organization. Moronta wound up in the Mexican League before the Angels scooped him up on a minor league deal in mid-May.

The 30-year-old spent ten days in the minors before the Angels called him up. Moronta allowed two hits and a walk in his Angels debut but found a way to strike out two batters and had some help getting through the inning unscathed. Moronta's next outing was less fortunate as he allowed two hits and two walks and let a run score in the process.

Moronta was DFA'd after that second rough outing, but went unclaimed and has spent the rest of the season in the minors.

3) LA Angels fans forget Kevin Padlo played for the team in 2023

Once Anthony Rendon was hit by a pitch in Texas, you knew he was headed to the Injured List. The team didn't announce it for a couple of days, but Rendon did wind up landing on the IL, and Padlo was the player who replaced him. Rendon was out along with Gio Urshela, so the need for a third baseman on the roster was clear, and that's where Padlo filled in for a couple of days.

The 27-year-old had just 23 games of MLB experience combined with four different teams entering this season, and wound up appearing in just three games for the Angels. He got a start against Clayton Kershaw and came up in a huge spot with runners on second and third with nobody out but grounded out on the first pitch he saw. Of course, the Angels did not score in that spot and wound up not scoring all game.

Padlo got one more start in Colorado and then made an appearance off the bench in the 25-1 game. He had one hit in eight at-bats overall before being sent down.

The Angels did actually promote Padlo for a second time in late July after the team pulled off the trade to acquire Randal Grichuk and C.J. Cron from the Rockies, but he was up for only one day and did not make an appearance before being DFA'd when Grichuk and Cron joined the team the next day. He has spent the rest of the season with AAA Salt Lake after going unclaimed off waivers.

4) LA Angels fans forget Austin Warren played for the team in 2023

Austin Warren is a pitcher Angels fans are very familiar with as he made 30 appearances combined in 2021 and 2022. Things last season didn't go as well as they did in 2021 and Warren's 1.77 ERA in his debut season spiked to 5.63. Warren wound up being DFA'd this past offseason to make room on the 40-man roster, but cleared waivers and worked his way back into the equation with a strong spring.

Warren spent most of the first month of the season in the minors but with all of the struggles the Angels had in their bullpen, he was called upon fairly early, getting the call to the majors on April 21. Warren pitched in each of the following two games against the Kansas City Royals, allowing one run in 1.2 innings total before landing on the IL.

Just two days after the Angels announced that Jose Quijada was going to undergo Tommy John Surgery, Austin Warren had suffered the same fate. This ended his season prematurely and is going to cost him some time next season.

Warren is on the 60-day IL right now but is very likely to be DFA'd this offseason when the Angels need space on their 40-man roster. Hopefully Warren goes unclaimed as he's a solid depth reliever to have in the minors when healthy.

5) LA Angels fans forget Livan Soto played for the team in 2023

Livan Soto is another player fans remember from the recent past. Soto was a September call-up in 2022 and he made the most of it, hitting .400 in his 55 at-bats down the stretch. It was fun to see Soto get his hits, but the Angels knew that he was closer to the guy who had uninspiring numbers in the minors.

Soto began the year in AAA Salt Lake and had positioned himself to be the next man up if the Angels had an injury in their infield because of his great work the previous September, but he struggled mightily to the point where the Angels had to send him back down to AA Rocket City to get going again.

Soto had just 10 hits in 55 at-bats for the Trash Pandas before the Angels called him up to replace an injured Anthony Rendon. Soto was with the team for almost a full month but appeared in just four games. He had two hits in nine at-bats and did draw three walks in the process before finally being sent back down to the minors.

The 23-year-old has continued to have a rocky year in the minors, posting a .677 OPS overall, which is why he hasn't gotten another chance even with all of the injuries the Angels have had.

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