Angels’ Logan O’Hoppe isn’t getting anywhere near the attention he deserves

Unfortunately for the Los Angeles Angels and their fans, not much has gone right in 2024. Losing Mike Trout for the season certainly hasn't helped matters, but it takes more than just one injury to end up 15 games below .500 at the beginning of August. There are real short and long-term questions with multiple areas of the Angels' roster without clear answers as to how they will get resolved.

However, one position that appears to be in good hands is catcher. During the 2018 MLB Draft, the Phillies selected a little known catching prospect by the name of Logan O'Hoppe out of high school. While acquiring O'Hoppe required giving up Brandon Marsh, who has played pretty well in Philadelphia, one doubts that LA regrets that trade even a little bit these days.

Logan O'Hoppe has quietly become one of the best catchers in baseball with one important caveat

By the time O'Hoppe made his big league debut with the Angels in 2022, he was hardly unknown anymore, as he was a consensus top-100 prospect and arguably the best catching prospect in baseball. O'Hoppe's cameo appearance that September went pretty well and he ultimately took over the Angels' catching position after he recovered from shoulder surgery in 2023.

Hopes were understandably high for O'Hoppe entering this season, but he has somehow found a way to exceed even those expectations. Across 370 plate appearances this season, .263/.319/.439 with 16 homers (and that's even with a pretty bad 0-for-19 slump with nine strikeouts right now). Amongst all MLB catchers with at least 60 plate appearances in 2024, O'Hoppe ranks seventh in fWAR at 1.8. Keep in mind, O'Hoppe is still just 24 years old, and the only guys ahead of him are Adley Rutschman, Cal Raleigh, William Contreras, Salvador Perez, Will Smith and Yainer Diaz.

There is one quibble with O'Hoppe and that is with his defense. His framing is generally graded as below average and his ability to control the running game and block pitches doesn't get great marks, either. However, those are learnable skills. He may never be Pudge behind the plate, but there is reason to believe O'Hoppe at least can improve.

For the Angels, the current version of O'Hoppe is just fine. He is among the best hitting catchers in baseball and certainly one of the most productive. Given that he is still refining his craft, the best may be yet to come.

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