Angels make final 40-man roster moves before deadline

With 3:00 pm PT being the deadline for the Los Angeles Angels to protect Rule 5 Draft eligible players, the club opted to add two players to the 40-man roster, protecting them from the draft.

To add those two players, the Angels designated pitchers Touki Toussaint, Nash Walters, and Rob Zastryzny for assignment.

Toussaint was acquired for cash in July, Walters was acquired for cash in August, and Zastryzny was claimed off waivers from the Mets in August. None of the three were going to make the Opening Day roster regardless, so it's not a big deal.

The third roster spot presumably is for Tyler Anderson who just signed with the Angels.

Angels add two young arms to the 40-man roster, making them ineligible for Rule 5 Draft.

The first of two arms added is left-hander Kolton Ingram. The 26-year-old southpaw isn't a highly touted prospect by any means but is coming off of an unbelievable year in AA Rocket City.

Ingram went 6-2 with a 2.67 ERA in 50 appearances this season. He's a guy who can go multiple innings if needed and he even saved 10 games. He struck out 10.8 batters per nine while walking just 2.5 per nine.

There's a very good chance he finds his way on the Angels roster at some point in the not-too-distant future.

It's an addition that made a lot of sense for a team lacking much depth in the pitching department.

The other arm added to the 40-man is Jose Soriano. At one point Soriano was a highly touted prospect. He was ranked as the 13th-best prospect in the Angels system according to mlb.com in 2019.

He was picked by the Pirates first overall in the 2020 Rule 5 Draft. He was there because he underwent Tommy John Surgery. He underwent another surgery in 2021 leaving him out for most of the 2022 season as well.

Soriano was Designated for Assignment by the Pirates in the 2021 offseason and was returned to the Angels. The Halos protecting Soriano isn't a huge shock, but it is a little bit surprising.

He appeared in seven games for two teams in the Angels system at the end of the season. He allowed three runs in 13 innings with 17 strikeouts.

Soriano has great stuff headlined by a fastball that can reach up to 99 mph and has displayed great potential to maybe be a back-end of the bullpen arm at some point.

He probably isn't super close to MLB-ready right now so I'm not sure if any team would've picked him in the Rule 5 Draft but better safe than sorry. Better to protect him than lose him for nothing.