Angels' Nolan Schanuel just added fuel to the fire for team’s plans for first rounder

Eric Cole

Jul 14, 2024; Ft. Worth, TX, USA; Christian Moore celebrates with fans after being selected by the Los Angeles Angels as the eight player taken during the first round of the MLB Draft at Cowtown Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

From the moment that the Los Angeles Angels picked Christian Moore in the first round of the 2024 MLB draft, it was inevitable that the organization was going to be extremely aggressive with him. LA loves nothing more than blasting hitting prospects through the minor leagues quickly, and with Moore's rapid promotion to Double-A, it seemed like the Angels were at it once again.

Making Moore's rise even more remarkable is that he hasn't seemed to blink when challenged by the Angels. While he has only played in six gamesm which is a very small sample, his extremely loud .481/.517/1.000 line with four homers garnered a lot of attention.

One pair of eyes that Moore has intrigued is the Angels' Nolan Schanuel. Schanuel was not only familiar with Moore from playing against him in college, but he was glowing in his assessment of him to the point where he already thinks Moore will do quite well in the big leagues.

Christian Moore has already impressed his future Angels teammates

While Schanuel stopped short of lobbying for Moore to be called up to the big leagues, he did point out that the Angels reward prospects for performing well and that thought that "[Moore] has the tools to be where I’m at and where everybody is in this locker room.” It doesn't getting much better in terms of endorsements than that.

Coming off a two-homer game this week, speculation that the Angels could call Moore up soon is only getting louder. There are completely fair arguments against rushing Moore to the big leagues, especially since the Angels aren't likely to be in the playoff picture either way. However, LA operates to the beat of their own drum, so it may be more helpful to understand when the Angels could call him up.

It is highly unlikely that the Angels would promote him before August 16 as they would likely want to have him keep his rookie eligibility in 2025 just in case he finishes in the top-two of the Rookie of the Year voting and subsequently gives LA an extra draft pick. Even later than that is likely because Moore getting over 130 plate appearances in the big leagues this year encounters a similar problem.

All of this points to a September call up for Moore, at the earliest. No one would blame the Angels for pumping the brakes a bit and waiting until 2025 for his debut, as that is what most sane teams would do. However, that doesn't sound like LA's modus operandi at all as Moore continues to force the issue.

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Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.