Ranking each of the last 10 Angels first round draft picks from worst to best

Happy MLB Draft Day! The Los Angeles Angels will be selecting 11th in the first round of the MLB Draft today. There're a lot of directions the team can go with that pick, but with how well Perry Minasian has done with his draft picks, it's definitely an exciting time for Angels fans.

Some of the best players in Angels history were drafted in the first round, but for every Mike Trout and Jerad Weaver there're always Brandon Wood's and Hank Conger's.

The Angels haven't made a first-round pick every year over the last decade thanks to them signing some free agents with the Qualifying Offer attached, but let's go over each of the last ten players they've picked in the first round and rank them from worst to best.

10) Will Wilson: 15th overall, 2019 MLB Draft

Will Wilson was the Angels' first-round pick in 2019 selected out of NC State University. Wilson looked like the potential shortstop of the future for the Angels, but didn't get much time to show it. He played just 46 games in Rookie Ball before being traded that offseason to the Giants.

The Angels shipped Zack Cozart and the rest of his hefty contract to the Giants and had to throw in Wilson to get them to eat the money (thanks, Arte Moreno). While Wilson hasn't quite turned into anything notable, trading away one of your best contracts just to get off of a bad contract is horrific asset management.

Wilson has played three years in the Giants system and hasn't done much of anything. This season he's slashing .225/.306/.395 with 11 home runs and 40 RBI for AAA Sacramento. The 24-year-old still has more time to grow, but it looks like the Angels dodged a major bullet here.

9) Jordyn Adams: 17th overall, 2018 MLB Draft

Jordyn Adams was the Angels' first selection in the 2018 draft, and is the only other prospect from the last ten first-round picks to not make it to the majors. Adams was drafted a year later and has been good this season which is why he's higher.

Playing for AAA Salt Lake Adams has slashed .260/.341/.470 with 12 home runs and 56 RBI this season. I'm sure playing in the altitude has helped a ton, but an .810 OPS is Adams' career high by far. He's added 28 steals in 31 attempts, and five triples as well.

Adams played incredibly well in Spring Training, posting a .981 OPS with four stolen bases in his 24 games and 39 at-bats. If the Angels do go the selling route at the trade deadline, it's possible that a spot in the outfield might open for him to make his MLB debut.

Do I expect much from Adams if he were to ever get the call? No, his four years in the minors were pretty underwhelming before this one, and his numbers are certainly better than they'd be if he didn't play in the PCL. Still, he's only 23, and you never truly know until you give someone a chance.

8) Jo Adell: 10th overall, 2017 MLB Draft

Jo Adell was the Angels' first-round pick in 2017 coming straight out of high school and of course, he's disappointed.

Adell played well in the minors but never really dominated, yet the Angels rushed him to the big leagues for him to debut in the 2020 season. To the surprise of mostly nobody, Adell really struggled in the 38 games he played in that shortened season, and that put him on the bad side of a whole bunch of fans.

He played in 161 MLB games through his first three seasons and slashed .215/.260/.356 with 15 home runs and 60 RBI in 557 plate appearances. He got pretty much a full season's worth of at-bats through his first three seasons and didn't do much with them. 15 home runs isn't bad, but he struck out way too much and it's very hard to justify playing a guy who got on base 26% of the time.

This season, the Angels traded for Hunter Renfroe to in part, ensure that Adell would be in the minors. He wasn't even their first man up from AAA as Mickey Moniak came up before he did. Adell responded by having his best minor league season yet, hitting 23 home runs in 72 games before earning the call-up when Mike Trout went down with injury.

Adell's talent is very easy to spot. He has blazing speed and can hit a ball .500 feet. The only question which he has yet to answer even in the minors is if he can actually put the ball in play enough to be a good MLB hitter.

With Trout out, Adell is getting his first regular action of this season and he's done pretty well so far. Hopefully he can find a way to stick in the outfield somewhere, whether it's with the Angels or with another team. For now, his MLB production makes him among the worst Angels picks in the last decade.

7) Matt Thaiss: 16th overall, 2016 MLB Draft

Matt Thaiss was selected in the first round in 2016 out of the University of Virginia as a catcher, yet he was developed primarily as a corner infielder. He didn't catch his first game in the Angels organization until the 2021 season, five years after he was drafted.

Thaiss wasn't drafted for his glove, he was drafted for his bat. Unfortunately, his numbers in the minors were never anything special and his numbers in the majors were abysmal prior to this season.

Thaiss entered this season with a .205/.299/.373 slashline with 11 home runs and 32 RBI in 93 games and 278 plate appearances. Not great at all.

He made the Opening Day roster this season mainly because Max Stassi was on the IL and he was out of options. If Thaiss had an option, it would not have been surprising to see Chad Wallach break camp as Logan O'Hoppe's backup. With the way Thaiss began this season, I and other Angels fans wished Wallach would've been the one to crack the roster, but with the way he's played overall, he's made us eat our words.

Thaiss went hitless in his first 12 at-bats of the season. Nobody can forget the two catchers interferences he committed in one inning which cost the Angels a game in Boston.

Since his rough start, he's slashed .281/.376/.418 with five home runs and 22 RBI. He's been slumping a bit of late, but has for the most part excelled as the team's number one catcher, and he's proven he can last at the MLB level for a sustained period of time. A 109 OPS+ is quite good, particularly for a catcher. Even with his defense not being anything special, that bat makes him a player worth rostering.

Thaiss is still seventh because he's been good for just the 62 games he's played in this season. He needs to show a bit more, especially since we had to deal with him producing nothing when given the opportunity in previous years.

5) Sam Bachman: 9th overall, 2021 MLB Draft

It's only been 11 appearances, all out of the bullpen, but the potential with this guy is hard to miss. Sam Bachman was selected ninth overall in the 2021 MLB Draft by the Angels out of Miami University of Ohio, and when healthy, he's been really impressive.

Injuries last season led to reduced velocity which meant his strikeouts went way down, but they shot back up with increased velocity this season, and he was one of many pitchers the Angels promoted straight from AA Rocket City to the majors. He made just 23 appearances (all starts) in his minor league career before debuting for the Angels as a reliever.

In his 11 appearances with the Angels, Bachman has a 3.18 ERA in 17 appearances. His 11 walks are too high, but he's been mostly effective as a high-leverage reliever who can also go multiple innings if the need is there.

Bachman throws hard and his slider has held opponents to a .213 average with a 34% whiff rate. He's given up just one extra-base hit overall which is incredibly encouraging.

I have no idea whether Bachman will be used as a starter or as a reliever in the future. Obviously he'd be more valuable as a starter, but seeing him be an effective reliever is certainly a good thing as well. I'm excited for his future no matter the role.

4) Taylor Ward: 25th overall, 2015 MLB Draft

Like Matt Thaiss, the Angels drafted Taylor Ward toward the end of the first round in 2015 as a catcher. Ward caught at Cal State and caught for his first couple of seasons with the Angels before being moved to third base in 2018. He wound up playing both corners in the infield and outfield before being called up for the first time in 2018.

Ward struggled at the big league level, posting a .633 OPS in his first three seasons and 94 games before putting up pretty solid numbers in 2021. He had a 107 OPS+ and hit eight home runs in 65 games. Those numbers helped earn him a starting role in 2022, a spot he ran away with.

Ward broke out in a huge way, slashing .281/.360/.473 with 23 home runs and 65 RBI in 135 games last season. He played at an all-star level for a majority of the season despite struggling mightily after injuring himself crashing against a wall.

Ward has followed up his breakout season with a very pedestrian one at best. He's slashing .243/.318/.377 with nine home runs and 31 RBI. He's had some good moments and hasn't been awful overall, but a 91 OPS+ is certainly disappointing for the Angels left fielder.

Had Ward found a way to replicate his all-star quality season, there's a good chance he's at the top of this list. Unfortunately, it wasn't in the cards. Hopefully he has a strong second half.

3) C.J. Cron: 17th overall, 2011 MLB Draft

The Angels took C.J. Cron 17th overall in 2011 out of the University of Utah, and he played extremely well in the minors before making his MLB debut for the Angels in 2014.

While Cron wasn't the superstar hitter you'd hope for a first baseman drafted in the first round to be, he wasn't a bad hitter by any means. He had four pretty solid seasons with the Angels overall, slashing .262/.307/.449 averaging 15 home runs and 53 RBI in 102 games per season.

Cron was traded to the Rays for a player to be named later in the 2017 offseason and that player ironically enough was Luis Rengifo. While Rengifo has had some good moments for the Angels over the years, but Cron broke out immediately after getting traded. He smacked 30 home runs for the Rays in 2018 and has been a really solid power hitter for a couple years.

He hit 28 home runs in 2021 and hit 29 more in 2022 to go along with 102 RBI for the Rockies. He was an all-star last season. While Cron has struggled this season, he's done quite well playing in the thin air of Colorado. Had the Angels remained competitive Cron would've been a realistic trade target with their struggles at first base this season. He's the only player on this list with an all-star appearance.

2) Zach Neto, 13th overall, 2022 MLB Draft

Cron is the most accomplished player of anyone the Angels have drafted in their last ten first-round picks, but I'm projecting here. I've thought the world of Zach Neto ever since he got drafted in the first round by the Angels out of the University of Miami, and he's done nothing to disappoint.

Neto shined in the 44 games he played in the minor leagues before getting surprisingly called up earlier this season. He had a nice spring and was crushing the ball in the minors, but Neto getting called up less than a year after being drafted was not something I expected,

He struggled a bit to begin his career recording one hit in his first 16 at-bats but a two-hit game in his fifth career game was the moment where he really took off and statrted shining right in front of our eyes.

From that moment on, Neto has slashed .279/.359/.468 with six home runs and 22 RBI. He's done that while playing Gold Glove-caliber defense at the premium position of shortstop at just 22 years old.

Overall, Neto has a 114 WRC+ which ranks fourth on the Angels among hitters with at least 190 plate appearances, and his 1.3 fWAR is tied for fifth among Angels position players. Despite playing in just 55 games, he's been one of the best players on the team. The Angels have gone 31-24 with him and are just 14-21 without him.

The future might not seem super bright for the Angels at certain moments, but it certainly looks like they have their franchise shortstop.

1) Reid Detmers, 10th overall, 2020 MLB Draft

Billy Eppler screwed up many things as General Manager of the Angels, but one of his parting gifts was selecting Reid Detmers tenth overall in the 2020 draft out of the University of Louisville.

Like so many Angels prospects recently, Detmers was fast tracked through the minors and made his debut after just 15 starts in the minor leagues. He debuted in 2021 and struggled, but he pitched well in 2022 and has been even better after a rough start to this season.

Last season Detmers is most known for the no-hitter he threw. While that was an awesome moment, he wasn't at his best in the first half of the season, posting an ERA over 4.00 and a FIP approaching 5.00. He wasn't striking many hitters out (only fanned two in the no-hitter) and wasn't getting very deep into games.

His second half was great as Detmers posted a 3.36 ERA to go along with a 2.56 FIP and started striking more hitters out. There was no no-hitter, but he pitched really well down the stretch.

His great second half led myself to believe he'd break out completely in 2023 and potentially put up an all-star campaign. Detmers was not an all-star thanks in large part to a rough start to his season. His ERA was over 5.00 through ten starts as he struggled mightily navigating through lineups for a second and third time.

He's improved greatly on that lately and has been the dominant arm he had shown flashes of being in 2022. Detmers might not have ace potential, but he's a guy I feel comfortable with slotting in the Angels rotation for years to come.