The underlying spring training numbers show Angels have a superstar in Zach Neto

Despite consistently poor play and the Angels always making headlines for the wrong reasons, Zach Neto has continued to be a bright spot for the team these past few seasons. As the team fell out of playoff contention last season, Neto's all-around dominance was a storyline worth watching until his season ended.

And as the Angels failed to sign any noteworthy free agents, at least Neto was still in tow (for now, at least). Now, Neto is once again showing fans that he is far from a finished product.

While the sample size is small, it appears that Zach Neto is taking a step forward that will put him into the same tier as the likes of Bobby Witt Jr. and Gunnar Henderson. It is important to remember that Neto's spring training Statcast numbers are a product of just 12 events, but the early results are promising.

Advanced stats show the Angels have an even bigger star than they thought in Zach Neto

Neto's exit velocity is what really jumps off the screen, as his 95.7 MPH mark this spring is a full 6 MPH improvement over his career average. He has clearly come into spring training locked in, as 5 of his 12 events have resulted in "barrels" from Neto. In layman's terms, Neto is hitting the ball exactly how he should be and is sending it back out into the field harder than he ever has.

Not only is he hitting the ball harder, but he is hitting it higher as well. Neto's career launch angle sits at 14.7, with his 2025 mark of 17.4 being a career high. His spring training mark, however, is in a different stratosphere, as his launch angle so far has been 24.4 in Tempe. For comparison's sake, Cal Raleigh's launch angle last season was 25.2 as he led the big leagues in home runs with 60.

Again, this is an incredibly small sample size for Zach Neto, and he has 1,485 regular-season plate appearances to show who he truly is as a hitter. Nevertheless, spring training is the time for dreaming, and Neto's step forward has fans once again dreaming that their superstar shortstop's ceiling is even higher than they previously imagined.