This key young Angels player has yet to fulfill his spring training promise

When the Angels fast-tracked first baseman Nolan Schanuel after just 22 minor league games, two things became readily apparent. First, the youngster had an eagle eye and bat-to-ball skills at the plate that were well beyond his years. Second, he was going to need to make significant changes to hit for the power that is requisite of first basemen.

Schanuel arrived in the majors in 2023 shortly after being drafted 11th overall in the first round and showed that those strengths and weaknesses were both very apparent. In a 29-game sample, he batted .275 with a .402 on-base percentage that was fueled by an elite 15.2% walk rate. On the other hand, he slugged just .330 with one home run.

Last season, his first full year in the bigs, things weren't much better with Schanuel slugging just .362 with 13 homers in 147 games and 607 plate appearances. His power outage led the Angels to openly flirt with a replacement, power-hitting then-free-agent first baseman, Pete Alonso. Schanuel would have became a part-time first baseman/left fielder in that scenario, per reporting by Jon Heyman.

Despite the Angels' dalliance with Alonso, nothing came to fruition, and Schanuel kept his head down and put in work in the offseason -- his objective: get stronger and improve his bat speed. Schanuel's improvement in the power department is important as he's the only consistent left-handed hitter in the starting lineup.

Becoming a 30+ home run masher isn't necessarily the objective, however, Schanuel needs to show that he can consistently drive the ball from gap to gap. Unfortunately, that's yet to be the case so far this season.

Nolan Schanuel still hasn't delivered the power stroke the Angels were hoping for

With a .265/.333/.410 line on the season, you might think that the 23-year-old has taken the next step in his development. After all, a .410 slugging percentage is nearly a 50-point jump from the year prior. However, the data shows that not only has an improvement not come, but a new concern has also emerged.

Last season, Schanuel posted a 25.4% hard-hit rate, which ranked in just the fourth percentile in the league, and so far this season, his recorded a nearly identical 25.0% hard-hit rate through 23 games, which again falls in the fourth percentile.

All told, Schanuel's expected slugging percentage is just .355 on the year. Meanwhile, his once-elite walk rate has fallen to a completely average number, sitting at 8.6%, which is exactly a 50th percentile performance.

The Angels need Schanuel to start meeting his stated goals for 2025 if they are coming to play competitive baseball as the season wears on. If he fails to do so, he might find himself losing his place among the rest of the Halos' young core. He talked about being able to round out his game, but so far it's looking like more of the same.

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