Zach Neto’s defensive gaffes should force Angels into considering unorthodox solution

As the Los Angeles Angels continue to flounder, it makes sense to look at reasons why the club, which does have some talent, continues to be stuck in the mud. One big reason is that the vast majority of Angels players are bat-first guys who aren't just subpar with the glove, but are real defensive liabilities, including one of their more important young bats.

The defense was a real problem last season, with the Halos ranking dead last in outs above average with a tally of -54 in 2025, while also coming in 28th in defensive runs saved with -45. Over the offseason, they did nothing to address the problem. It should be no surprise, then, that Los Angeles's defensive woes have continued, ranking 28th with -21 OAA and 26th with -9 DRS.

One of the prime culprits has been supposed centerpiece, Zach Neto. Coming off a dismal year with the glove in which he posted -8 OAA, but a surprising 13 DRS, shoring up his defense was one of the key factors we'd hoped to see from the 25-year-old as he hopefully took another step forward towards superstardom in 2026.

That hasn't happened, and if anything, Neto has gotten worse. Among qualified shortstops, he ranks 15th out of 17 players with -7 OAA and 11th in DRS with zero.

Zach Neto's defense is regressing, and the Angels' best chance to mitigate the damage is flipping him with Denzer Guzman

There's another key area where Neto has fallen short and actually gotten worse in 2026, and that is errors. While OAA and DRS primarily measure how likely a play is to be made, errors give us a different kind of context. There's no sort of range expectation, so theoretically, a good defensive player with a lot of range might rack up more errors because they get to balls that other players can't.

However, when your range is in question, as is the case for Neto, getting charged with a high number of errors is an indictment of being able to execute on the fundamentals such as catching balls cleaning, and making accurate throws. In 2025, the former first-round pick committed 11 errors (six fielding, five throwing) in 125 games. He's already topped that this season with 14 errors (nine fielding, five throwing) in just 87 games. That has him tied with CJ Abrams of the Nationals for the most errors in the majors, regardless of position.

Neto committed another one of these gaffes against the Boston Red Sox during the third inning of the July 5 series finale when he fumbled an easy ground ball off the bat of Wilyer Abreu that should have ended the inning. Instead, Willson Contreras would come up and homer on the very next pitch, erasing a 3-2 Angels' lead and turning it into a 5-3 deficit.

This can't keep going on, but Los Angeles has a solution if the team is bold enough to take it. Rookie Denzer Guzman is playing third base, not because it's his best position, but out of deference to Neto. Scouting reports all concur that Guzman has all the tools to be an above-average defensive shortstop. He simply began playing third base in the minors because it was a clearer pathway to the majors.

Now, though, Guzman is likely the superior defender at short, while Neto, whose range is a problem, might be a better fit at the hot corner. While it would be an adjustment, and it doesn't solve the issue of his occasionally shaky hands, Neto's 89th percentile arm strength would play well at third, and he'd be able to hide his issues ranging for balls.

With the Angels going nowhere, flipping the two players and seeing if it generates more positive results over the second half of the season makes all the sense in the world. The question is, will they be brave enough to do it?

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