Angels Articles

December 7, 2024 - Written by Kian Behravan

Adding Stability to the Angels’ Outfield

With the Angels’ 2025 starting outfield almost set in stone with Trout, Ward, Soler, Moniak and Adell, one question comes to mind: How can the Angels add depth to a highly injury-prone group of players? An easy answer is to dig into the farm system, but the Angels’ recent track record with calling up prospects too early has not been the best—with the exception of Nolan Schanuel and Zach Neto. A safer way to do this is not to trade for extra outfielders, but to attack the free agent market for well-rounded, durable outfielders who can provide a bat when needed and maybe earn a spot as a regular. Here are two potential candidates the Angels could sign to beef up their superstar-led outfield.

1. Austin Hays

A couple weeks ago, the Phillies non-tendered Austin Hays, making him a free agent. Hays, 29, battled a kidney illness that sidelined him for almost three weeks and was injured twice more last season as well, limiting him to 85 games in 2024. However, the sample sizes are big enough to evaluate. One concern with the Angels outfield is Mickey Moniak’s ability to hit left-handed pitching. On four known incidents throughout his career, he has also injured both of his hands as a result of being plunked by lefties. When he does hit against them, he posts an OPS of just .450 for his career and .501 in 2024. Moniak is getting slightly better at hitting lefties, but it’s nowhere near good enough. Insert Austin Hays, who throughout his career, has been more successful against lefties than righties. In 2024, however, things were significantly different, as he hit a whopping .354 against lefties in 82 at-bats, as opposed to the .277 mark on his career. This led him to put up a 134 sOPS+, making him substantially better than average in this split. If the Angels sign Hays, the plan should be to platoon him against lefties with Moniak. If another Mike Trout injury also happens, Hays could fill in the role as the third starter, as he was average against righties, slashing .255 / .303 / .396 in 2024, making for a tOPS+ of a flat 100. Last year, Hays made $6.3 million according to Baseball Reference. Since he had a negative WAR season due to sub-par defense, the Angels could capitalize on his already-known potential, offering him a multi-year deal worth $25-35 million. Of course, since he was injured multiple times last year, it could be a liability, but with his other seasons in mind, it seems like it will pan out. If a tenure with the Angels turns out great, they could either keep him or flip him for prospects in the coming years.

2. Anthony Santander

Santander, 30, put up exceptional numbers in 2024, clubbing 44 homers and waving an OPS north of .800, making it his best season since the COVID-shortened 2020 season. While offense is a good trait of his, defense is quite the opposite. He put up -1.4 dWAR and amounted to a -3 fielding run value, well below average. Assuming Trout can stay healthy and perform well in a corner spot, Santander could share the DH spot with Jorge Soler from time to time as well as play a corner OF spot. If an outfielder does get injured, however, there wouldn’t be a problem, as the team has plenty of OF depth including Luis Rengifo, given his small sum of experience in the outfield, can shift out and Rendon can have a spot at third base, assuming he’s also healthy. Batting Santander in the three or five spot can help refrain from him being put in any high-leverage situations, as he hit below the Mendoza Line last season during those times. Coming off a salary exceeding $10 million, Santander is expected to get a raise this offseason after a career year. The Angels could give him 2-4 years around that $20 million/year range, Santander also has a qualifying offer attached to him so that is something to watch if the Angels are willing to sign someone with an offer attached to them. Anthony Santander is a power bat entering the later stages of his career, so this could present an Albert Pujols-type situation. This is a bat the Angels badly need; he’s also been healthy recently, so the chances of him taking a sharp decline are minimal.

Questions That Could Shape the Angels' 2025 Season

These two picks only scrape the surface of the possibilities the Angels have to shift around the outfield. The Winter Meetings are a bizarre time in the baseball world, and a number of things could happen until the season starts, no matter how out of the picture they might seem: Could Ward be moved to third if Anthony Rendon sees the Injured List again, or if the Kevin Newman signing doesn’t pan out? If Christian Moore gets called up in 2025, will he play second base or left field? Could the potential Alec Bohm trade have Taylor Ward leave the team? Will Mike Trout stay healthy? These questions will be answered one-by-one as we near Spring Training, and ultimately determine the state of the team’s foundation in 2025

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