Angels going for it

Phil Gurnee ♦ December 15, 2017 ♦ 2 Comments

Using baseball reference the players with the most at-bats per position for the Angels in 2017 looked like this:

Pos                Name Age  PA   BA  OBP  SLG   OPS OPS+
C      Martin Maldonado  30 471 .221 .276 .368  .645   74
1B            C.J. Cron  27 373 .248 .305 .437  .741   99
2B      Danny Espinosa#  30 254 .162 .237 .276  .513   40
SS    Andrelton Simmons  27 647 .278 .331 .421  .752  103
3B        Yunel Escobar  34 381 .274 .333 .397  .730   98
LF          Ben Revere*  29 308 .275 .308 .344  .652   78
CF           Mike Trout  25 507 .306 .442 .629 1.071  187
RF        Kole Calhoun*  29 654 .244 .333 .392  .725   97
DH        Albert Pujols  37 636 .241 .286 .386  .672   81

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/15/2017.

In 2018 it will look like this:

Rk   Pos              Name Age  PA   BA  OBP  SLG   OPS OPS+ dfWAR
1      C  Martin Maldonado  30 471 .221 .276 .368  .645   74  +12.5
2     1B         C.J. Cron  27 373 .248 .305 .437  .741   99  -5.5
17    2B      Ian Kinsler   35 613 .236 .313 .412  .725   90  +7.8
4     SS Andrelton Simmons  27 647 .278 .331 .421  .752  103  +22
      3B       Zack Cozart  31 507 .297 .385 .548  .933  141  +8.6
8     RF     Kole Calhoun*  29 654 .244 .333 .392  .725   97  +1.6
7     CF        Mike Trout  25 507 .306 .442 .629 1.071  187  -3.5
16    LF      Justin Upton  29 115 .245 .357 .531  .887  137  -2.0
9     DH     Albert Pujols  37 636 .241 .286 .386  .672   81
10    CI    Luis Valbuena*  31 401 .199 .294 .432  .727   95  -0.5
15    MI     Kaleb Cowart#  25 117 .225 .313 .382  .695   89  +1.5

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/15/2017.

As Dave Cameron of fangraphs noted the left side of the Angel defense is going to be insane.

In 2018 the Angels barring injury will get full seasons from Justin Upton, Ian Kinsler, and Zack Cozart compared to the players they replaced of Ben Revere, Danny Espinosa, and Yunel Escobar.

Luis Valbuena is now an excellent utility man who if Albert goes down or is finally benched can step in and play 1st, 3rd, or DH.

They also added the most sought-after Japanese free agent in history to anchor their staff and possibly hit a little.

Their 2017 ace was supposed to be Garrett Richards but he made only six starts.

Tyler Skaggs made only sixteen starts

Matt Shoemaker made only fourteen starts

Andrew Heaney made only five starts

Mike Trout only had 500 plate appearances in 2017, the first time he was below 650 PA since he was 21.

The Angels were snakebit in 2017 but if they can find some health on the mound, they have built a team that might put a little scare into the World Champion Houston Astros. The outfield is as good as it gets, the left side of the infield should be the best in baseball, CJ Cron just might have the break out season in him yet, and Ian Kinsler might have one more above average season left.

Fangraphs has them pegged at 85 wins. I’m going to take the over and hope to take in a few Otani starts this year.