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Also with the three-headed monster of Ryan Tepera, Aaron Loup and Rasiel Iglesias in the pen, late wins are hard to come by against this team. Angels’ pitching has drastically improved in 2022 with the addition of Noah Syndergaard. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported the deal ( via Twitter).Star third-baseman Anthony Rendon is starting to come back to form, racking up a higher WAR total than phenom Shohei Ohtani at 1.2.
ANGELS SHORTSTOP PRO
FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen tabs Stallings as a “low-variance, fifth starter prospect.” The 19-year-old Pinto has just 12 pro innings under his belt and didn’t rank inside the Angels’ 30 best prospects, nor does he land on Baltimore’s top 30 list.
ANGELS SHORTSTOP PLUS
MLB.com’s report on him credits him for having a legitimate four-pitch mix, albeit without a plus offering.
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ANGELS SHORTSTOP PROFESSIONAL
Stallings has yet to pitch in a professional game because the Angels shut him down after signing him out of the draft, citing a heavy college workload. Stallings was the Angels’ fifth-round pick out of the University of Tennessee in 2019 and now slots in 26th among Orioles farmhands over at MLB.com. In Stallings and Pinto, the Orioles will add another pair of far-off pitching prospects who could add to the organization’s depth down the road.
ANGELS SHORTSTOP FREE
In all likelihood, Iglesias will be tabbed as the starter, leaving Gregorius, Simmons, Semien and other shortstops looking elsewhere for homes in free agency. Iglesias’ salary is light enough that the Angels could still add another shortstop and use Iglesias in a utility role, though it seems unlikely that they’d have traded away young talent to acquire a utility man with so many other options on the market. With Simmons hitting the market, names like Marcus Semien and Didi Gregorius were surely eyeing the Angels as a potential fit. That the Halos filled such a clear need via a trade bodes poorly for this winter’s crop of free-agent shortstops, however. It’s a cost-effective means of addressing a glaring hole on the roster - one that should allow the Angels to maintain a strong infield defense. Assuming he’s healthy in 2021, he’ll give the Angels a shortstop who’s posted 18 Defensive Runs Saved and a 35.4 Ultimate Zone Rating over his past 4672 innings at the shortstop position. Iglesias’ BABIP-fueled surge was well-timed, as he wasn’t able to play much at shortstop in 2020 owing to a nagging quadriceps injury that limited his mobility. He lacks any real power and doesn’t draw many walks, which often leads to a rather “empty” batting average, but those bat-to-ball skills do allow him to get on base at a respectable clip (career.
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300 or better, and he’s been one of the more difficult hitters in the game to strike out since making his MLB debut back in 2011. The 2020 season was actually the third of his career in which he’s batted. That said, Iglesias still has some value at the dish. 407 average on balls in play while landing in just the 12th and 36th percentiles, respectively, in average exit velocity and hard-hit rate. Iglesias shouldn’t be expected to repeat that production, as he benefited greatly from a. The knock against him has typically been his offense (or lack thereof), but he flipped the narrative in 2020 by slashing. Iglesias, 31 next month, may not be the generational defender that Simmons is, but he’s long been regarded as one of the game’s premier defenders at the position. Elias said it was an easy decision to pick up the $3.5MM club option on Iglesias for the 2021 season, although the Orioles waited until the last minute to formally make said decision. Baltimore general manager Mike Elias has previously spoken of Iglesias’ importance to the roster, calling him a “perfect fit for what we need right now” ( link via Nathan Ruiz of the Baltimore Sun). It’s something of a surprising move - one that rather definitively closes the door on a reunion between the Halos and free-agent shortstop Andrelton Simmons (though most expected Simmons to land elsewhere anyhow). The Halos acquired Dylan Bundy from the O’s last winter.
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It’s the second straight winter with a notable trade between the two teams. The Angels have a new shortstop, as they’ve acquired veteran Jose Iglesias from the Orioles in exchange for minor league right-handers Garrett Stallings and Jean Pinto, per announcements from both clubs.