Don't look now, but the Los Angeles Angels are 8-2 in their last 10 games and .500 on the season, one of the hottest teams in MLB. Ron Washington isn't just saving his job; it feels like he is bringing the Angels back from the brink.
Maybe that's an overreaction to a random stretch in May ā there's a lot of baseball left on the docket ā but this Angels team is swinging the bats quite well. Mike Trout is due back eventually, too. The driving force behind their success has been 24-year-old shortstop Zach Neto, who is making the leap from very good to outright superstar before our eyes.
He's one of eight MLB players with 30 home runs and 30 steals over his last 162 games. That list includes two recent MVPs, a couple MVP runner-ups, and several of baseball's brightest stars. Neto is keeping excellent company right now.
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Zach Neto is making the All-Star leap the Angels so desperately needed
Neto has been a classic leadoff star for the Angels, providing speed and slug in equal measure. He's at .287/.331/.543 for the season with eight home runs, 19 RBI and eight stolen bases. And, the thing is, it could be even better. Neto's expected slugging (.602) sits in MLB's 98th percentile. He's in the 88th percentile for hard-hit rate (51.1).
The Angels have a bonafide five-tool star on their hands. Neto is working counts, getting on base, hitting for power and dominating as a runner. The defense sits a smidge below league average (-1 out above average, per Baseball Savant), but Neto covers plenty of ground and plays his position well enough ā especially when the offensive production stacks up so impressively.
It has been a tough few years in Anaheim. As much as we'd all love to see a vintage, full-length campaign from Trout, it seems unreasonable to expect a return to form (or a return to full strength) for the three-time MVP. You cannot depend on his health, which means L.A. needs to chart a path to contention without him. Right now, Neto is leading the way.
With 23-year-old Nolan Schanuel, 24-year-old Matthew Lugo and 25-year-old Logan O'Hoppe all raking this season, the Angels have finally stumbled into a young core worth believing in.
For a team with only two top-100 prospects (2B Christian Moore and RHP Caden Dana), it's impossible to overstate the importance of Neto and his upstart co-stars delivering on their promise like this. Los Angeles was in a dark place not too long ago, hurting in the farm system and devoid of reliable top-end vets after Shohei Ohtani's all-too-predictable departure. The Angels were walking a fine line between attempting to win games in vain and simply hurling headlong into baseball purgatory.
Neto is tied for 28th on MLB's WAR list right now. He is the franchise cornerstone, the successor to Mike Trout, the Angels have been desperately searching for. Now that it's all happening, it's hard not to feel like L.A. might be a sneaky sleeper in the American League.