In this series, I hope to write up some thoughts, statline scouting, and aggregation of scouting blurbs on our organization’s depth, one position at a time.
I’ll be going by level (MLB, AAA, etc.), only highlighting those playing that position this season, mostly ignoring players making spot starts.
Previous editions
CF: https://www.reddit.com/r/angelsbaseball/comments/1d25od5/organizational_depth_center_field/
3B: https://www.reddit.com/r/angelsbaseball/comments/1damiuh/organizational_depth_third_base/
Summary:
Left field. In theory, left field is a bat-favored position, where players who are a little slower (but not too slow for 1B) can post up and at least provide a little defensive value. There are exceptions (Colton Cowser and Steven Kwan, for instance), but players who are too fast or have too big an arm usually end up at one of the other outfield positions. Left field in our system might be considered solidly below average. Ward provides some stability at the MLB level. As far as the primary left fielders go, our prospects are pretty underwhelming. Luckily, it’s one of the easiest positions to fill from other spots (plenty of utility guys have played some LF), with a lot of crossover from the other outfield positions.
MLB: Taylor Ward
Not much to say about Ward that hasn’t already been said. He’s been maddeningly inconsistent these last few years. Whenever it feels like he’s turning the corner into being a really good hitter, he gets taken out of his groove. He’s started 2022 so incredibly hot he was giving Mike a run for his money. He ended up having a really good season once that was done, but once his BABIP came down to normal levels, so did his hitting stats. He was picking up momentum last season until he got beaned by Manoah, and something similar happened this season, courtesy of Shelby Miller. We tried trading him, but it turns out teams don’t really want to part with much for a 30 year old LF who’s only okay with the glove/arm and struggling to maintain above league average hitting, even if he has a couple arb years. Seems like we’re holding him until his free agency.
AAA: Jason Martin, (Gustavo Campero)
Martin had a respectable 2023 in the KBO on his way to a 125 wRC+, after not getting a chance to crack the majors with the Dodgers in 2022 despite a 128 wRC+ in AAA. Perhaps that gave him the push to come back and try again with the other LA team. In theory, he could be a player who might make sense as an active roster addition, but the Ward/Adell/Moniak/Pillar quartet has stayed healthy pretty much all season, so there’s been no space for a guy who plays exclusively in the outfield.
AA: Gustavo Campero (now in AAA), (Tucker Flint, Orlando Martinez)
I’ve been beating the drum for Campero to be called up for a while now. He’s a Rule 5 draftee off the Yankees back in 2020 and his hitting numbers only started popping in 2023, with a 177 wRC+ in A+ (2023) and a 163 wRC+ in AA (2024). His slow ascent has been a bit confusing, but a lot of it can be explained by his positional uncertainty. He was a full-time C/DH in 2023 and has only really transitioned to LF in 2024, following the Taylor Ward blueprint. He’s off to a slow start in AAA, but he’s also only been there a couple games. I anticipate him making it to the roster very soon, and if he’s not added to the 40-man roster in time for the Rule 5 draft, we might lose him.
I will save Flint and Martinez for the RF page because Campero has occupied LF in AA for a while now. Looks like they’ve been flip-flopping between the corner outfield positions since Campero left.
A+: Jorge Ruiz (now in A), Joe Stewart (released), (Caleb Ketchup, Landon Wallace)
Left field at A+ is a positional nightmare. I’ve looked at the last 9 lineups for the Dust Devils and I saw Blakely (3x), Redfield (2x), Ketchup (2x), Bruggeman (1x), Wallace (1x).
Jorge Ruiz is 5’10” and skinny (165 pounds), so he has little power. However, he theoretically has high hit tool potential, with a compact swing. That was not seen at all in A+, where he hit .150 with a .203 OBP, leading to a 12 wRC+. After that 62 game experiment, we finally sent him back down to A, which is perfectly fine for a prospect who recently turned 20. He’s done much better, nearly equaling his low-A numbers from last season. I think he still has a chance to be a decent prospect, though his stock has fallen much lower than when he smacked around low-A as a 19 year old. That effort propelled him to the 14th best prospect spot in our 2023 Fangraphs rankings, but he fell out for 2024.
A: Jorge Ruiz, (Anthony Scull, Kevyn Castillo)
I already mentioned Ruiz in the A+ section, and Scull and Castillo in my CF discussion. Castillo has remained injured, unfortunately. Ruiz has been a younger and better bat than Scull, but Scull gets a big advantage from actually projecting to be a center fielder. His hitting is probably not quite ready for A+ in 2025, but there’s really no better option at A+ or A at the moment for that spot.
