A Flurry Of New Additions Have Sparked A New Approach For The Angels
June 11, 2026 - Written by Zac Holladay
Wade Meckler hasn't slowed down since being called up on May 22:
— SleeperAngels (@SleeperAngels) June 10, 2026
.340 AVG
7 XBH
12 RBI
.964 OPS pic.twitter.com/D0l7xAKKD7
The narrative that has been the 2026 Angels has been one that hasn’t followed the past narratives. The start of the season is one of the more hopeful times for this Angels ballclub with the exception of this year. Most years they have a sliver of hope going into June and maybe July, but then fall off a cliff with their play. This year, the wheels have fallen off much earlier than expected, falling to a record of 25-42. The surprising pitching woes only lasted so long and the offense was buried by strikeouts and lack of situational hitting sooner than expected. And while it is expected for the power tool to go cold from time to time, there hasn’t been one consistent bat on the whole team.
The highlight of this revamped Angels team is to focus on the power from the young guns of Logan O’Hoppe, Zach Neto, Jo Adell and Nolan Schanuel with the obvious leader at the helm in Mike Trout. Even with a few struggling, you expect at least one of these weapons to strike constantly. But none of these guys have been at their best this year. Trout had a booming first month but has only had 4 homers since May 1st. Logan O’Hoppe only has 2 homers all year and is hitting just .194. Zach Neto has homered 13 times but leads his league in strikeouts. And Jo Adell hasn’t bursted out into his home run stroke yet. This is a confusing problem to have as the Angels seem to be at their peak of production when they are slugging the ball out of the park. But the problem for the offense has been that they aren’t producing and that when they do, it’s only via “the long ball”. Well what if I told you that the offense has taken a new approach to scoring runs?
After taking another brutal series loss to the Athletics in a four-game set, the Angels decided to make a significant change to the roster by bringing up a pair of short lefties from AAA and AA in OF Wade Meckler and INF Donovan Walton. The idea behind this move was to bring up guys who put the ball in play with a tendency to get on-base and hit for average. This turned out to be a complete swap for who they replaced in the lineup, who go by the names of Yoan Moncada and Josh Lowe, who both hit under .190. This started a trend within the organization by not only scoring runs without the home run ball, but to call up more guys from the minors to join in on the scoring with the big league team. Since the call ups of Meckler and Walton, the Angels have also called up INF Nick Madrigal, 1B Trey Mancini and INF Denzer Guzman.
While these transactions have also resulted in multiple injuries by everyday Angels, the team has been able to get on-base more and produce with runners in scoring position. The comparison of the Angels season before and after the Meckler/Walton call ups are truly compelling.
*as of June 8th
Averages Before May 22nd vs TEX (51 games):
.223 Batting Average
9.7 Strikeouts per Game
3.9 Runs per Game
7.4 Hits per Game
Averages After May 22nd vs TEX (16 games):
.260 Batting Average
8.8 Strikeouts per Game
5.9 Runs per Game
9.1 Hits per Game
This sudden surge of offense is also including more unlikely hitters, like OF Jose Siri, C Sebastián Rivero, INF Vaughn Grissom, and INF Adam Frazier. The team is getting production from everyone and runs are being scored. This hasn’t exactly meant that the team is better right now as the wins haven’t reflected the offense. But, it does lead into the right direction if the team keeps up the new bat-to-ball approach. Angels still have a ton of holes on their roster, especially when it comes to pitching. But this is a step into the right direction. If they do the little things right, the results are soon to show.
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