The Angels’ Middle Infield Duo Is Their Best Source of Hope

The Los Angeles Angels have once found themselves again in the midst of a season where there doesn’t seem to be a set direction. While their rotation has been surprisingly good thus far, their offense has seen some bad lows and the bullpen remains a serious issue for the club.

While the Angels may not seem to be succeeding right now based on their record, they’ve done a good job finding diamonds in the rough who have been contributing to the team’s play recently. 

Over the offseason, the Angels swung a trade with the Boston Red Sox that sent Vaughn Grissom to Los Angeles. He’s been a huge contributor so far and has stepped up in a big way since joining the team. He’s held his own since Nolan Schanuel went down with an injury.

The Angels recently went through a pretty bad offensive streak where they were scoring minimal runs while relying heavily on home runs.

They’ve recently brought up Wade Meckler, Nick Madrigal, Jose Siri, and Donovan Walton. While Siri does have swing and miss in his game, he has been collecting a good amount of hits since joining the Angels. 

The trio of Meckler, Madrigal, and Walton all bring a contact first approach which has been a nice change of pace for this struggling Angels offense.

Their power-fueled offense has seen a lot of holes but they’ve had good production from Mike Trout who looks to be back to his old-self. One of the only parts of the lineup that looks good and set in stone is their middle infield duo.

Stats updated prior to games on Monday, June 8

A Quietly Good Middle Infield Combo

Zach Neto has been one of the, if not the best Angels hitter over the last couple of years. Since debuting he has brought the fight to the Angels while showing his power and speed on the base paths. He has proven to be one of the best shortstops in all of baseball when he’s on.

During last year’s trade deadline, the Angels only made a couple of moves. One of them in which the Angels brought what looks to be their primary second baseman for the foreseeable future.

Their first trade sent reliever Jake Eder and minor league infielder Sam Brown to the Washington Nationals in exchange for Luis Garcia and Andrew Chafin.

The second trade was a bit confusing when it first happened but has turned out to be a great move for the Angels. They sent minor league outfielder Wilberson De Pena to the New York Yankees in a deal that would bring infielder Oswald Peraza to the Angels.

Peraza didn’t get much playing time with the Yankees and even when he played, the results weren’t there. Since debuting in 2022, Peraza had managed a poor .190/.263/.285 slash line while only playing in 145 games spanning four seasons.

Last summer the trade seemed to be a change of scenery move for a struggling young infielder and the Angels decided to take a chance. They had nothing to lose and the move has worked greatly in the Angels and Peraza’s favor. 

The Angels got a young, controllable infielder who has surprisingly shown to be consistent with the bat, while Peraza got a chance to reset his career and it’s worked out great for him thus far.

Oswald Peraza Has Proved More Than Expected

Peraza played in 35 games with the Angels last season after being acquired but his results didn’t look much different from his time with the Yankees. It made you wonder why the Angels decided to acquire him.

Fast forward to this season where we’ve season Peraza really thrive for this Angels ball club. He’s sporting a .270 batting average to go along with a .774 OPS. He’s been driving the ball to all fields and shown way more power than expected. He already has seven home runs and we’re still only seven full days into the month of June.

Peraza’s 40% launch angle sweet-spot rate tells us that he’s constantly hitting the ball within a range of launch angles putting him in a great spot to see good results. His expected numbers in terms of batting average and slugging percentage indicate that he’s got a good chance to keep up his current production.

Even with his offensive explosion, Peraza has been really good on the defensive side. His Fielding Run Value of 2 places him in the 69h percentile. He’s been very versatile defensively, logging innings at first, second, third, and shortstop. 

Now over a third of the way through the season, Peraza has already made lots of spectacular plays on defense while recording his first two walk-off hits of his career. He’s been a great addition so far nonetheless.

If he can clean up his plate discipline, he can take his offensive profile to the next level. He’s under club control through the 2029 season and looks to be a huge piece to the Angels infield moving forward.

Zach Neto Is a Budding Star, Amid a Slow Start

With Peraza finding his groove, his middle infield partner Neto is a star in the making.

Neto posted 20-20 seasons in each of his last two seasons and is one of the best rising shortstops in the league. Per Baseball Reference, Neto led the Angels in WAR the last two seasons accumulating at-least five bWAR in both 2024 and 2025.

He has shown the ability to be one the best offensive shortstops in baseball. Neto has collected 200 RBI since debuting and has the ability to hit 30 doubles and home runs per season. We haven’t seen Neto surpass 26 home runs in a season (2025), but he’s got it in him.

While his overall numbers have been down this year, his 6 Batting Run Value currently puts him in the 77th percentile, which is the best he’s ever been in. Even with him battling this year and working through some struggles, he is still finding ways to be productive.

What’s Their Future?

Neto has shortstop locked down until he becomes a free agent after the 2029 season. While he’s been great so far, I don’t think he’s even gotten to his prime yet.

After the Angels drafted Christian Moore in the first round of the 2024 MLB Draft out of the University of Tennessee, he seemed to be the future Angels second baseman.

Moore saw time with the Angels last year after being drafted the year prior. While he had his moments, the overall numbers weren’t quite up to par yet. He started this season with the Salt Lake Bees and has remained there since.

Now with Peraza in the mix, it makes you wonder who actually will be the Angels second baseman going forward. Peraza has the job now but both him and Moore have flexibility. 

Peraza can play all over the infield and offers a lot of that important flexibility. The Bees have given Moore time at second, third, and now left field further adding to his defensive versatility.

Anyway you look at, the Angels infield is on a great path to see success for the foreseeable future. Neto and Moore are All-Star-caliber players once they reach their peaks and who knows what the ceiling can be for Peraza.