Young Core Gives Angels Hope as Franchise Pivots to Future

While changes surrounding Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon may have grabbed the early spring headlines at Los Angeles Angels camp, it’s their young core with another year of experience under their collective belts that may show just how far the Halos can go in a rugged American League West this season.

Shortstop Zach Neto (24 years old), catcher Logan O’Hoppe (25), relief pitcher Ben Joyce (24) and first baseman Nolan Schanuel (23) form a foursome that could determine which direction the Angels head in the standings moving forward.

With O’Hoppe as the “old man” of the group, the Angels have assembled a core that could well be together and guiding the team once Trout’s contract expires after the 2030 campaign.

That, however, is in the far future. It’s about 2025 and what each of the players can bring to the table that has Anaheim buzzing about something other than Rendon missing more time because of injury and furthering talk about his deal being among the worst contracts in Major League Baseball history.

The “core four” endured plenty of growth and trials by fire in 2024 as the Angels finished 63-99, barely avoiding the franchise’s first 100-loss season. Angels manager Ron Washington called it “a storm” during the MLB Winter Meetings back in December, but he also believes the young group will learn and grow from last season.

“I think when you’ve been through something for the first time and you’ve weathered the storm, the expectations go up,” Washington explained.

“But it’s not the expectations that will bog them down. It’s an expectation that they should envision wanting for themselves, and that’s to be successful. I think my young group last year did a tremendous job of staying in the fight and making it through the 162-game grind, and they know what it’s about now.”

What could 2025 hold for each of the “core four?” Let’s take a look at some possibilities.

Zach Neto

Of the four, Neto is the one who begins the season with questions about when he might be available following offseason shoulder surgery. When he returns (whether that is in April or later in the season), he will slide back into the shortstop role where he led the American League with 405 assists in 2024.

However, he also committed 18 errors last season (tied for sixth-most in MLB) and posted an Outs Above Average of -5.

Clearly, there is more work to do for Neto defensively, and a bump up from those numbers in 2025 would certainly be a plus for the Angels. There are, however, some numbers to watch from Neto at the plate as well in this coming season.

Last year, his average exit velocity dropped slightly from 89.1 to 88.5 and his hard-hit percentage dipped from 40.3 to 38.8. However, the numbers for his power (23 homers) and speed (30 stolen bases) rose dramatically year over year (and not just because of the increased number of at-bats), showing there is more good than bad with Neto when he is at the plate.

Steamer projections have Neto slashing .252/.320/.441 with 21 homers and 65 RBI, with both of those numbers being slight steps back. Still, even with the injury and potential for regression, there is much more to love about Neto and what he can bring to the Angels in 2025 than not.

Logan O’Hoppe

“It sucks to go through.”

Those are the words that O’Hoppe shared with me and other reporters after losing at home to the St. Louis Cardinals by one run on May 14. That loss was the fifth in six games for the Angels and was capped off by a Washington postgame rant for the ages.

Still, while last season was brutal in many respects for the Angels, O’Hoppe provided plenty of hope, answering the question of whether or not he could be the long-term answer in Anaheim behind the plate.

In 522 plate appearances over 136 games, O’Hoppe put together an OPS+ of 100 while slashing .244/.303/.409 with 20 homers and 56 RBI. The jump from 14 to 20 home runs over the course of a season can also be attributed to how well O’Hoppe uses the sweet spot on the bat and the launch angle in unison.

His 42.9% mix of those categories was in the 100th percentile of all MLB hitters per Baseball Savant, meaning he was among an elite club of power hitters last season.

Take out a stretch in August where O’Hoppe went 6-for-76 at the plate, and you can see why 2024 could pave the way for a very interesting 2025 season.

Steamer projections of 19 homers and 56 RBI over 108 games could be low in all three of those categories. Bypassing them would cement O’Hoppe even more as a face of the franchise moving forward.

Ben Joyce

Things seemed to be all clear regarding Joyce’s role in 2025 … until veteran Kenley Jansen was signed to a one-year, $10 million deal right before spring training began. Groomed as the closer in waiting, Joyce now once again may be taking a back seat when it comes to finishing games.

But no matter where he pitches in the game in 2025, Joyce has the stuff that makes him must-watch television when he enters from the bullpen.

His fastball averaged 102.1 mph in 2024, and he unleashed the fastest pitch of any MLB pitcher last year when he uncorked a 105.5 mph fastball in a September 3 game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Joyce saw action in just 31 games last year, striking out 33 in 34.2 innings of work. Those numbers should go up this season as the right-hander settles into what will likely begin as a setup role. Whether that role changes as the season goes along remains to be seen.

In a perfect world, Jansen and Joyce could be one of the more dominant back ends of any MLB bullpen. The perfect-world scenario could set up a season where Joyce is once again learning (this time, under the tutelage of Jansen) before getting the job to himself in 2026.

In a season where the Angels are given a 9.6% chance to reach the postseason, having Joyce potentially morph into an even more dangerous pitcher for what could come in 2026 is tantalizing.

Nolan Schanuel

The 11th overall pick in the 2023 draft, Schanuel took over the first base role in 2024, logging 607 plate appearances last season while becoming a fixture in the lineup.

He really came into his own in the second half, logging an OPS of .756 versus .652 before the All-Star Game. However, he hit only two home runs after July 30, bringing a listless end to a season where he belted 13 in all to go along with 10 stolen bases.

Schanuel had a knack for making soft contact work in 2024, with his average exit velocity of 86.1 mph finishing in the bottom seven percent of the league. Still, with the glass-half-full approach, Steamer may think that changes in 2025 as his numbers are projected to go up in key areas including batting average (.258), home runs (18), and doubles (20).

What can he do better in his second full year? It starts with the extra-base hit and collecting more of them in 2025, something Steamer believes will happen. There is a deep dive on Schanuel and the areas where he can perform even better this season written here by my Just Baseball colleague Matt Carroll. It’s well worth a read.