Grading Perry Minasian and the Los Angeles Angels front office for 2023 impact
By Bill Felber
Farm system
Minasian has brought seven system products to the big leagues for varying stretches thus far in 2023, but one has stood out above the rest.
Since being called up in mid-April, shortstop Zach Neto is hitting .259, accumulating a +3.0 Defensive Runs Saved score at shortstop, and reaching +1.3 WAA. Only Ohtani, Trout and Mickey Moniak have a higher WAA at the season’s halfway mark.
The only thing that has slowed Neto was an oblique strain, which sent him to the IL in mid-June. No timetable has been set for his return.
The rest of the rookie class has been pretty ordinary. Pitchers Andrew Wantz, Chase Silseth and Sam Bachman have played fill-in roles, and Silseth was sent down in early June.
Wantz has been the most-used with 14 relief appearances covering 22 innings. That’s been worth a +0.1 WAA.
But rookies have never been MInasian’s thing. Since taking over prior to the 2021 season, he’s only tried out 14 of them, the most impactful turning out to be Brandon Marsh. After so-so debuts in 2021 and 2022, the Angels flipped Marsh to Philadelphia in exchange for backup catcher Logan O’Hoppe.
The net impact of all of Minasian’s first year player contributions to the Angels is just +0.8 WAA, all of that plus more coming via Neto’s +1.3 in the first half of this season.