Los Angeles Angels: 2015 MLB Amateur Draft Insight

It’s that time of the season again. It’s June 8, 2015, and the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft is here — the Angels will have the 26th pick in the draft

The Angels are primed, ready to take their picks. And from what has come out of the Halos’ front office, it looks like they will be selecting seasoned players out of college this year.

And that’s probably the way they should go.

Although Mike Trout was a draft pick out of high school, the Angels have actually had more success out of picks from college.

Going back to Wally Joyner, Jim Abbott, Tim Salmon, Darin Erstad, Troy Glaus, and John Lackey, the list is rather long there.

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All of those players excelled at the Major League level.

Another reason for selecting players out of college these days is the overall condition of the Angels’ farm system.

Much improved over the last two years, the Halos have been working at building depth at every position.

They are slowly trying to get back to having some high impact talent in the minors, starting with last year’s first round pick — Sean Newcomb.

Newcomb has already been compared to a young Jon Lester.

And his stuff is electric enough to where he’s also had a young Justin Verlander mentioned in the same sentence, because Sean has the ability to pick it up a notch with his fastball as the game progresses.

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Basically, the makings of a future ace.

The Angels have also been rebuilding their system using the trade market.

Third base prospect Kyle Kubitza (Braves), Andrew Heaney (Dodgers), Tyler Skaggs (2009 Angels pick and re-acquired from the D-Backs), Nick Tropeano (Astros), Grant Green (A’s), Cory Rasmus (Braves), Carlos Perez (Astros), and Jose Alvarez (Tigers) are examples of the work the Angels have done to ensure there is organizational depth.

Roberto Baldoquin is their top international prospect. C.J. Cron (2011 first round pick from the University of Utah) and Perez are two of the Halos’ newest arrivals at the Major League level.

One of the aims of rebuilding the Angels’ minor league system is to replenish what was traded away from players like Zack Greinke and Huston Street.

Their system has been ranked at or near the bottom by Baseball America and other analytical outlets.

However, the Angels have still managed to produce successful Major Leaguers like Kole Calhoun, and they have still been able to produce three rookies that finished second or higher in Rookie of the Year voting in the last four years.

Those players are Mark Trumbo (2011), Trout (ROY 2012), and former undrafted prospect Matt Shoemaker (2014).

So all is not lost with the Angels farm system.

They have been defying the naysayers for some time with their prospects. But now they have a chance to regain the form as an organization that they had around 2007, when sources heralded the Angels as having the top minor league system in baseball.

One key is to find a way to hold onto their young talent.

There are many examples, not just the trades they’ve made in the last three or four years, but situations where one can look back on ask themselves, ‘what were they thinking?’

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I’ll point out three examples.

Dennis Rasmussen (1980 first round pick); Roberto Hernandez (YES, that Roberto Hernandez, the original Roberto Hernandez, and 1986 first round pick); and Dante Bichette (1987) 17th round pick.

Rasmussen ended up being the ‘player to be named later’ to complete the traded for… are you ready?

39-year-old Tommy John!

Why? First round pick.

For an over the hill pitcher who could tank at any time? Shaking my head again.

Just imagine a young 1980’s Angels starting rotation anchored by Mike Witt, Kirk McCaskill, and Dennis Rasmussen. Might not have needed Don Sutton or John Candeleria.

That might have freed up salary to acquire another impact bat, or top starting pitcher to fit the last piece of their rotation puzzle in the 1980’s.

Hernandez was traded for… again, here’s where we can look back and see a championship style bullpen with Roberto Hernandez and Bryan Harvey.

Lethal.

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The Halos may have been able to avoid trading Devon White to the Blue Jays. Hernandez would’ve succeeded Harvey eventually, as Bryan suffered arm trouble.

And then just a few years later, you get Hernandez and Troy Percival in the same bullpen.

No need for Lee Smith anymore. Would’ve been a great bullpen to watch.

Then, there’s Bichette.

He wasn’t patient at the plate really at all, but he was a very good hitter — Coor’s Field inflated his numbers, to say the least.

However, this is a guy the Angels definitely missed eventually after trading him for the 41-year old Dave Parker.

This was before the 1991 season.

Add that to losing Devon White.

And in the second half of that season, the Angels offense sputtered, forgot how to hit homeruns, and they released Parker in August.

The Halos also missed Bichette’s bat in the coming years, especially in 1993, 1994, and 1996. He would’ve been that one power piece the Angels sorely needed behind cleanup hitter Chili Davis in ’93 and ’94.

Imagine 1995.

April 24, 2015; Anaheim, CA, USA; Los Angeles Angels designated hitter C.J. Cron (24) crosses home plate to score a run in the fourth inning against the Texas Rangers at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Even in 1997 and 1998 it would’ve been a boost. With the emergence of GA and Erstad, that would’ve given them some serious trade chips for the starting pitching they really needed.

It’s neither here nor there though.

Honorable mention goes to Carney Lansford.

Oh no. This is actually the worst one for me. And yes, they could’ve kept him and still would’ve been able to sign Doug DeCinces.

Because Lansford also played second base and shortstop.

But that’s a whole entire article all by itself. That’s why I’m leaving this one alone.

For now.

Anyways, who knows? It’s all hindsight.

Other factors would’ve come into play could include the Butterfly Effect, if you believe in that sort of thing.

One better decision isn’t going to make it all better. But these are still good reasons to keep your top draft picks if it’s obvious the benefits outweigh trading them for veterans.

In this era, I think it’s imperative for the Angels to strike at the college level and develop seasoned, high-impact talent.

And keep it.

Bottom Line: Anaheim can only go up from here

The Angels will make that move this year, because with an abundance of good young talent — built around a $150 million dollar payroll anchored Mike Trout and Albert Pujols — the Angels could put themselves into a position for another period of long-term success.

In order to do that, all they need to do is just continue doing what they’re doing at the minor league level.