Los Angeles Angels: It’s time to call up Matt Thaiss, here’s how

The Los Angeles Angels’ top first-base prospect Matt Thaiss is big league ready but has no logical path to the big leagues, until now.

For most of the decade, the Los Angeles Angels have had one of the worst farm systems in baseball which have directly resulted in the team not winning a single playoff game this decade.

However, over the last two years, the front office has done a great job at building a reputable farm. While it still is not close to being one of the best in baseball, there are some names to get excited about if you are an Angels’ fan.

One of those names is Matt Thaiss, who is the team’s seventh-ranked prospect on MLB Pipeline while also being the team’s best first-base prospect. Thaiss also cracks the top-10 first basemen list, coming in as the ninth-best first-base prospect in baseball.

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Thaiss is undoubtedly big league ready and should get the call sometime this season, which should happen as soon as possible. The first baseman played over two-thirds of the season in triple-A Salt Lake last season, hitting .277 in the process.

Through 10 games this year, Thaiss is keeping it consistent with a .275 average. He has the power to eventually blossom into a 20-25 home run hitter in the big leagues and is someone that the team should be able to trust to hit .260-.275 right away.

That might not sound like the best of numbers but what the Angels currently have at the big league level has been pretty dreadful. The only problem is that first base is completely blocked, not giving Thaiss anywhere to go.

Justin Bour has been manning first base thus far this year and with Shohei Ohtani soon returning to DH it is going to create a Bour-Albert Pujols platoon at first. There is absolutely no room for Thaiss in that situation.

That is why the Angels should start the process now of him playing third base if he has not already. That might sound crazy, but it is what the team has to do.

Thaiss is a converted catcher and absolutely has the arm to thrive at third base. He has shown good progressions at fielding at first base and has become an above average fielder.

He is a professional athlete after all and if he can make the transition from catcher to first then he should easily be able to make the transition from first to third. It might take some hiccups along the way but that is why you start the process in AAA.

The reason Thaiss should be converted is because of Zack Cozart, who has been absolutely terrible in his Los Angeles Angels’ career.

His first season with the Halos was awful but was cut short by injury, leaving some fans hopeful that he could turn it back around to his all-star form that we just saw in 2017.

It has been the opposite. In 44 plate appearances, Cozart is hitting . 098 with a .281 OPS. That is the second-worst OPS for any hitter with at least 40 plate appearances.

It is a small sample size and Cozart won’t finish the year under a .100 average but there is no reason to expect him to get much higher than the Mendoza line. In his 73-game Angel career, which is a big enough of a sample size to take note of, he is hitting exactly .200 with a .601 OPS.

Yet another bad signing by the Los Angeles Angels which might only be fixable by calling up Thaiss and giving him a shot at third.

What is the worst that can happen? Anything Thaiss can do seems like a better alternative to Cozart at this point.