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Los Angeles Angels: Who will meet offensive expectations and who won’t?

By Jason Reed

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - AUGUST 20: Justin Upton #8 of the Los Angeles Angels at bat against the Texas Rangers in the top of the third inning during game one of a doubleheader at Globe Life Park in Arlington on August 20, 2019 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by C. Morgan Engel/Getty Images)
ARLINGTON, TEXAS - AUGUST 20: Justin Upton #8 of the Los Angeles Angels at bat against the Texas Rangers in the top of the third inning during game one of a doubleheader at Globe Life Park in Arlington on August 20, 2019 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by C. Morgan Engel/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Angels
(Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Angels /

Fall short of expectations:

Justin Upton

Speaking of those Angel fans that are in my life, my best friend is high on Justin Upton and thinks that he will be an impact bat in the middle of the order for the Angels in 2020. All last season the narrative was that the offense would be dangerous once Upton returns, and then once he struggled, it was because he could never get healthy.

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Upton had a decent, not large, sample size. In 219 at-bats the former Silver Slugger hit .215 with 12 home runs and 40 RBIs. The power was there, but he struck out 30.5 percent of the time. He had 31 more strikeouts than hits.

If that is not a sign of a decline then I am not sure what will. It is not even like Upton has been good as an Angel, either. Since being traded to Anaheim, Upton has had a .245 batting average, .795 OPS and a 29.2 strikeout percentage.

Yes, he was named a Silver Slugger in 2017, the season he was traded to the Angels, but that was because of his efforts in Detroit, where he logged 125 games played opposed to the 25 in Anaheim.

Buster Posey was a Silver Slugger in 2017 and nobody calls him the best hitting catcher in baseball anymore. The best of Upton has come and gone.

Jo Adell

Jo Adell is a fun name to keep in mind as he probably will make an appearance at some point this season but expecting a rookie to be this massive difference-maker is a bit far-fetched. Could he be great? Absolutely, but the chance of him struggling right off the bat is higher than him coming in and being this huge offensive difference-maker.

I still think he is an average at-worst offensive player in 2020 and he is a future all-star, there is no doubt about that. But this perception among Angel fans that he is going to be a savior of the offense in 2020 is far-fetched.

Unless there are fans that have unreasonable expectations about every Angel this season, the rest of the Angels lineup, aside from Trout, is full of decent guys that won’t stand out a ton but shouldn’t be terrible.

Andrelton Simmons is an above-average contact hitter at his best but still has very little power and won’t be a huge presence at the plate. David Fletcher is a decent utility-infield type player similar to Chris Taylor on the Dodgers.

We all know that Albert Pujols does not bring much to the table. Jason Castro is mediocre at the plate and Brian Goodwin is a slightly above average hitter that brings some pop. Shohei Ohtani is electric but we will be seeing less of him at the plate as the Angels use him in the starting rotation as well.

Next. The Angels won't find a better trade all season. dark

Does this offense scream top 5-7 in the league to me? Not really, it is a top-heavy lineup that is really good in its three best hitters but outside of that, it is pretty average. The advanced stats say otherwise, because of Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon, but it is hard to get excited about the 5-9 of this lineup.

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