The Los Angeles Angels, on the heels of perhaps Shohei Ohtani’s last few weeks with the team, have been seeing their playoff chances slowly fade away despite being the most aggressive team at this year’s trade deadline. Losses are continuing to pile up and as of Friday, August 18 they are two games under .500 and seven games out from a Wild Card spot.
With the team needing a spark they have announced a shocking roster move by promoting first baseman Nolan Schanuel, this year’s 11th overall draft pick, to the big leagues. He was viewed as one of the most MLB ready players in this year’s draft, but has just 21 minor league games to his name with the last 16 coming at the Double-A level.
Through his brief 2023 minor league tenure the Florida Atlantic product accumulated 96 plate appearances, had a 1.003 OPS, and walked more times (21) than he struck out (10). The left-handed hitting first baseman will now be tasked with facing major league pitching after just facing collegiate pitchers a few months ago.
One big question among baseball fans everywhere is if this move sends aggressive win-now vibes or is it a mistake and the organization panicked? Fans on social media were pretty split.
Did the Los Angeles Angels panic or make an aggressive win-now move by promoting Nolan Schanuel? (MLB News)
Double-A to the majors is wild
Drafted 6 weeks to the majors is INSANITY
— Luke Sawhook 🪚🪝 (@lukesawhook) August 18, 2023
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a professional sports team panic this much in a single season
— AV Swaps (@avswaps) August 18, 2023
Organization making mistake-after-mistake.
Instead of selling Ohtani at the deadline, Angels’ selected to stay competitive in hopes of making a WC spot.
The decision backfired on the team and likely set them back another 4-5 years from ever making noise in the AL West.
— Nicholas Bailey (@Mottslayer) August 18, 2023
Wow, that was fast. Schanuel has tremendous hitting abilities and has been hot in the minors but the sample size is too small to know if his numbers were sustainable, I don’t think it’s a good idea to expose him to MLB pitching so quickly.
— Josue De Jesus (@josuedjr) August 18, 2023
We’re not making the playoffs so might as well bring him up! Cron is hurt , Walsh his career is probably over. We need Moose at 3b. I’m all for it! Schanuel, Neto, Moniak, O’Hoppe, Silseth & Detmers are the future for this team. Ohtani is gone after this year. Time to rebuild!
— Bryan Jackson (@BryJax44) August 18, 2023
Honestly very smart, clearly the kids legit and AAA is already seeming easy to him so why not bri g him to the majors late in a lost season so he can learn weaknesses and have an off season to focus on that
— YRN (@2wo_BX) August 18, 2023
I love this! I think it paves a way for college players to start making money and not to worry about the ups and downs of the minor leagues!
— James Schroeder (@JamesSchroedes) August 18, 2023
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