The Los Angeles Angels have been struggling to score runs consistently, so Neto is no longer hitting leadoff.
The Los Angeles Angels have been struggling to score runs, and shortstop Zach Neto has been a big reason why. Normally Neto is one of the most productive hitters in the lineup, but this year he’s spent much of the year hovering just above the Mendoza line.
It’s an unexpected situation, and manager Kurt Suzuki finally decided to make a change. He dropped Neto to the sixth spot, and the shortstop immediately broke out with a two-run homer against the Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday.
“For me, the biggest thing was to try and take the pressure off him,” Suzuki said of the move pregame in a piece written by Henry Palatella of MLB.com. “That’s a lot of pressure -- and when you’re scuffling and not playing how you want to play, this is a way to let him start having fun and not feel like the weight of the world is on him.”
This may or may not be the long-term solution, but the Angels were in a position where they simply had to do something. According to Bollinger, Neto entered Wednesday’s game hitting .196 (21-for-107) over the past calendar month. Infielder Vaughn Grissom hopped up into the top spot, and he immediately drew two walks.
“I don’t make the lineup,” Neto said following the loss. “I just hit where I’m supposed to and just play my game.”
Bollinger used Neto’s underlying metrics to show just how bad this had gotten. The shortstop came into Wednesday’s game with a lower barrel rate, along with a drop in hard-hit rate. The eye test tells a similar story of a hitter with a poor approach, with Neto chasing bad pitches and being consistently eliminated with a minimal number of pitches.
“He had some great at-bats [Wednesday],” Suzuki said. “It’s definitely nice to see that.”
The Angels have plenty of power, but they really don’t have a leadoff hitter, and they also have a lineup that’s full of dead spots. Few teams in baseball have anything close to a traditional leadoff hitter, but they could really use that right now.
The interim solution may be to eliminate the dead spots. Yoan Moncada and Josh Lowe have been black holes offensively, and the Angels have been working Grissom and infielder Oswald Peraza in left field to get them ready for a possible shift. They may also give prospect Nelson Rada a shot even though his average is below .250, as Rada’s combination of speed and defense could energize a lineup that’s been underperforming lately.