Angels Catcher Starting To Put It Together Offensively

Catching prospect Moises Ballesteros is one of the players the Los Angeles Angels acquired at the deadline, but he’s struggled at the plate so far. That’s surprising given that he’s considered a bat-first catcher, and he’s been in MLB’s Top 100 for the last two seasons. 

But Ballesteros has been chucked into the deep end with the Angels. He’s hitting cleanup in a lineup that’s not doing much of anything, although yesterday he had a three-hit game against the Boston Red Sox in the Halos 5-2 loss that included an impressive homer to right. 

“He's looking a lot more comfortable in the box,” said manager Kurt Suzuki said in a piece written by Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. “He's controlling the strike zone better, and when he's getting that pitch, he's doing some damage on it. So, I really like where he's at. I know he's been working hard with the hitting guys, so it's nice to see some results.”

Ballesteros had a double and a single off the Green Monster to go with his home run, and he had a nice defensive play in the game as well. Indeed, Bollinger noted that he’s been doing better than expected on the defensive end as he tries to figure it out with the Angels after coming over from the Chicago Cubs. 

The catcher’s slash line was ugly when he first came over as he was hitting under .200, but September is looking better. The month is young, but the writer noted that his line for September is .333/.364/.667 with two homers, a double and four RBIs in six games. 

The Angels have had a tough year behind the plate this year. Logan O’Hoppe was expected to have a breakout year, but his performance was so poor that the Angels wound up moving him to the Texas Rangers just before the deadline along with reliever Chase Silseth. 

Since then the Angels have been going mostly with veteran catcher Tyler Heineman, who’s a defense-first catcher who doesn’t hit much at all. Heineman has become one of the many holes in the Halos lineup that will have to be fixed in the offseason when the new regime is presumably put in place. 

But there’s a spot for Ballesteros if he can continue to hit, as there are roster openings aplenty in Anaheim. The Angels are hoping yesterday’s game was a good first step for Ballesteros as he bids to claim one of them.