Position Profile: Angels Catching Turned Into A Huge Mess

The Los Angeles Angels went into this season with a stable catching situation, but ultimately it turned into a complete mess. That was more the rule than the exception around the diamond for the Halos, but you could make a strong argument that catching was the worst. 

Start with Logan O’Hoppe. He entered the season as a prospective All-Star, with some forecasters predicting that he could hit 30 home runs. 

As ridicuous as that sounds now, it wasn’t outrgeous. O’Hoppe has tons of power, and the potential to do that is still there, but he never came close. Instead O’Hoppe posted a slash line of .219/.271/.295, which made the catcher the first one out the door when the Angels began their housecleaning. 

It was then that the Halos found out just how little O’Hoppe was worth. The Angels sent him to the Texas Rangers along with reliable reliever Chase Silseth for 19-year old third base prospect Angel Arredondo, and the Rangers promptly demoted O’Hoppe to Triple-A. It was a humiliating sequence of moves for the 26-year old catcher, but O’Hoppe was also bad defensively, which was a double whammy. 

The Angels then proceeded to go through a series of backup catchers, which was every bit as bad as it sounds like it would be. Travis d’Arnaud was expected to be able to handle the pitching staff well, but he struggled with plantar fasciitis, so Tyler Heineman was next up in the backup veteran line. 

There was also a brief experiment with Sebastian Rivero, but he got hurt as well, so the parade of retreads continued into the trade deadline. 

The Angels thought they had an answer of sorts in Moises Ballesteros, who was acquired  along with pitcher Mason McGwire (son of Mark) in a trade with the Chicago Cubs at the deadline for reliever Ryan Zeferjahn. 

Ballesteros was billed as an offensive-first catcher who could also play first, but his offense disappeared as soon as he was acquired as he struggled to stay above the Mendoza line. 

The Angels are still hopeful regarding Ballasteros going forward, as he seemed to find his stroke down the stretch. He’s currently listed as a DH in ESPN’s stats listings, which tells you all you need to know about his receiving skills. 

The bottom line is that the Angels will be looking for a new catcher, and they’ll probably be starting over given the overall results for this season.