As another losing season sinks Anaheim, Mike Trout finds his vintage form while Josh Lowe’s hitting woes force a demotion, highlighting the polarized roster in this rebuilding year.
The Los Angeles Angels have won three of their last four games, which include two blowout wins. Still, the Angels are comfortably in last place in the American League West and have only one more win than the worst team in baseball.
As if it weren’t clear heading into the season, it is abundantly clear now – the Angels will finish the 2026 season as one of, if not the worst, teams in baseball yet again. It will be their 11th consecutive season with a record below .500.
It’s unacceptable for one franchise to be so poor for so long, especially given the advantages they possess. Under owner Arte Moreno, however, on-field success is not a priority, and Angels fans are the ones paying the price for it.
With that said, let’s take a look at what the Angels have done so far this year, specifically which player has had the best season in a hopeless year, and which player has played the biggest role in the flood of losses coming the Halos’ way.
There are a few contenders for who has been the club’s best player in 2026, with Jose Soriano dominating early in the year, Mike Trout already putting up more WAR than in his last two seasons, and some others like Zach Neto and Reid Detmers. I’m going to make the boring pick, however, and give the honor of the best player to Trout.
Trout’s batting average has continued to stay in the lower half of the .200s, as has been the case over the last couple of seasons, but the majority of his other numbers have seen impressive climbs.
His .391 on-base percentage is his highest since 2021, and his .843 OPS is far and away the best of any Angels player with over 25 games played. Trout ranks in the 90th percentile in batting run value, where plenty of his metrics have seen jumps from last year. His barrel percentage, average exit velocity, expected slugging, bat speed, chase percentage, and strikeout and chase percentages have all seen improvements from his 2025 season, which in and of itself was considered a successful season due to his 130 games played.
The 34-year-old has done this while making his return to center field, where he’s played 58 of his 68 games. He may not be the defender he was in the early and mid-2010s, but it’s undoubtedly a positive for Halo's fans to see their superstar back playing the position he loves.
On the other end of the spectrum, there have been several disappointments from Angels players in 2026. The most impactful of these players has been outfielder Josh Lowe, whose play was so bad that he was sent down to Triple-A last month.
In his previous 45 major league games, Lowe managed just a .184/.226/.320 slash line with a .546 OPS. While just being average on the basepaths and in the outfield, Lowe’s horrors at the plate were made more unforgivable.
When looking at Lowe’s Baseball Savant page, only his bat speed ranked in at least the 50th percentile, with the rest of his metrics closer to the 0th percentile.
Lowe arrived in Anaheim last offseason after a three-team deal with the Tampa Bay Rays and Cincinnati Reds, in which the Angels shipped out reliever Brock Burke. The Angels seem to have already found Lowe’s outfield replacement in Wade Meckler, a tough blow considering the need for another bullpen arm such as Burke.
The Halos have already bitten the bullet on the Lowe trade, which is yet another example of poor business made by the duo of Moreno and general manager Perry Minasian.
