The Los Angeles Angels don’t usually get a lot of attention in the endless list of hypothetical and idealized teams that come out as an integral part of offseason baseball content, but they did make a serious dent in MLB.com’s All-Underrated Team. It was written by Anthony Castorvince, and two Angels made the squad, but their circumstances with the Halos are very different, to say the least.
First the good news. First baseman Nolan Schanuel made the team, and he got an impressively positive writeup that should help remind Angels fans of how much promise Schanuel still has.
For starters, he’s just 24. Schanuel was drafted out of Florida Atlantic University in the 2023 draft as the 11th pick, according to Castorvince, and like many Angels prospects he was rushed to the majors.
Schanuel was promoted to the big club just 40 days after being drafted, but he’s managed to hold his own and then some. He’s had just over 1300 appearances to date, and his OPS+ is 4 percent better than league average.
On the less esoteric side of the stat equation, Schanuel has displayed outstanding plate discipline along with an ability to control the strike zone, which as earned him an OPB of .353. That’s seventh-best among first baseman who have spent at least half their time at first base with at least 1,000 appearances since coming into the league in 2023, which also bodes well for his future development.
The upshot of all this is that Schanuel was drafted based on his elite contact skills and overall plate discipline, and those talents have quickly translated. First base is one of the few positions the Angels have where they can just pencil Schanuel in as an automatic lineup staple, and seeing him on this team is also a welcome change from the kinds of struggles we normally see from Angels prospects.
The other player who made the list is former Angels outfielder Taylor Ward, who was traded to the Baltimore Orioles for right-hander Grayson Rodriguez. This trade represents a huge gamble on Rodriguez getting and staying healthy, but there aren’t a lot of outfielders who can supply the kind of power and run production Ward brings to the table.
Moreover, this is Ward’s second year on the all-underrated team, which raises the question of whether he’s still underrated. That issue aside, he hit 36 home runs for the Angels in 2025, and while the Halos still have plenty of power in their lineup, seeing him make this time again is a sharp reminder of the risk the Angels took in making this particular deal.