MLB’s list of Top 100 prospects came out this week, and it’s easy to be skeptical about the validity of some of the names that are on it. The baseball prospect game is a crapshoot, after all, and it’s impossible to know who’ll make it and who won’t.
But the Los Angeles Angels have a different story to tell when it comes to this list. They only have two players who started their career in the Top 100, according to Jeffrey Lutz of MLB.com, but they include DH Mike Trout and shortstop Zach Neto.
Trout’s backstory as a prospect is fairly well-known among the fan base and hardcore baseball fans, but it’s worth reviewing anyway. The Angels drafted Trout 25th overall in 2009, which seems borderline impossible now, and he was actually considered raw at the time. There were actually questions about how his swing would play against elite pitching and what his power ceiling was, not to mention that he came out of a small, cold-weather school in Millville, NJ.
Those concerns quickly disappeared, and Trout actually spent two years as the #1 prospect, according to Baseball America. His brief struggles in 2011 actually fooled some “experts” into thinking he might not make it, but after that the success and awards quickly began to follow. Trout's career has suffered from both injuries and the ravages of time, but he's still more than capable of doing damage as a DH.
Neto’s story isn’t quite as illustrious, but he’s one of the Angels’ prized stars right now, and he’s considered a franchise cornerstone as well. The shortstop was ranked #53 in 2023, and it’s interesting now to read his scouting report as it relates to what he’s done since.
Neto’s raw power was considered “just average,” with his exit velocities described as “modest,” but the shortstop hit 26 home runs last year, which is the same number Trout slugged as a full-time DH. He was predicted to be an above-average regular, but now Neto is expected to be an All-Star, and extending him is considered an Angels priority going forward. There's still plenty of room for improvement on his slash line of .257/.319/.474, but his WAR of 5.1 last year speaks for itself.
The Angels do have one player on this list going into this season, and surprisingly, it’s a pitcher, Tyler Bremner. He’s expected to rise quickly through the Halos farm system, and given the Angels’ tendencies to rush prospects to the majors, there are those who think Bremner could turn up in Anaheim this year, although perhaps not too quickly.