The Los Angeles Angels are promoting 21 year old 1st baseman Nolan Schanuel to their MLB roster. Schanuel was selected less than 6 weeks ago with the 11th overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, and has logged only 96 minor league plate appearances to date.
Widely considered the most “polished” bat in the 2023 Draft class, the former FAU standout is currently hitting .370 with 21 walks against only 10 strikeouts in the minors. Schanuel’s unconventional swing from the left side of the plate helped propel the Owls to a 34-25 record last season, with the 6’4” infielder posting a robust .447/.615/.868 slash line.
The last time a player was called up this early into their professional career was Chris Sale back in 2010 after he was promoted 2 months after draft day. However, the aggressive promotion fits with the philosophy of the Angels front office. Both Zach Neto (2022) and Chase Silseth (2021) were the first players from each of their respective draft classes to make their MLB debuts as well.
Schanuel’s promotion was so unexpected that Yahoo! Fantasy leagues have yet to add him to their player pool as of this writing. Depending on your league settings, the top prospect could be hitting the waiver wire in the next 24 hours or so.
If that’s the case, then you could certainly do worse than to submit a speculative add request and see how the towering lefty does in his first taste of MLB action. For those in dynasty leagues, especially those of the AL only variety, you’ll want to make sure you’ve got a bid in for his services as soon as possible.
While Schanuel doesn’t figure to be a prolific power hitter, he does have some pop to his bat as evidenced by his 19 round trippers this past season in college. Those looking for average, runs, and on base percentage will want to be all over him as soon as he becomes available.
The rapid promotion of top prospects is part organizational shift, and also partly necessitated by Los Angeles’ ever dimming playoff hopes. Generational talent Shohei Ohtani is a virtual lock to win his 2nd AL MVP award. However with the Angels currently 7 games back of the final wildcard spot, the postseason could once again elude the Halos this fall.
Ohtani, 29, is set to become an unrestricted free agent in 2024 after signing a 1 year / $30M deal with Los Angeles prior to this season. The deal was the largest ever salary increase for an arbitration eligible player at the time of the signing. Unfortunately, Ohtani has mentioned on several occasions that he wants to compete for championships moving forward. Something that’s eluded the Angels since he joined them back in 2018.
With the Japanese superstar set to hit the open market after the season, Angels GM Perry Minasian has been under pressure to do everything in his power to help get the Halos to the postseason and prove that they’re a viable contender. Barring a massive late season push that would require Los Angeles to leapfrog 4 teams in the standings, it appears as though the club will ultimately fall short in that regard.
Which is why the team’s front office is pulling out all the stops to show Ohtani and his representatives that they’re serious about competing with their aggressive promotion of top prospects.
Los Angeles is hoping that Mike Trout and Logan O’Hoppe will be returning to the lineup shortly. However any way you slice it, it’s an uphill battle for the Angels down the stretch.
The Halos are next in action Friday against the Tampa Bay Rays at 9:38pm ET.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: Erik Drost. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.