Evaluating the Angels' 2021 All-Pitcher Draft
The results are... not great, Bob.
In Perry Minasian’s first draft as Angels GM, he made headlines by selecting pitchers in all 20 rounds of the draft.
We’re nearly 3 years removed from that draft, so let’s look at where all 20 players stand now.
1) Sam Bachman: made his MLB debut as a reliever in 2023, currently on the 60-day IL as he rehabs from offseason shoulder surgery.
2) Ky Bush: traded to the White Sox at the 2023 trade deadline in the Lucas Giolito/Reynaldo López deal.
3) Landon Marceaux: traded to the Mets mid-season 2023 for Eduardo Escobar.
4) Luke Murphy: currently repeating AA, where he had a 4.96 ERA and 3.82 FIP in 49 IP last season.
5) Brett Kerry: currently repeating AA, where he had a 3.88 ERA and 5.35 FIP in 118.1 IP last season.
6) Jake Smith: currently repeating High-A, where he had a 10.86 ERA and 6.18 FIP in 32.1 IP last season.
7) Ryan Costieu: currently rehabbing from summer 2023 Tommy John surgery. Ranked by MLB Pipeline as the Angels 11th best prospect.
8) Nick Jones: currently repeating AA, where he had a 3.86 ERA and 3.36 FIP in 28 IP last season. Jones received a Spring Training invite and could make his major league debut as a middle-innings lefty reliever sometime in 2024.
9) Braden Olthoff: topped out at AA and retired in 2023.
10) Andrew Peters: topped out at High-A and was released by the Angels in Spring 2024.
11) Chase Silseth: made his MLB debut in 2022, had a 3.96 ERA and 4.96 FIP in 2023, and broke camp as the Angels’ fifth starter in 2024, before going on the injured list with elbow inflammation.
12) Mason Albright: traded to the Rockies in the CJ Cron/Randal Grichuk trade at the 2023 trade deadline.
13) Mo Hanley: currently in Single-A and has only thrown 2.2 innings in his career due to injuries.
14) Eric Torres: currently repeating AA, where he had a 5.14 ERA and 6.29 FIP last season.
15) Glenn Albanese Jr: currently in High-A, on the 60-day injured list.
16) Brandon Dufault: currently in AA, on the 60-day injured list.
17) Mason Erla: currently repeating AA, where he had a 5.65 ERA and 5.92 FIP in 28.2 IP last season.
18) Nick Mondak: currently in High-A, on the 60-day injured list.
19) Nathan Burns: topped out at AA and was released by the Angels in Spring 2024.
20) Marcelo Perez: did not sign and returned to TCU for his senior year.
Breakdown:
MLB IL: 2 (Bachman, Silseth)
Traded: 3 (Bush, Marceaux, Albright)
AAA: 0
AA: 5 (Murphy, Kerry, Jones, Torres, Erla,
A+: 1 (Smith)
A: 1 (Hanley)
Injured: 4 (Costieu, Albanese Jr, Dufault, Mondak)
Released: 2 (Peters, Burns)
Retired: 1 (Olthoff))
Unsigned: 1 (Perez)
Analysis:
At this point, Sam Bachman and Chase Silseth will need to do a lot of heavy lifting to salvage the Angels 2021 draft class. They both have the upside to do that, but both are also injured.
Beyond those two, the only ones who could have some major league impact in the future are the 5 pitchers in AA and Ryan Costieu.
The 3 players the Angels traded didn’t even really bring back much impact in return. López (0.3 fWAR) was good out of the bullpen before he was let go in the Angels August waiver dump, but Giolito (-0.3) was a disaster. As were Escobar (-1.0), Cron (-0.3), and Grichuk (0.0).
(Image via AP/ESPN)