The Major League Baseball draft is the least popular among the major North American sports for one simple reason: it usually takes so long for players to go from the draft floor to the major leagues, there isn’t often much to be excited about in the moment.
To wit: of all the players drafted in the first round from 1996 to 2011 who didn’t opt to go back to college, 66.7 percent played in the major leagues. There’s a 1 in 3 chance your team’s draft pick won’t make it — to say nothing of Round 2 and higher.
Apparently the Los Angeles Angels didn’t get the memo.
From 2020-24, the Angels have drafted five players in the first round of the amateur draft. Four have reached the majors already: Reid Detmers (2020, 10th overall pick), Sam Bachman (2021, 9th overall), Zach Neto (2022, 13th overall), and Nolan Schanuel (2023, 11th overall).
The fifth? Christian Moore hasn’t had time to reach the majors — not yet, at least.
Moore was chosen with the eighth overall pick in the 2024 draft on July 14. He debuted with the Inland Empire 66ers last week, on July 31, and went 6 for 11 in two games with the Angels’ Class-A affiliate.
Thursday, the Angels promoted Moore to Double-A Rocket City — skipping the advanced Class-A level altogether.
The Angels, it seems, are up to their old tricks again, for better or worse.
In a January interview with Sports Illustrated, Angels farm director Joey Prebynski acknowledged the method behind the madness:
“For us it ultimately comes down, from a player development standpoint, to meet the player where they’re at in their development curve,” Prebynski said. “It’s certainly different whether they’re coming out of high school, college — their overall experience level. Perry (Minasian, the Angels’ general manager) and our player development group overall … when players know we’ll be aggressive pushing them through the system, it creates an urgency for the work. It’s been a positive for us overall.”
The flaw in this logic is obvious: The Angels haven’t improved their fortunes at the major league level one iota since instituting this hyper-aggressive draft strategy. Their year-by-year record:
- 2020: 26-34, fourth in the American League West
- 2021: 77-85, fourth
- 2022: 73-89, third
- 2023: 73-89, fourth
- 2024: 47-62 (through Thursday), fourth
Ironically, it’s a result of this ineptitude that they are able to select major-league ready players in the draft at all. Teams accustomed to drafting at the end of the first round — those who make the playoffs annually — couldn’t dream of doing what the Angels do. It’s a penalty for their success.
In any event, the Angels are clearly undeterred by whatever shortcomings this strategy has had for their success as a team, or for the individuals involved. Detmers has enjoyed some success at the major-league level, even throwing a no-hitter in 2022. Currently he is back at Triple-A, having struggled to maintain his success from year to year.
Bachman’s success has been uneven too. Although injuries are largely to blame in his case, he also has yet to establish himself on the Angels’ roster this year after some early success. The same could be said for pitcher Chase Silseth, a 2021 11th-round pick who was promoted within a year of being drafted. His 2024 season at Triple-A might be over because of elbow troubles.
Moore has his work cut out for him to buck the trend. At 21, at least the pathway to his major league debut is wide open.
