Orangel Arenas Angels Top Prospect #19

Rev Halofan: Who is the Angels number 19 prospect?

Ryan Ghan: Pitcher Orangel Arenas.

A digression broke out over how to pronounce the player's name.

REVHF: Well, I'm worried about the first name like I don't want to call him Orange County.

RGHAN: [Laughing] Get it right eventually. But he is one of those arms that gonna sneak up on them. Okay so he is sitting in the low 90s with his fastball. When I talked to Abe Flores earlier last year, he was very excited about the movement of this guy's fastball. It's not upper 90s. He doesn't have that kind of velocity, but it's got a lot of movement. He keeps the ball down. He's got a lot of running action. Hitters tend to pound it right into the ground. He's also got a slider that is probably average to fringe average but it will keep hitters off of his fastball.

REVHF: Oh, that is always a good sign. That's always a good sign.

RGHAN: Yeah. You know folks were just pounding that ball right into the ground. He must have a change up, but folks don't talk about it. I think he's a really good candidate transition to the Bullpen and I think he's gonna surpass some of the guys who got a little bit more publicity this year in the Bullpen once he makes that move. I think he's got two good pitches, one really good one in his fastball and I think in a couple of years here, we're going to become very familiar with him.

REVHF: Wow, all right. Then we'll probably learn in that amount of time to pronounce his name.

RGHAN: He's a right-handed pitcher. You know he doesn't rack up the strikeouts, especially at the starter. I mean he did 6.4 K per 9 innings last year. So he's not going to be a huge strikeout guy but that ratio would probably come up a little bit if he gets moved to the Bullpen. I mean he wouldn't have to turn over a lineup you know 2 or 3 times in the Bullpen. So I think he'd see the Ks and the peripherals go up in the Bullpen which I think, I mean that's his ultimate home and that's where I think he lands eventually. And one more plug about him. He did get the first promotion out at Cedar Rapids last year. Cedar Rapids had a really good rotation. They had Tyler Skaggs, they had Garrett Richards, they had a lot of very, very, good pitchers and you know, he was the first to move on up to high A and he performed well.

REVHF: Wow! And he's going to be in Double-A this year, do you think?

RGHAN: Yeah, I think, they will promote him to Double-A. I think he starts in that rotation. It's gonna be a really, really good rotation and in that park, you know his numbers should be solid.

Numbers as of June 12, all games at AA Arkansas:
10 Games (all starts) 3.48 ERA
64.2 IP, 63 H, 18 BB, 22 K, 1.25 WHIP
AGE: 22 years, 3 Months