Welcome to this bi-monthly feature. This article replaced the previous "Top 10 prospect watch" because frankly, that was sometimes depressing. The players on that list will be folded into the bi-monthly minor league update. However, we just had a draft in June and the Angels picked up some exciting players.
These players are all currently playing on the rookie teams in Arizona and Orem, UT, and the Burlington Bees A ball. The top 12 rounds will be covered here.
2016 Angels draft class performances:
Round | Name | Age | Position | Team | Level | Prospect Ranking |
Notes |
1. | Matt Thaiss | 21 | C/1B | Burlington Bees | A | 1 |
Thaiss continues to show why he was a #1 pick. He's hitting .311 in Burlington with a .397 OBP. |
2. | Brandon Marsh | 18 | OF | AZL Angels | Rok | 4 |
Marsh is on 60-day DL. |
3. | Nonie Williams | 18 | SS | AZL Angels | Rok | 6 | Williams has been pretty average in rookie ball for an 18-year-old. He's hitting .239 over his last 10 games. |
4. | Chris Rodriguez | 18 | RHP | AZL Angels | Rok | - |
Rodriguez is having a great season, though he's only thrown 11.1 innings. He has a 1.59 ERA, 0.79 WHIP and 17 Ks. |
5. | Connor Justus | 21 | SS | Burlington Bees | A | 15 |
Justus only has a .188 average in Burlington so hasn't really adjust to A ball considering he hit .344 in Orem. |
6. | Cole Duensing | 18 | RHP | AZL Angels | Rok | - |
Duensing has only allowed runs in one of his 7 games so far. He has a 1.64 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP. |
7. | Jordan Zimmerman | 21 | 2B | Burlington Bees | A | - |
Zimmerman hasn't gone well at all in Burlington He's just hitting .152 in his last 10 games and .173 since moving up to A ball. |
8. | Troy Montgomery | 21 | OF | Burlington Bees | A | 25 |
Montgomery hasn't had a problem adjusting to a higher level of play and is hitting just slightly better than he did in hitter-friendly Orem. He has a .342/.418/.544 line in A ball. |
9. | Michael Barash | 21 | C | Burlington Bees | A | - | Barash isn't striking out much, which is good. But he's also only hitting .224 so far in A ball. He has a decent 38% caught stealing rate. |
10. | Andrew Vinson | 22 | RHP | Burlington Bees | A | - |
Vinson has done alright in A ball so far with a 3.52 ERA in 7 innings. He's only walked 1 batter. |
11. | Brennon Lund | 21 | OF | Burlington Bees | A | - | Lund slowed down to mostly average lately, which was to be expected since he started the season with insane numbers. He's hitting .280 in A ball with 8 stolen bases in 8 attempts. He also have 4 assists and 2 double plays. |
12. | Bo Tucker | 21 | LHP | Orem Owlz | Rok | - | Not having the best year. He's given up 10ER in 21.1 innings with 8 walks allowed. |