Angels’ Ron Washington preaches patience with slumping hitters

ANAHEIM — In the midst of an offensive downturn that has the Angels sliding at a rapid pace, Manager Ron Washington remains in full support of his players.

Does Mike Trout’s low batting average show his profile as a hitter is changing?

“Let’s wait until we get some baseball under us …,” Washington said, in part.

With Nolan Schanuel starting this season with similar numbers to last year, is he making progress?

“Of course he’s making progress. He’s a contact hitter,” Washington said.

The heat has been on the Angels of late for some particularly gruesome numbers.

They averaged 2.4 runs per game over a stretch that saw them go 3-8, heading into play Thursday. They failed to score twice in that stretch, including Wednesday night’s 3-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates. They are batting .186 in those games with one strikeout every three plate appearances.

“We’re a month into the season. What do you got, 90-something, 98 at-bats maybe?” Washington said when asked about Trout’s start.

Trout actually headed into Thursday’s game with 83 at-bats and 98 plate appearances. He had a team-best eight home runs but was batting just .169 with a .745 OPS. His career numbers in those departments: .297 and .988 respectively.

Trout’s batting average on balls in play was a paltry .125, though, suggesting bad luck was part of his issue. He had a .335 BABIP as recently as 2023. His average exit velocity was tracked at 92.0 mph through his first 23 games. That’s better than it has been over any of the previous four seasons.

Washington has continued to say that if there is a player he would be worried about it is not Trout, even as the veteran is returning from multiple injuries, including a knee injury that cost him all but one month in 2024.

“If we’re at the end of May and Mike is hitting a buck-80 something, then you all can start speculating,” Washington said. “But right now, just trying to get a feel. Mike is Mike and he will be Mike before this is all over.”

Asked about Schanuel’s start to the season, unrelated to the team’s overall struggles, Washington took it as another indictment of the overall offense.

“I just want to share something with you guys. We got about five or six kids that are in that lineup that got a full year in last year,” Washington said. “Just because you got a full year in does not mean that you are all of a sudden a major league player. What you found out is what it takes to get yourself through a major league season.”

Angels players like Schanuel, Logan O’Hoppe, Jo Adell and Zach Neto are in the early part of those early career adjustments. Neto played in just his sixth game of the season on Thursday after returning from a shoulder injury.

“Now, once you get about three years of consistency at the major league level, then we can say you might be a major league player,” Washington said. “But our young kids are still trying to figure it out, and that’s why you see the inconsistencies.

“The league knows who they are, you’re not surprising, anybody. They got a book on them, they got scouts in the stands every single day, watching them, and we’re just a little slow trying to get to the adjustments that we need.”

HANG TEN

Angels designated hitter Jorge Soler reached 10 years of service time, with his teammates recognizing the occasion in the clubhouse before the game.

“It means a lot to me. It’s been 10 years of sacrifices and ups and downs,” Soler said through an interpreter. “Obviously, I have been working very hard … and have been able to produce on the field.”

With four home runs in his first month with the Angels, Soler is approaching another milestone as he has 195 in his career. He reached his 1,000th career game late last season with the Atlanta Braves.

“It’s an outstanding milestone,” Washington said. “You don’t usually get to hang around baseball that long, in this generation.”

Soler is playing for his sixth organization, starting with three seasons for the Chicago Cubs (2014-16) before five with the Kansas City Royals (2017-21) then moving on to the Braves, Miami Marlins, San Francisco Giants and Braves again to end last season.

Asked what the dream is for this season, Soler’s answer was simple: “Make the playoffs.”

UP NEXT

Angels (RHP Kyle Hendricks, 0-2, 4.50 ERA) at Twins (RHP Pablo Lopez, 1-1, 1.62 ERA), Friday, 4:40 p.m. PT, FDSN West, 830 AM