Angels' Ron Washington Pranked Kyren Paris: 'He Got Me Good'

Kyren Paris thought he was starting the season in the minor leagues.

The 23-year-old infielder/outfielder batted .400 in Cactus League action this year, seemingly guaranteeing his place on the Angels' Opening Day roster for the first time in his young professional career.

Yet, as Paris told Trent Rush on the latest episode of "Under the Halo," Ron Washington's poker face told a different story.

"They definitely tried to pull a prank on me," Paris said of the way he learned he was making the Angels' Opening Day roster back in March. "Ray (Montgomery), our bench coach, had said something kind of funny so I was smiling as I walked in. Ron said, 'You can smile all you want but you're going to Triple-A.' I sat down and I was like, 'What?'

"He just said, 'Oh you still have some things to work on.' This and that. He was joking the whole time. I had no clue. He was pretty straight-faced. He passed it to Perry (Minasian, the Angels' general manager) and Perry was the one who told me, 'You're going to be on this team. You're going to help us win a lot of games. We want you on this team.' That's when I was smiling ear to ear for sure."

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Paris told Rush he was fooled by the ruse.

"It was definitely deflating," Paris said. "(Washington) got me good."

Paris, who's hit five home runs and stolen five bases in 24 games to begin the season, has been a key to the Angels' 12-15 start. While a sub-.500 record is hardly cause for celebration, it's perhaps exceeding expectations that the Angels are a mere 3.5 games out of first place in the American League West through the season's first month.

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Parris started the season hitting five home runs and racking up 14 hits, including a double and a triple, in his first 11 games. He subsequently fell into a slump, collecting only one hit in a span of 27 at-bats.

Here’s a closer look at the recent change in Kyren Paris mechanics…

Video #1 is a HR vs a 94 MPH outside fastball…

Video #2 is a K against the same pitch….

Notice how much more closed Kyren was at initial toe strike as well as at contact on the HR…..

This is caused by a… pic.twitter.com/wNufYXp85J
— Tommy Maestas (@tommym8) April 22, 2025

Why the sudden slide?

"I don’t have a perfect answer. This is just a young player, had some success early, and then in this league, we talk about it a lot," Washington recently told The Athletic. "There’s adjustments being on all sides. And there’s an adjustment period that he’s going through, and he’s going to make it. I’m hopeful and I’m confident he’ll end up making an adjustment.

"We’ll hopefully start seeing some better at-bats out of him and seeing the quality of contact go back up. But so far, we’ve been pleased with Kyren. I’m happy with where he’s at, and I’m hopeful he’ll turn it around."

For more Angels news, head over to Angels on SI.