Angels to Promote 2024 Draft Pick After Two Games

The Los Angeles Angels have promoted first-round draft pick Christian Moore to the Double-A Rocket City Trash Pandas after just two games with Single-A Inland Empire, per Chase Ford. Moore is officially the first player from the class of 2024 to reach Double-A.

The Angels have confirmed this. Moore played his first 2 pro games this week at low A.

Now he’s skipping high A and off to AA.

How soon will we see him in the majors? https://t.co/xdgK6A4Vq4
— Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) August 2, 2024

In 11 at-bats during two games with the Inland Empire 66ers, Moore slashed .545/.583/1.000 with six hits, five runs, one home run, six RBIs, and 11 total bases. Following his dominant two-game showing, Moore will skip High-A and begin playing for Double-A.

The Angels drafted Moore with the eighth overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft out of Tennessee. Considered a more pro-ready prospect than many of his counterparts, Moore spent three years playing for Tennessee.

The quick promotion of Moore follows a trend of the Angels quickly promoting their draft picks recently, including infielders Zach Neto and Nolan Schanuel. Neto debuted less than a year after he was drafted out of Campbell University, making his debut in 2023 for the Angels.

Schanuel, the team's first-round pick in 2023, advanced even quicker. The first baseman was assigned to the Angels' Rookie-level minor league squad on July 21, and was promoted to Single-A Inland Empire four days later.

Within a week, Schanuel was promoted to Double-A. The Angels promoted him less than a month later on August 18 for his major league debut, allowing Schanuel to skip Triple-A and become the first player in his draft class to debut.

Assuming the Angels follow a similar trajectory with Moore and advance him quickly, the Angels would hold a promising young infield with Neto, Schanuel, and Moore leading the way and all under 25 years old.

During his final season of college, Moore helped lead the Volunteers to a College World Series victory, by defeating Texas A&M 6-5. The championship was the first College World Series title in program history.

Moore put in a historic junior season, setting the program record for home runs with 34. Overall, Moore slashed .375/.451/.797 with 111 hits, 83 runs, 34 home runs, and 74 home runs. Moore was named an All-American by numerous outlets after the season, including Baseball America and Perfect Game.

Prior to his final collegiate season, Moore slashed .304/.444/603 with 65 hits, 66 runs, 16 stolen bases, 17 home runs, and 50 RBIs as a sophomore, and slashed .305/.443/.619 with 36 hits, 30 runs, 10 home runs, and 36 RBIs.