MLB Scout Pours Cold Water on Kyren Paris' Breakout For Angels

The Los Angeles Angels have been off to a hot start this season, and a lot of this early success can be pinned on the improvement of second baseman Kyren Paris.

Paris was sent back down to the minors last year after batting .118, but spent the offseason working with Aaron Judge's hitting coach, Richard Schenck. Many wondered if his success this spring was a fluke, but the proof of Paris' successful changes are in the early results displayed this season.

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Paris is already batting .368/.467/.842 with an OPS of 1.309. He's added five home runs, eight RBIs, and even five stolen bases this season, all marks that he had yet to reach in 36 career games played before this season.

When asked about moving up Paris in the batting order from his usual No. 7 slot, manager Ron Washington wanted to wait and see what happens with the potential rising star, despite a productive start.

A scout that has studied Paris closely over the last three seasons told the Orange County Register's Jeff Fletcher that it may be wiser to wait and see how the arduous grind of an MLB regular season weighs on the young Paris.

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“I just can’t, as an evaluator and as a person who’s seen a lot of players and been on the field myself, I can’t put much weight on April,” the scout said. “There are a lot of hitters who get hot in April and come up here and do well, and then all of a sudden the season starts to weigh on you. You can either come back to who you are or you’re just another guy. It is too early for me to say this guy is going to be a stud or star. I need a bigger sample than one month, for me.”

Despite the immense work on Paris' swing this offseason, the unnamed scout saw a glaring issue that will have to be sustainable in order to stay effective.

“He’s swinging uphill as hard as he can to make contact, and he is right now,” the scout said. “He’s hitting the ball hard. I’m not sure he can sustain it. … I think pitchers will probably, at some point, start making adjustments, looking at swing path and then he’ll have to adjust accordingly. But right now, he’s a tough out.”

Angels fans will certainly hope that the Paris hot streak continues, but he is embarking on uncharted territory in terms of his past major league at-bats.

The second baseman had a goal this spring of becoming a mainstay in the Angels dugout, and if he keeps up this kind of production in the long term, he will make good on that aspiration.

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