Angels News: GM Minasian Expects Jo Adell to 'Help Us Win Games' This Season
The Los Angeles Angels' Opening Day outfield roster is pretty much set in stone at this point. They're going to have four main guys man the three spots — starters Mike Trout, Taylor Ward and Hunter Renfroe with Brett Phillips off the bench — and Jared Walsh will spend some time out there, too. That means, former first-round picks Jo Adell and Mickey Moniak are going to start the year in Triple-A.
Even though he won't be on the Opening Day roster (barring an injury), Adell is still a big talking point at Angels camp, as the 23-year-old has struggled to live up to the lofty expectations he entered the league with. Adell has played in 161 career games, and is hitting just .215 with 15 home runs, 60 RBIs, an OPS of .616 and on OPS+ that's well below league average at 70.
However, the Angels still believe in Adell, and at Spring Training, general manager Perry Minasian confidently said that the 23-year-old will help the team win games this season.
"I believe sometimes we lose sight of how young of a player he is," Minasian said. "This is a young player. Sometimes it takes a little experience to find out who you are and how you do it, and what makes sense and how it works. I really believe the last two years are going to be very beneficial for him. I think he is going to help us win games at some point this year."
The 'at some point' part of the quote leads us to believe it won't be very early on in the season. But still, it proves that Adell hasn't completely fallen out of favor in Anaheim.
Manager Phil Nevin was also asked about Adell — someone he's spoke very highly of this offseason — and said he's put on 15 pounds of muscle, calling him a "beast."
While Adell won't start the year on the Opening Day roster, he'll get tons of experience playing everyday in Triple-A, and will likely be the first guy called up if anyone gets hurt. Then, he'll have a real chance to prove himself as an everyday major leaguer.
