Angels Radio Trent Rush Talks Jose Soriano, Zach Neto, and More with Angels on SI

Angels fans are familiar with the sound of Trent Rush's voice from his pregame and postgame shows on the Angels flagship station KLAA AM 830.

Dec 3, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; FS1 play-by-play announcer Trent Rush during the game between the Washington Huskies and the UCLA Bruins at Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Angels fans are familiar with the sound of Trent Rush's voice from his pregame and postgame shows on the Angels flagship station KLAA AM 830. Being around the team every day gives Trent an inside perspective which he gladly shared with me.

Trent and I sat down to discuss Angels baseball Wednesday as the Angels game took place. Trent's passion for Angels baseball and fans is evident in this interview and on his shows.

Here is the first part of that discussion. I hope you enjoy it.

JJ: Trent Rush from Angels Radio AM 830. How are you doing today, Trent?

Trent: I'm doing great, man. Appreciate you having me. I'm just excited to talk a little Angels baseball and see if we can see this Halo team get back on track a little.

JJ: Yeah, that would be great to get back on track. The offense is just so hit and miss right now. I really think that is the result of leading the league in strikeouts. Do you see any hope for the strikeout problem going away?

Trent: Well it's been a three true outcomes kind of team. It's been the home runs, the walks, and the strikeouts. Now last year the Angels weren't walking. So, ok, you can live with the home runs and walks. Like, you can live with the strikeouts if you are going to homer with guys on base and the Angels did not do that last year.

This year they've been a little bit better than league average when it comes to the ratio of solo homers to homers with guys on. So if they're going to be that, then I think the strikeouts are OK. But I think we all would love to see this Angels team be able to put the ball in play more often, more regularly and have a more consistent offense. Because it has been just as inconsistent as you can possibly be when you're that reliant on the home run ball. It's really tough to win.

That's how we've seen a team that going into Wednesday the Angels are averaging 3 runs per game at home but 6 runs a game on the road. There's no way to sort that out with any kind of consistent play.

JJ: It is tough. And for readers of my site they know I'm going to die on this hill. I'm so ready to bring Nelson Rada up and put him at the top of the lineup, follow him with Nolan Schanuel, and get two guys who get on base in front of Mike Trout rather than having Nolan Schanuel hitting behind Mike Trout. Am I right or am I wrong?

Trent: No, I think there's something to be said for that and if you were to bring Rada up...like I don't know if Nelson Rada right away is set to be this crazy impactful hitter for you. I think it improves you defensively and he can hit, he'll grow into it. Let's also not forget he's only 20 years old.
So, give him a little bit of time.

But, yeah, you put him at the top of the order you can have a slot where maybe you slide Zach Neto down a spot. Not Neto's hitting 2 and you can have Trout hitting 3. I like it. I want Adell to hit in the top 4, maybe move Schanuel down even further than that. I know you want a left handed bat in there somewhere to kind of break that up but I think it does open up a lot of doors if you can have a true leadoff guy.

I give credit to Zach Neto. I think he's done a good job embracing the leadoff role a little bit better this year but by and large I don't see Neto on this team being like your prototypical leadoff guy. I think that he's someone that as he continues to mature with his bat is someone who can be a regular run producer for you along with being a run scorer.