Handicapping the Angels Second Base Position Battle

Christian Moore currently sits atop the Angels official depth chart at second base but his hold on the position is tenous at best. Moore is young, talented, and a recent first round draft pick but he's struggled to make consistent contact as a professional and will battle other young players who are longer on promise than results.

As camp opens, Moore will be holding off challenges from Vaugh Grissom, Oswald Peraza, and minor league signee Nick Madrigal. Perhaps even Kyren Paris gets a crack. The group is all younger than 28, all but Paris have been rated in the top 100 prospects at some point, and all have struggled at the highest level.

In short, second base is both the fiercest camp battle but also the least predictable, but let's try to set some odds anyway.

Grissom and Peraza have a big advantage.

Both Grissom and Peraza are out of minor league options and must make the 26 man active roster or be exposed to waivers. Given their youth, limited MLB experience, and prospect pedigree they are pretty likely to be claimed and leave the Angels organization. Considering the Angels can't harbor realistic October aspirations, keeping them in the fold while the team rebuilds has significant value.

Vaughn Grissom brings a lot of promise and quite a few question marks. After posting an impressive .291/.353/.440 line in 41 games as a rookie in 2022 he slashed .313/.347/.660 in 23 games the following year. The wheels came off following a trade to Boston but he did carry a very respectable .270/.342/.441 lin in AAA last season.

Oswald Peraza, like Grissom, was brought over via trade and is out of options. Like most top prospects, Peraza was developed as a shortstop and has the ability to cover multiple positions. He's been horrid at the plate at the MLB level and has a negative WAR.

Christian Moore has the draft pedigree but needs development.

The Angels love to rush prospects to The Show and Moore was playing in Anaheim long before he was truly ready last year. In the thin air of Salt Lake City he slashed .292/.370/.424 which looks incredible but down closer to sea level his numbers were .234/.342/.323 in AA. MLB pitchers feasted on him and struck him out over a third of the time.

Moore is likely atop the Angels depth chart simply by virtue of being the only true second baseman on the roster. Grissom has gotten the vast majority of his MLB reps at second base but he was drafted as a shortstop.

Could Moore make a significant leap in his sophomore season? Yes. He excelled at the highest level of college baseball and improved each year at that level. Moore's draft position gives him an inside edge for the job, but until he actually earns it in camp he's not guaranteed the spot.

Nick Madrigal has the most consisent MLB success of the bunch.

The above statement says as much about the Angels current options as it does about Nick Madrigal. His career wRC+ of 88 is not far off the league average of 93 for the position. He put up a 1.3 bWAR season in 2023 while playing 92 games for the Cubs that season. Extrapolate that out over a normal starter workload of 140-150 games and Madrigal is a 2 WAR player.

His career slash line of .274/.323/.344 is severely lacking in power but decent in average and getting on base. Madrigal was brutal at the plate to start off 2024 and was sent to the minors. He broke his shoulder last year in Cubs camp and missed the entire season then was cut loose.

So who is the Angels Opening Day second baseman?

The team would clearly love for Moore to show up in camp and seize the position. But asking a player to go from the college game to full time MLB starter with only one year of development is an extremely big ask. For Moore, I think it is either MLB or down to the minor leagues and I'd bet on the latter.

Madrigal is a veteran who should also get plenty of looks. His inclusion in camp is like having a safety school in mind in case your preferred option doesn't work out. For him to earn the job he'll need to be so good he justifies a move on the 26 man roster. That's tough to do.

Peraza isn't a real second baseman. He's in camp to cover the half of the season Yoan Moncada will miss at third base and occassionally take first base for Nolan Schanuel. He might be the Opening Day starter at third base, but not second.

Which leaves Vaughn Grissom as the favorite in my book. He's coming off a really good year in AAA, cost the Angels some draft capital, and can move back to a utility role if Moore kicks down the door from AAA.

I don't bet often, but if I had to set the line it would look like this:

Grissom 3/2

Madrigal 3/1

Moore 5/1

Peraza 8/1

Pick your horse and tune in to see how the race plays out.