What We Got Right - And Wrong - About the Angels During Spring Training

When a team is searching for the right formula to unlock a winner, a lot can change over the course of six weeks out in the Arizona desert. It is tough to predict exactly how the Opening Day roster will emerge, but that didn't stop us from trying. Well, considering this has been a one man show in 2026 it didn't stop me. I will own them all.

As camp wound down and roster decisions were made in quick order, the picture finally became pretty clear and I all but nailed the Opening Day lineup. But there were things I missed pretty badly as well. Let's run both down.

I got Walbert Urena, Adam Frazier, and the lack of rotation depth right.

Less than a week after taking over Angels On SI, I wrote a prospect profile piece on Walbert Urena that detailed his newly mastered two seam fastball and his rise through the Angels minor league system. In it I predicted the fireballer would get an invite to big league camp and could be on the MLB roster in short order.

He made the team faster than I figured but it was on the strength of his heater and by substantially reducing his walk rate.

Signed to a minor league deal just as camp opened, Adam Frazier went under the radar for the most part. However, I stated the battle for second base was not as open as it appeared and that Frazier had the inside track unless Christian Moore blew him away. Sure enough, Moore was sent to minor league camp as the team prepared to leave Tempe and Frazier is on the active roster.

I did not want to be right about the Angels rotation but when you are counting on guys who get injured as often as Grayson Rodriguez and Alek Manoah it is difficult to be wrong. Manoah really struggled even before getting hurt and that created a battle for one roster spot. But when Rodriguez went down with a dead arm as camp wound down that created two holes in the rotation.

The Angels lost 300 solid innings between Tyler Anderson and Kyle Hendricks. It would have been wise to add an outside arm to provide stability at the back end of the bullpen. The Angels did not and now have two unproven starters in Ryan Johnson and Jack Kochanowicz rounding out the rotation.

I missed on George Klassen, Jeimer Candelario, and the Opening Day bullpen.

I'm big on George Klassen. Bigger than I am even on Walbert Urena. Klassen is the top starting pitching prospect in the Angels system and he started off camp looking brilliant. So good I thought he would replace the struggling Manoah in the Opening Day rotation. Then the wheels fell off a bit, Klassen took some lumps, and was sent to the minors. But not before getting shelled by the Dodgers.

Take a look at any version of my Opening Day roster predictions and you will not see Jeimer Candelario mentioned. Limited defensively and coming off consecutive down years at the plate he was on the outside looking in. Then he slugged over .600 and forced his way onto the team.

To be fair, the bullpen was altered significantly over the last week or so of camp. Robert Stephenson was supposed to be ready until he was out for the year. And nobody saw Kirby Yates going on the IL. But still, I did not predict Urena would make the cut and I thought Ryan Zeferjahn would head to AAA.

I still believe in Klassen and predict he will arrive in Anaheim later this season. Hats off to Candelario for earning a job in camp. And once Yates is activated, Zeferjahn is the most likely candidate to go to AAA.

You better believe I will keep making educated predictions. Sometimes I will be right. Sometimes I will whiff. But I'll keep a decent accounting of each and own each one of them.