Angels GM Perry Minasian discusses poor play: ‘We’re going to roll with what we have’

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ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Los Angeles Angels have won just four of their last 18 games. They entered the weekend with MLB’s lowest on-base percentage, second-highest strikeout rate, and a slew of very bad offensive numbers over their first 30 games.

General manager Perry Minasian sat down with reporters Friday to discuss his team’s poor play.

“I think teams go through stretches,” he said. “You know, teams go through stretches where they don’t swing the bat well. When you don’t swing the bat, you’re gonna have some numbers that aren’t flashy, right?

“But you can pick a six-game stretch, 10-game stretch, from anybody and point to certain times where, man, they’re really struggling, and offensively they haven’t scored.”

The issue for the Angels, however, is that the offensive struggles have gone far beyond six or 10 games. It’s been three full weeks of offensive futility, a slump plaguing nearly the entire roster.

Taylor Ward has a .602 OPS while hitting .183. Jo Adell is hitting .184, and his only two homers this season came in the same inning. Kyren Paris is 1-for-his-last-35 with 20 strikeouts. Luis Rengifo has a .570 OPS, and even the now-injured Mike Trout is well below the Mendoza line.

“We haven’t gotten on base, and we’ve struck out,” Minasian said. “We had some productive games early in the season where we swung the bat pretty good. I’m hoping we can revert back. I’m expecting to revert back to some of the things we did earlier in the year.

“These guys know that. I mean, the work has been good, the coaching has been good. It’s just execution, right?”

Minasian’s vote of confidence in the coaches is notable, as it indicates there are no imminent changes expected to the staff — particularly hitting coach Johnny Washington and offensive coordinator Tim Laker — both of whom are in their second season with the club.

The GM said he views coaching as being more impactful for younger players, and that more veteran players don’t rely on instruction as much.

“Now, if we had a group of young guys that were all struggling, it’s totally different, our young guys have actually played better than our veteran players to a certain extent, statistically,” Minasian said. “So we’re going to keep playing.”

Minasian was asked whether he needs to make acquisitions to the outfield — an area where organizational depth is undoubtedly an issue. The struggles of Ward, Adell and Paris, as well as the injury to Trout, have heightened the need.

But the fifth-year GM made it clear he wasn’t thinking about making any major additions.

“I’m not going off a month,” Minasian said. “We’re going to roll with what we have. And we’ll see where it goes.”

All of this leaves the Angels in a precarious spot, because, their message to fans all offseason was that they wanted to build a competitive roster. They believed they could improve on the 63-99 historically awful 2024.

But the Angels sit in last place, six games back of first. Their struggles don’t instill confidence that the organization has built a roster that will compete for the postseason. It’s early still. But the sample is getting larger — a fact that hasn’t been kind to the Angels.

So, does Minasian believe they can be competitive in 2025?

“You ask this question every time,” Minasian said.

It’s a question he declined to answer with any substance before the season started. And his answer Friday was similar to what it was then.

“We take it day by day,” he said. “We’ll try to win today’s game. We play 162 and see where we’re at in the end.”

Mike Trout, seen here with Jo Adell, left, said he feels better after suffering a bone bruise in his left knee Wednesday. (Jeffrey Becker / Imagn Images)

Mike Trout expresses optimism about quick return

Angels star outfielder Mike Trout was in a jovial mood Friday — a far cry from the understandably glum tenor of his normal injury interviews.

That’s because the Angels right fielder is optimistic his stint on the injured list will be brief, possibly even just the minimum 10 days.

“I feel a lot better,” Trout said. “(Thursday) I was pretty sore. But today, a lot, lot better.”

Trout suffered the bone bruise in his left knee Wednesday when he lunged onto first base, trying to beat out an infield single. He was out, and jokingly acknowledged he didn’t need to go all out on that play.

But the 33-year-old said that when he returns, he expects to be able to go all out.

The good news for Trout is that the MRI did not reveal any structural damage. He’ll take a few days off before ramping back up. It is the same knee on which he had two meniscus surgeries just last year. So there will be obvious concern about continuing chronic issues. But Trout indicated he didn’t anticipate that happening.

He does have an extensive history of taking longer to come back from injuries than was expected. Notably his calf strain in 2021 — when six to eight weeks turned into nearly five months. His hamate bone and meniscus tears also took longer than expected.

“No structural damage, and the progress of yesterday to today,” Trout said when asked why this situation feels different from the others. “The doc says don’t do anything for a couple days, and then back.”

The Angels need Trout back, not just for this season, but because he’s still under contract for five more very expensive years. The franchise’s most decorated player wants to be on the field and not continually answering questions about why he isn’t.

And though Trout is optimistic about a quick return, Minasian wasn’t willing to offer the same hopeful message.

“No idea,” when asked about his outfielder’s timeline. “Hopefully, it’s better sooner than later. Time frame-wise, I have no clue. Until he can start running, that’s probably a first threshold. We’ll know more once he starts running.”

(Top photo of Taylor Ward: Luke Hales / Getty Images)

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