The Angels announced today that they have selected the contract of outfielder Willie Calhoun. He will take the roster spot of infield Miguel Sanó, who has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to April 28. Sanó hasn’t been playing lately due to inflammation in his left knee. To open a 40-man spot for Calhoun, right-hander Zac Kristofak was designated for assignment. Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reported that Calhoun was with the team prior to the official announcement.
Calhoun, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Angels in the offseason. He has taken 110 plate appearances in Triple-A this year, having hit .268/.345/.361. In the inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League, that translates to a wRC+ of 80.
He was once a top prospect, as he dominated Triple-A pitching a few years back. From 2017 to 2019, he hit .297/.365/.509 at that level for a 122 wRC+ and seemed destined to carve out a big role in the majors. But he’s managed to hit just .240/.300/.404 in over a thousand plate appearances in the big leagues, 84 wRC+, bouncing from the Rangers to the Giants and Yankees.
He’ll now return to the bigs to give another outfield option to an Angels club that just lost Mike Trout for a few weeks, as he requires surgery for a torn meniscus. The club added Kevin Pillar yesterday and now Calhoun will give them yet another option to roam the grass. Jo Adell and Taylor Ward should have regular roles in the corners while Pillar and Mickey Moniak could share center field. The club doesn’t have a regular designated hitter, so there could be some extra at-bats there. Calhoun could spell Ward or Adell in a corner at times as they fill the DH slot.
Sanó had been covering third base with Anthony Rendon on the injured list but now he follows Rendon to the IL. That perhaps leaves Luis Rengifo at the hot corner and Brandon Drury at second. Cole Tucker and Ehire Adrianza are on the roster as multi-positional backups for the infield and the outfield, though Calhoun’s addition perhaps allows them to focus on the former. Again, the DH spot could provide extra plate appearances to anyone in this group.
Kristofak, 26, was just added to the Angels’ roster on Sunday. He made one appearances of two scoreless innings and then was optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake the next day. The Angels will now have one week to trade him or pass him through waivers.
He has been pitching in a swing role in the minors over the past few years. From the start of 2022 to the present, he’s appeared in 56 games, 18 of those being starts. In his 124 1/3 innings, he has a 3.84 earned run average, 19.9% strikeout rate and 7.9% walk rate.
Sano with a massive 38% SO rate; who could have saw that coming?
Ron Washington really meant it when this org is lacking in personnel. Starting from ownership down to the Front Office and player ops, there is some so much incompetency built into every facet of this org.
Minasian started his career as a clubhouse attendant, a job he got because his father was a clubhouse attendant. Zero playing experience and no educational background in management or scouting but somehow got a few scouting jobs and here we are now.
It’s funny here in Pittsburgh every educated front office guy is an idiot because they don’t immediately cut guys after their first 0-4 night and act as if the GM enjoys spending $3M on band aids vs paying the market rate for top talent.
“Minasian started his career”…Why do so many people try to put this on Minasian?…The Angels have struggled under GMs Dipoto, Eppler and Minasian so we know who the real problem is. It’s Moreno and they can change managers every year and the real problem remains.
Dear Mr Moreno
you haven’t hired one general manager with at least one year GM experience under their belt i’ve been an Angels fan for 55 years I been trading baseball cards and playing baseball video games 55 years mr. Moreno, how about giving me a crack at the general manager position
MY RESUME
Topps baseball cards, Don Ross fleer baseball cards,stadium club cards,
Ken Griffey Junior slugfest
Mike Piazza strike zone
Triple play 2000
MLB 8
MLB 12
Sincerely, Johnny bravo
55years…did you play Atari Baseball? That game was a mess.
Are you taking about the first-party game “Home Run” or perhaps Real Sports Baseball, which was far better? Home Run was interesting for sure. I believe you had a batter, pitcher, and 2 guys in the field. Near impossible to get a guy out by anything other than a force at second or a strikeout if I am remembering.
Yes absolutely my first component was an Atari then move to the Genesis
This has been a constant the last ten years. I feel bad for Wash, he is in for a 100 loss seasons for the next several years. Arte has no clue how to develop a winning organization. There is no talent in the top two levels of the minor leagues. Player development is nonexistent.
@trout seems like Washington wanted to manage again before he retired, and the angels were the only option.
I remembered him as a Ranger. He was very selfish and lazy. Good riddance!
So how is it that you, a fan with no knowledge of what goes on in the dugout, clubhouse or training facilities, can make the determination that a player is “selfish and lazy”? Do you not think that it takes a certain amount of effort and hard work to make it to the top 750 people in the world in your profession and then make it again and again with four different organizations? Is there any factual basis for your name-calling or you simply mouthing off based on your personal prejudices?
Calhoun said out loud what many players were whispering: that the Rangers organization lacked professionals to develop players. Bravo to him.
“Calhoun said out loud…Rangers organization lacked professionals to develop players”…And yet the Texas Rangers have an excellent offense and seemingly have developed several plus hitters the last few years. Willie Calhoun hasn’t “developed” thru several years and several organizations and it’s always easier to blame others than it is to look in the mirror and take some accountability for your lack of results. Looking at his pudgy, softish body type, it doesn’t appear that Willie Calhoun spends a lot of time on conditioning, weight lifting, diet or cardio. And exactly what are your sources of what any Major League player is “whispering”?
They signed FA that improved their hitting after years of failure at developing prospects. They have also since made major adjustments to their system.
Please tell about the plus hitters they’ve developed. Josh Jung is one. Name another. Heim? Orioles. Garcia? St. Louis. Lowe? TB. Everyone else is to be determined.
“About the plus hitters they’ve”..They just won the World Series first God’s sake. What else could you possibly need to know beyond that?…And clearly, you’ve never heard of a guy named Adolis Garcia, have you?…I could go on, but for Chriminey’s sake, they just won the World Series.
He made it to the Majors and didn’t even do much to hone his craft. He thought anything could happen to him, and there were reports of him asking to eat cheeseburgers every day.
He was lucky to make it to the Majors and was given the chance to stay and help develop his synergy with his teammates and build his potential. It was his decision not to. If he decides to go away from these misgivings, then I would stop my disliking of him.
Reports of cheeseburgers? Cmon. I know it’s hard for a black player to make it in baseball, but please try harder to craft propaganda that truly hits at the heart of your prejudices. Either way, no one cares about your misgivings.
If we don’t agree, then that’s alright by me. I don’t really see a need to prolong this discussion any longer anyways.
Amen, the Rangers are the bomb!!!! He was the same with the Dodgers, their short GM that drafted him with the Dodgers said Willie was at best a DH and knew he would never be a star. The Dodgers used him as the center piece to get Darvish, and the cheating Astros stole the 2017 World Series. Good riddance to both of them. Enjoy Angels!!!!
Calhoun has a great swing but no defense, no speed and poor baserunning.
So.. DH?
May have to debate the “great swing”.
Look him and you’ll see he has an effortless swing and great follow through. He mashed in the minors but can’t hit a breaking ball and scout just feast on that.
You know things are going sideways for your season when Willie Calhoun is getting the call-up. I feel your pain on this one, Angels fans.
“Things are going sideways”…Calhoun hasn’t been a legitimate prospect for going on a few years now. He’s a horrible defender with a less than marginal hitting upside. The Angels would be better served to give those at bats to someone with a real chance to remain in MLB.
MLB Fan….The flip side to that argument is why start using club options on players who may not be quite ready. Adell is a great example. He needed a few more years to mature and grow as a player. Hindsight … maybe the Angels stunted his growth as a player by bringing him up too early.
So bringing up vets who on what looks to be a lost season in not necessarily bad. I feel the Angels need to give the kids already on the 25 man roster every at bat possible. But bringing up more kids to bring up more kids may not be the answer.
Glad to see Kristofak got to throw some darts from a big league mound, even if only once. Hoping he gets more chances.
Really tough going from the high of a first promotion to being DFA’d in a few days.
That dude will barely feel it, he’s been through some serious shizz
Couldn’t agree more. Really enjoyed watching him at High A Tri Cities.
When Willow Calhoun shows up, your season is over.
“Big Bang” Willie!
Maybe they can pick up Jake Bauers too when he’s shortly cut by the Brewers. Hicks goes out, in comes Calhoun and Bauers!
Don’t forget Franchy. They’ll have to pry McKinney from PIT.
Welcome to the Willie Calhoun experience!
A little bit of coaching turned Adell around. Hopefully, coaches can heat up the batters. On the other hand, pitching is getting worse everyday.
Adell has 3 Ks today and is 0-4.
What team has a worse future than the Angels? Rockies maybe
The Angels future actually looks decent because all of the young kids are getting experience.
The problem is that this team sucks NOW.
How are the Athletics not mentioned? Seriously? The Angels are at least trying, even if they’re doing a poor job.. the A’s ownership doesn’t even care.
White Sox. No major league talent no minor league talent and the owner won’t spend any money.
Go Willie!
I am happy for him. I watched him play in college. Always had a smile on his face and was very polite to me.
I know I am on dingy in this ocean of negativity, but I am happy for Willie. I wish him great success.
I remember him getting his face broken while with the Rangers. He never seemed to recover from that. Hopefully a change of scenery and reuniting with Wash can turn things around.
Maybe starting off May with another team meeting will fix things. We had at least 6 in April.
It’s funny how when Trout goes out they say it’ll give Moniak and Adell regular playing time. So what do they do? They grab 2 more OFers! Coming off the Marsh article where he was saying he never seemed happy with the usual OF logjam platoon in Anaheim. I don’t know anything about Calhoun but to label him as “another option” or “depth” seems misleading.
Yankees legend Willie Calhoun.
Kristofak is the player whose father murdered his mother when he was young. Sad story in The Athletic a couple days ago…..
Here’s some good news. I think (and MLB’s official site agrees) Artie is getting ready to sell this off season. The evidence is clear: He is cutting corners in every part of the program. Look at the roster. He could have kept Shohai and didn’t, He’s eliminated radio broadcasters for doing road games, didn’t go for any of the high profile pitchers (look at the staff now), I say bring on Mark Cuban. Things will change.
The mlb doesn’t want Cuban, also he wants to build a casino/hotel I believe that’s why he sold the mavericks.
For the record, 3/4 with a double and a run scored. Keep it up, Willie.