The Angels announced that infielder Luis Rengifo has been placed on the 10-day injured list (retroactive to July 4) due to inflammation in his right wrist. In corresponding moves, the Halos selected the contract of infielder Keston Hiura from Triple-A, and moved right-hander Andrew Wantz to the 60-day injured list.
Rengifo was removed from Wednesday’s game after appearing to injure himself on a swing. Per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register on X, the club said he had some wrist soreness and would be going for imaging. The X-rays found no break, per Fletcher on X yesterday, but it seems the inflammation and soreness are enough that the club will put him on the shelf for at least a little while.
How he progresses in the coming weeks will be an interesting situation to monitor as he is one of the most straightforward trade candidates this summer. The Angels are 36-50 and one of the few clear sellers this year. Rengifo has just one year of club control beyond this one, making $4.4MM here in 2024 with another pass through arbitration upcoming. The Halos are considered to have a poor farm system, making it unlikely that they will return to contention by next year.
He was a solid contributor for the Halos in the previous two seasons but has seemingly taken a step forward here this year. He slashed .264/.315/.436 over 2022 and 2023, with that production translating to a 108 wRC+. Here in 2024, he currently sports a line of .315/.358/.442 and a 127 wRC+.
At least some of that is probably luck, as Rengifo had a .289 batting average on balls in play in the 2022-23 period but is up to .349 this year. But it’s still his third straight season of producing above-average offense. He also provides plenty of defensive versatility, having played all three outfield spots and the three infield positions to the left of first base. He’s not considered an especially strong defender anywhere, but the versatility is still attractive to clubs. He’s also added a base-stealing component to his game with 22 swipes this year, more than the 18 he had in his entire career coming into this season.
Those on-field contributions, as well as his salary and extra year of club control, will make him very attractive if he’s healthy. The trade deadline is on July 30, so he has lots of time if this is just a minor issue. But if he suffers any sort of setback, the Angels might miss their window to capitalize on his trade value. Injured players can still be traded but it’s rare that they actually happen as the offers usually get dropped to reflect the uncertain health status.
In the meantime, the Angels will have to cobble a lineup together without Rengifo. He has mostly been playing second and third base this year, with Anthony Rendon, Miguel Sano and Brandon Drury all spending time on the injured list. Rendon is still on the IL but Sano and Drury are healthy now and likely to play third and second base, respectively. Luis Guillorme is around as a bench infielder.
Hiura, 27, signed a minor league deal with the Angels just a few weeks ago after being released by the Tigers. He reported to Triple-A Salt Lake and has been on an absurd tear since, hitting 12 home runs in 19 games for a line of .360/.429/.853.
But hitting home runs has never been the problem for Hiura. He has always put the ball over the fence but has also been struck out in huge numbers at the same time. In over a thousand plate appearances in the majors, he has 50 long balls but a 36% strikeout rate. Even while going on that insane speed run with the Bees in the past few weeks, he’s been punched out 28.1% of the time.
For the Halos, there’s little harm in bringing him up to see if they can catch lightning in a bottle. They have been using Willie Calhoun as their primary designated hitter for the past two months. He has a passable line of .273/.337/.391 in 178 plate appearances this year but with just two homers, not the kind of pop that clubs usually hope to get from their DH. Hiura is in the DH spot today with Calhoun on the bench.
The Angels might also be tempted to put Hiura at second base sometimes, as that’s where he played when he first came up as a prospect. But his glovework was considered poor and he has spent more time at first base in recent years. But he did still get a bit of time at the keystone while in Salt Lake, so it’s perhaps not off the table. Nolan Schanuel is having a subpar year at first, hitting .239/.309/.352, and has almost no minor league experience. The club shot him to the majors last year after just 22 games on the farm as they were trying to stay in the playoff race, skipping him over Triple-A entirely. If Hiura is hitting well, perhaps a stint in the minors for Schanuel isn’t out of the question either.
If things don’t go well with Hiura, he is out of options and will have to be removed from the 40-man to be nudged off the active roster. But if things click, he can theoretically be retained for three arbitration seasons beyond this one.
As for Wantz, he was just placed on the 15-day injured list a few days ago with right elbow inflammation. His status is still unclear but the fact that he has been quickly transferred to the 60-day IL is ominous. He’ll now be ineligible to be reinstated until early September.
Get ready for 3 strikeouts a game
SBRKTT
I’ll take the under for a guy who has been a slightly better than league average hitter for his career. (106 wRC+)
Let’s hope he works out for them
As an Angels fan, I’m used to that with Moniak and Adell.
and how does that make him different from 98% of the hitters in MLB?
^^ This.
I miss contact hitting and a whole lot of other aspects of the game we enjoyed before launch angles and exit velocities became the thing.
And the strikeouts are afainst pitchers that can’t throw strikes
I miss it as well, but we’ll never have that game again.
Probably so, though as the war of numbers goes on and teams look for new edges maybe the players who can slap a ball over an infielder’s head and run bases will prove to be statically useful again. Wishful thinking, I know.
The Angels are the most elite team at getting in their own way. Its wild.
One step closer to fielding an all DFA lineup
Huira has been torching AAA. Let’s see how much that translates to the majors. If he’s figured it out, that will be a big help for 2025 and beyond.
Rengifo is a good player, but health has always been an issue. He can’t play more than a month straight without getting hurt. And its frequently something like this. He doesn’t really break things, rather he misses 2 weeks for an illness, or now likely a month for inflammation.
Has rengifo played his last game for the angels?
And I’m afraid this means he hasn’t. Meaning he might not be traded.
The window for trading Anderson and Rengifo is closing. I hope Minasian doesn’t let the window close for trading Estevez, but Minasian is not the sharpest knife in the drawer, so I don’t have a lot of faith.
It would be an angels (or I should say Moreno) thing to do to keep them and trade their very few low end prospects for middling big leaguers past their prime
@halo11fan he has been passable at 3rd like you suggested. it could be because they moved him everywhere, and he needs a permanent spot. He definitely makes a gold glove play followed by a wtf was that it’s kind of like adell’s baserunning. He’s frustrating but his value might be at his highest hopefully he comes back before the deadline.
He has been passable at third. Like Spiezio was passable at first. There is nothing wrong with his hands or arm. It’s his feet that are bad.
He’s minus three pouts above average at third.
I don’t think Perry is trading anyone under team control through next year. Meaning, I expect Estevez, Pillar, Drury and Strickland to be shipped but Tyler Anderson, Rengifo, and Ward to remain.
@orange Anderson needs to be shipped out they can get a pitcher in free agency for around the same price, they need prospects, estevez is probably the other one that can something decent after Anderson.you can argue with ward and rengifo being on the fence I say move rengifo with his value being high. Ward has fallen off might be worth keeping since his value has taken a hit.
I don’t disagree. But I wouldn’t be surprised if Perry decided to hold on to players that could help the team win next season. Perry’s logic might easily be that he can still trade them next season if/when they’re out of the race.
I’m not a huge fan of Rengifo. It’s true that he can hit and has steadily improved but his defense has been shakey. On a team with subpar pitching, that typically means more pain than gain. That’strue of the Angels. On a team with elite pitching, he could fit nicely. 22 stolen based, a good OBA and a 315 average is nothing to scoff at and he could be a difference maker offensively. You just have to be realistic here though, he could also be a difference maker on defense, just not necessarily the way that you might hope. He has been improving though so there’s that.
This latest incarnation of Rengifo reminds me of Johnny Ray.
Ray was so bad defensively they tried him in LF. He was able to hit 300. Didn’t walk, didn’t strike out, didn’t hit for power.
Fun to watch, but didn’t do a lot to help you win.
I couldn’t agree with you more. Good comparison.
FREE KEST
Teams will line up for a guy that has 22 SBs, is a switch hitter, plays six defensive positions and has 2+ years of proven production including a current wRC+ of 127. Rengifo’s slashline from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024 is among the best in MLB. Some Angels fans don’t appreciate Rengifo, but 29 GMs see his value.
Will they line up? Teams are smarter now. Typically teams are not that thrilled with an infielder with little power, below average speed, a 2% stat cast range factor , a 6 percentile barrel rate, a 20 percentile hard hit rate, and a 10 percentile BB rate, even if he does steal bases and bats 300..
But I hope I’m wrong and I hope the Angels trade him.
Agree to disagree, but it’s worth noting the “below average speed” guy is tied with Bobby Witt with 22 SBs and the “little power infielder” is slugging alongside Lindor and Schwarber. I believe GMs value switch hitters with speed, defensive versatility and proven production (127 wRC+). Maybe I’m wrong.
I never get upset when people have reasonable takes that differ with me.
Rengifo has 22SBs and is hitting 300. I’m not going to disrespect anyone who looks at that and is both optimistic and impressed.
I try to go a little deeper, but what is on the surface is impressive.
Rengifo was on 20 HR pace the last 2 seasons. For a middle infielder that’s OK power.
Biggest knock on Rengifo for me is the plate discipline. If he drew more walks he’d be a quite valuable utility player. His glove obviously leaves a lot to be desired, but he’s adequate to fill in holes and provide value to a teams lineup.
A healthy Rengifo has value to any team. He can play 3 IF spots and provide value in a lineup, that’s very useful for any team and is good utilization of a roster spot.
Tigers, that’s why I said the latest incarnation of Rengifo.
The Angels last three managers – Maddon, Nevin and Washington – with 100+ years of MLB experience, were impressed enough with Rengifo’s numbers to play him everyday. Just for fun, why don’t you check out Rengifo’s slashline from July 1, 2023 to June 30 2024.
@angels nl. Where’s maddon and Nevin now? I can’t argue with you about his hitting, but you can’t defend his defense double pun. I will say it’s better this year but still awful doesn’t matter if he wasn’t charged a error, he has extended innings and cost pitchers 3-4 runs with his gaffes. Washington was benching him early in the season until injuries forced his hand.
The Angels unlocked Hiura at AAA. 12 of his 27 hits were homeruns????