The Angels made a couple changes to their 40-man roster on Tuesday. Los Angeles designated outfielder Jordyn Adams and infielder Eric Wagaman for assignment. That opens a pair of 40-man roster spots for infielder Matthew Lugo and left-hander Jack Dashwood, both of whom are now ineligible for next month’s Rule 5 Draft.
Adams, 25, is perhaps the most well-known of the group. He was the 17th overall pick in the 2018 draft. The Halos bet on his speed and power potential, but the bat hasn’t progressed as hoped. Adams has a middling .252/.333/.377 batting line over six minor league seasons. That includes a .261/.333/.386 showing across 549 Triple-A plate appearances this year. That’s well below-average production in the Pacific Coast League. Adams has appeared in 28 big league games over the last two seasons, hitting .176 with a near-36% strikeout rate in sporadic playing time.
Wagaman had a nice season in the upper minors. Selected out of the Yankees organization in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft, he hit .274/.339/.469 between Double-A and Triple-A. That earned Wagaman, an Orange County native, a cup of coffee with the Halos. He hit a pair of homers with a .250/.270/.403 slash in 18 games. As a 27-year-old rookie who has never had much prospect fanfare, he had an uphill battle to holding his 40-man roster spot all winter.
Lugo, 23, is a former second-round pick of the Red Sox. He went unselected in last year’s Rule 5 before a breakout showing in the minors. The Puerto Rico native hit .287/.376/.578 with 17 homers in 79 games between the top two minor league levels. He’s one of four players the Angels acquired in the deadline deal sending veteran reliever Luis GarcÃa to the Sox. Two others, Niko Kavadas and Ryan Zeferjahn, already made their MLB debuts late last season. Lugo could join them in Anaheim next year.
Dashwood, who turned 27 this week, was a 12th-round pick out of UC Santa Barbara in 2019. The 6’6″ southpaw spent most of this season on the minor league injured list. He ran a 15:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 10 innings at the Double-A level and punched out 17 batters in 10 frames during the Arizona Fall League. The Halos were concerned that another team would skip him past Triple-A and jump him to the majors, so they’ll give him a roster spot. He’ll probably open next year in the Triple-A bullpen.
Wonder if Adams will go try and play college football
dashwood??? not natera, kerry, jones, kerry, etc.???
Natera doesn’t need to be protected for the Rule 5
thank you, his age throws me off. meant to include erla and costieu instead of mentioning kerry twice.
Costieu I could MAYBE see a team taking and throwing in the pen, but he came back from TJ last year so, not sure a team would want to risk a roster spot on it.
Interesting choice to DFA Wagaman. I liked him.
he’s a cool local boy story, but he’s on the older side and doesn’t really play a position
Despite what he did for the team in his brief stay, he was a short-term solution. Granted, there was another player – pitcher – that should be cut, but for whatever reason the Angels have a thing for him.
I’m not sure what Suarez knows, but whatever it is, it’s kept him on a roster he no longer has any business hanging around on.
Maybe he’s Arte’s illegitimate kid? Maybe he knows where the evidence to the stadium scandal is stashed? Might he havee found the linchpin connection to Ippei’s bookie, and Arte was running the ring the whole time? I don’t understand it??? It has got to be more than baseball…
I count 6 guys I’d rather keep/protect over him!?!?!
I guess, he’s a pitcher, and we need those, sooo… Maybe that simple?
I liked Wagaman too, but he seems to be a AAA guy. It was nice he got to play for his hometown team, and he had some good games, but doesn’t seem to be a legitimate MLB player.
Another of Eppler’s athlete over ballplayer first round draft picks that didn’t turn into a ballplayer.
It was time with Adams.
Hopefully they can trade Adams for a young player in the lower minors.