On Sunday, Los Angeles Angels manager Ron Washington made a lineup switch that put Jo Adell in the No. 4 hole behind Taylor Ward, Zach Neto and Kevin Pillar. It’s only the eighth time in his career that he’s started a game in that part of the order. In fact, he has only started above fifth in the order 14 times for his career.
But Washington wanted to try something different. He’ll likely be doing plenty of that in the final month of the regular season. The Angels are 23 games below .500 and have nothing to lose by experimenting and figuring out exactly what they have going into an important offseason.
Adell went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts batting fourth. Regardless of that result, though, Washington does not see this change as anything more than a one-time thing, according to Jeff Fletcher of The O.C. Register:
“Since we’ve been in Toronto, he’s had the best at-bats,” Washington said. “I just want him to continue to have the best at-bats, that’s it. I’m not looking for him to be a cleanup hitter. He’s got the power and all that stuff. I just want him to continue to have good at-bats.”
“Sometimes he’s late on the fastball with his tap,” Washington said. “He’s got to continue to work the sequence so he can catch up to some of those fastballs with consistency. It does well on offspeed, but he’s a little late on the fastball. It’s a work in progress, but there is a progression.”
Adell has shown steady improvement in 2024 from where he was in year’s past. It’s unclear at this stage if the Angels see him as a part of their future plans or not, but now is a good a time as any to find out for sure. If he can show the Angels something good in the final month, he might be worth bringing back in 2025 to help man the outfield.
Angels agree to contract extension with Perry Minasian
If Adell is going to be back with the Angels, the person that negotiates that deal will be the same person that has kept him around the organization for the last four seasons.
The Angels announced on Thursday that they have agreed to a two-year contract extension with general manager Perry Minasian that will keep him atop the Angels through the 2026 season.