Logan O’Hoppe is a foundational piece of the future for the Los Angeles Angels. He is coming off of his first full-length season, playing 136 games and finishing with a .712 OPS. And a wholistic view of his season would tell that story and explain why general manager Perry Minasian and owner Arte Moreno want to build in part around him.
But a closer look tells a tale of an uneven campaign for O’Hoppe, including a multi-week slump that he struggled to work through. In 21 games from Aug. 7-31, O’Hoppe batted .079 with a .267 OPS. He struck out in nearly half (48.1%) of his plate appearances.
And while he eventually broke through and finished the season on a stronger note, doubt started to creep in for the young catcher during the August slump, according to Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com:
“Part of what I was thinking during that tough month and a half, whatever it was, was me wondering if it’s still in there,” O’Hoppe said. “You get in the mix, and you’re just like, ‘Man, I’m not feeling or doing the same things I was.’ I’m gonna work to have a long career ahead of me. But when you’re in the moment, it’s tough to see that. But I’m happy and I finally got back to feeling like myself.”
Manager Ron Washington wanted O’Hoppe to take a look at the bigger picture of his 2024 season instead of focusing on the short slump.
“He’s very confident in what he’s doing and [with] what he brings to the table,” Washington said. “But being young, I think he just got into his feelings. But you have to look at the big picture and he posted. And then you move on from there.”
The Angels need O’Hoppe to move past his slump, and he already showed that he can. He batted .266 with a .791 OPS in September and now has a good foundation to build on for his second full-length campaign.
Angels have two Gold Glove finalists
Angels starting pitcher Griffin Canning and right fielder Jo Adell have been named as finalists for the 2024 Rawlings Gold Glove Award at their respective positions. The Gold Glove Award recognizes the best defensive players at each of the nine positions, plus a utility spot, in each league for the season.
Winners and finalists are determined through two means. The first is a voting pool from the 30 MLB managers and up to six coaches per team. These managers and coaches are not allowed to vote for players on their own team, and this makes up 75% of the final voting tally.
The other 25% is purely based on the SABR Defensive Index. Winners for this year’s Gold Glove Awards are slated to be announced on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight on Sunday, Nov. 3 at 5:30 p.m. PT.