The September 15th, 2014 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Hamilton making progress with shoulder, Thatcher activated from DL and much more…
The Story: Josh Hamilton finally showed some progress with his shoulder.
The Monkey Says: There is still no planned return date, but this is the first bit of good news they’ve had with Hamilton in days. Earlier in the weekend, all the talk was about “if” Hamilton would make it back. This at least provides a glimmer of hope that they could once again start talking about “when.”
The Story: Joe Thatcher was activated over the weekend.
The Monkey Says: And he pitched on Sunday. He’ll surely get some regular work over these final games to make sure he is not rusty when the playoffs start.
The Story: Mike Trout shows more power, but less speed.
The Monkey Says: Interesting insight as Scioscia continues to preach the party line that Trout isn’t running because opponents are focusing on him running too much. He insists it isn’t physical and that it isn’t tactical, though I still tend to think there is at least some tactical element to it all.
The Story: Mike Trout made history over the weekend.
The Monkey Says: Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
The Story: Hank Conger feels comfortable at the plate again.
The Monkey Says: That’s great, but I’m not about to believe that he’s fixed because he finally had an extra-base hit and is riding a whopping four-game hit streak. We’ve been down this road with Jeff Mathis where even the tiniest shred of offensive output makes people think that the guy is ready to finally breakthrough. He’s going to have to sustain it for some time before anyone should buy in.
The Story: Forcing a reason to worry about Mike Trout, again.
The Monkey Says: It isn’t really “worry” so much as just realizing he is human. The increase in balls up in the zone definitely is real. Even before I got to this part of the article, it is the reason that jumped to the front of my mind. Teams have clearly been making a concerted effort to pitch Trout up in the zone and found success. Sometimes the league just needs time to process all the information and actually translate it to an on-field directive. Now it is up to Trout to adjust to them.
The Story: Winning has silenced the rumors about Mike Scioscia’s future.
The Monkey Says: Last year though was probably the only season where I believe his job was actually on the line with Moreno. The fans can call for his head all they want, but Arte has stuck by Scioscia for a long time. If anything, this season probably bought Scioscia a few more seasons of unquestioned loyalty from Arte. From the fans? Well, let’s see what happens in the playoffs.
The Story: Is Mike Trout becoming Giancarlo Stanton?
The Monkey Says: I think there is a bit of Stanton becoming Trout, too. Giancarlo took a big step forward this year and closed that gap to the point of making this a worthwhile comparison.
The Story: Shawn O’Malley nearly quit baseball this last offseason before the Angels offered him a spring training invite.
The Monkey Says: He is a guy the organization seems to like, so don’t be surprised if he gets a long look at earning a bench job coming out of camp next spring.
The Story: A year in review for the Angels’ top 20 prospects.
The Monkey Says: To echo the last point of the article, their prospect lists at every publication are going to look wildly different next year. Filling out the list last year, it seemed like all they had were bats, a few bullpen arms and no starting pitching. Now, it has almost totally reversed.
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