The Angels are going to designate first baseman/outfielder Willie Calhoun for assignment, according to Alden González of ESPN on X. Infielder/outfielder Jack López is being called up, per Jorge Castillo of ESPN on X.
Calhoun, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Angels in the offseason and was selected to the big league roster on the first day of May. Since then, he has stepped to the plate 254 times in 68 games. His 9.1% walk rate in that time is solid and he’s done a great job of avoiding strikeouts, just a 12.2% rate, but hasn’t done much damage. He has five home runs and his .245/.315/.380 batting line translates to a 94 wRC+. His .263 batting average on balls in play is below league average, but he’s one of the slowest runners in the league and he has subpar metrics in terms of exit velocity, barrel rate and hard hit rate.
That has generally been the recipe with Calhoun. Although he was once one of the top prospects in the league and had a 21-home run season in 2019, that was the juiced-ball season and he’s been far less impactful since then. He has 857 plate appearances from 2020 to the present with an 8.4% walk rate and 12.8% strikeout rate but just 18 home runs, a .231/.299/.360 batting line and 82 wRC+.
Calhoun isn’t a burner on the basepaths, as mentioned, and isn’t considered a strong defender. It was once thought that he could make up for those shortcomings with his hit tool but he hasn’t provided enough thump for that to be the case thus far. He exhausted his final option in 2022, which has led to him bouncing around the league in recent years, spending time with the Rangers, Giants, Yankees and Angels. With the trade deadline now passed, the Halos will have no choice but to put Calhoun on waivers in the coming days.
López, 31, signed a minor league deal with the Halos in the offseason. He has played 104 Triple-A games this year, hitting 12 home runs and slashing .274/.333/.421 for a wRC+ of 86 in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.
There’s not much in his track record to suggest he’ll provide much more than that. He first reached Triple-A in 2017 and has played 687 minor league games from that year to the present. In that time, he has a .256/.306/.386 batting line and 77 wRC+. His major league experience consists of seven games with the 2021 Red Sox and he hit .154/.214/.308 in those.
However, he has regularly provided double-digit steals during his minor league career, including 15 so far this year. He’s…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at MLB Trade Rumors…