Taylor Ward hits grand slam in Angels win over Athletics

ANAHEIM — With the Angels out of contention and sellers ahead of Tuesday’s 3 p.m. PT Trade Deadline, outfielder Taylor Ward has heard his name bandied about in potential trade rumors.

But Ward has done his best to block out the outside noise and has been displaying signs of snapping out of a lengthy funk. He delivered hugely on Sunday, crushing a go-ahead grand slam to help the Angels erase an early six-run deficit in an 8-6 win over the A’s in the series finale at Angel Stadium.

Ward, who remains under team control through 2026, leads the team with 16 homers and 51 RBIs in 103 games, so he’s drawn interest from contenders.

Ward has started to heat up offensively over the last week, and it was a welcome sign on Friday when he connected on his first homer since June 25, snapping a stretch of 24 straight games without going deep. He kept it going by coming through in a critical situation on Sunday with the bases loaded, two outs and the Angels down by three runs, driving in a 1-2 slider over the left-field fence for his fourth career grand slam. It was the fourth grand slam of the year for the Angels, and their first go-ahead grand slam when down by three runs since Mike Trout did it against the Twins on Sept. 17, 2015.

Ward has endured a bit of a rollercoaster of a season. He started strong, much like in 2022, only to struggle in June and July. Things seemed to go south after he was hit on the helmet by a pitch from Detroit’s Shelby Miller on June 30. It appeared to take him a while to get over that mental hurdle because he suffered multiple facial fractures after being hit in the face by a pitch by Toronto’s Alek Manoah last year on July 29, ending Ward’s season.

Ward, 30, is hitting .227/.309/.401 with 16 homers, 18 doubles and 51 RBIs in 103 games, which is down a bit from his breakout year in 2022 and even last year. He slashed .281/.360/.473 in 135 games in ’22 and .253/.335/.421 in 97 games in ‘23. His defense has also graded out worse, especially his left-field throwing.

That’s why Ward might not be traded ahead of Tuesday’s Trade Deadline. His value has dropped since his solid start to the year, and the Angels could look to reevaluate things with Ward in the offseason. They’re not in any rush to move him because he remains arbitration-eligible next season and in ’26. But they’d love to see him finish the season strong and build on his recent success at the plate.