Angels’ possible September callups 2024

This story was excerpted from Rhett Bollinger’s Angels Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

After a tough three-city road trip that saw the Angels go 2-8 in Kansas City, Toronto and Detroit, they were granted a reprieve with a win over the Tigers on Thursday and the announcement that two of their top pitching prospects will be called up to pitch against the Mariners this weekend.

Lefty Samuel Aldegheri, ranked as the club’s No. 8 prospect by MLB Pipeline, will be brought up to make his Major League debut in a start against Seattle on Friday, while right-hander Caden Dana, the club’s No. 1 prospect and the No. 73 overall prospect, will make his first career start on Sunday. It’s exciting news for the Angels, who have struggled over the last month after playing better baseball in June and July.

Both are interesting prospects: Dana is just 20 years old but he dominated at Double-A Rocket City with 2.52 ERA in 23 starts, while Aldegheri was acquired in the trade that sent Carlos Estévez to the Phillies at the Deadline and hails from Verona, Italy.

“They are two of our top guys down there, and with the way things are, they’re getting their chance,” manager Ron Washington said. “There’s nowhere else we can go. We’re going to have to see what they’ve got to offer. They’ve got good arms. They’re supposed to have a little bit of maturity. And we’re going to see all of those things in the next few days.”

Dana will be the first of the club’s September callups, as each team is allowed to go from a 26-man roster to a 28-man roster (14 pitcher limit) for the final month of the season. But here’s a look at some other Minor Leaguers who could get a look late this season, including the club’s No. 2 prospect Christian Moore, who was the No. 8 overall selection in this year’s Draft.

Moore got off to an absolutely incredible start to his Minor League career but has cooled off a bit recently, hitting .161 over his past seven games. His slash line at Double-A is strong at .301/.348/.518 with five homers, two stolen bases and 10 RBIs in 20 games, but he’ll need to get going again offensively to earn a callup. There’s certainly no rush to get him up to the big leagues after he was just drafted in July, but first baseman Nolan Schanuel was called up last year after just 40 days in the Minors and his experience in September was beneficial.

It’s been a trying year for Detmers, who was demoted to Triple-A on June 2 after a stretch of several rough starts and hasn’t been brought back up to the Majors. Detmers, though, has been pitching better recently, including allowing one run on two hits over six innings with nine strikeouts on Wednesday. He’s posted a 1.29 ERA with 29 strikeouts and seven walks in 21 innings over his past three starts. The Angels have said they wanted to see some consistency from him and he’s finally starting to show it, which should earn him a callup at some point soon.

Klassen, ranked as the club’s No. 3 prospect, was acquired alongside Aldegheri in the Estévez trade. Klassen has a big arm with a fastball that routinely can hit triple-digits and has worked to improve his command this season. But the 22-year-old has scuffled a bit since his promotion to Double-A Rocket City, posting a 7.98 ERA with 12 strikeouts and 15 walks over 14 2/3 innings. He’ll need to cut down on his walk rate to earn a promotion down the stretch.

Bachman has been getting stretched out at Triple-A Salt Lake but was scratched from his start for an undisclosed reason on Wednesday. It’s unclear how big of a setback it is for the first-round pick from the 2021 Draft, as he’s dealt with injuries and inconsistencies since joining the organization. But if he’s healthy, it could make sense to get him some innings in the Majors again to get some more experience heading into next season.