Angels prospects Christian Moore, George Klassen record career highs at Double-A

There was nothing trashy about these performances at Double-A.

The Angels’ No. 2 and No. 3 prospects — Christian Moore and George Klassen — entered the final Saturday for the Trash Pandas on similar footings. Moore — who last played Aug. 30 after suffering a left meniscus injury — looked to build off a torrid start to his pro career, while Klassen eyed a strong finish to his first full season.

The two did just that en route to an 8-0 shutout of Chattanooga at AT&T Field.

Klassen was most responsible for the zero in the Lookouts’ box score. The 22-year-old righty — who Los Angeles acquired in the Carlos Estévez deal at the Trade Deadline — twirled a perfect game through his first five innings in his seventh Double-A start, striking out a career-high 12 batters along the way.

The University of Minnesota product kickstarted his gem striking out the side in the first before collecting eight punchouts across the next four frames. It wasn’t until the sixth when a runner reached on a 10-pitch walk to open the frame.

“All the innings before it gave me all the confidence in the world like, ‘Hey, this guy’s bearing down. I’m going to bear down,'” Klassen said. “It’s just next pitch, next at-bat.”

Klassen got a flyout on the next pitch, retired the following batter on six pitches and fired his final strikeout to preserve a hitless appearance — a career-best outing in his 22nd start of his first professional season — but the Trash Pandas missed out on their third no-hitter in the past three seasons after a Daniel Vellojin single in the ninth.

“Those thoughts are there,” Klassen said about pitching a no-hitter. “But the biggest thing I’ve been working on for the past couple of weeks is just focusing on breathing. I’ve let the game speed up a little bit in the past couple of starts, and I’ve been really diligent like, ‘I’m going to take my time here.'”

The combination of a change of scenery, a new team and getting away from his game plan resulted in an inconsistent debut in the Angels system.

Building off his previous two outings and recent bullpens, Klassen generated 22 swings-and-misses, worked on his new changeup and impressed his designated hitter.

“That kid can have a really bright future,” Moore said. “He’s kind of like a [Caden] Dana, can definitely be in the league within a blink of an eye, could definitely dominate. … I’m so excited I don’t have to face him because I was looking at the TrackMan today like, ‘Jeez Louise, I’m so glad I’m not in the box against him.'”

On a similar note, Moore, MLB’s No. 75 overall prospect, got right back to his own game. In his first appearance in two weeks, the 2024 eighth overall pick poked a single over the second baseman’s head in the first inning for his first hit of September.

“I got jammed, so that didn’t feel too good on the hands,” Moore said. “Going into that at-bat, I wanted to see as many pitches as I can but also be aggressive.”

Moore didn’t stop there.

The Tennessee slugger singled again in the second, driving in a pair of runs for his first game with multiple RBIs since Aug. 9 and fifth this season. Moore added two more to his ledger in the fourth, when he connected on a double to center field to give him a career-high four RBIs.

It marked Moore’s fourth game this season with three or more hits — third at Double-A. The right-handed-hitting second baseman has recorded 11 multihit performances in 25 professional games.

“I’m just trying to do my job every day and help out this club and stack wins,” Moore said. “I think when you do that, obviously all the highs and performances like that can happen.”

In his first game back from injury, Moore had a slide into home, letting himself test his left knee. Progressing through the week, the infielder started off conservative before letting it eat over time, resulting in more explosive runs on the basepaths after a quick recovery.

“He’s a dude,” Klassen said. “He’s a guy you don’t want stepping in the box. He’ll get you your work every time, so it’s good having him on my team, good to see him play.”

Moore is slashing .347/.400/.584 in 25 professional games. In addition to his 72 games at Tennessee, the 21-year-old is approaching 100 games played for the first time in a single year, but with the Double-A regular season ending Sunday, Moore said he’ll know more in the coming days if he’ll be playing more games beyond this weekend.