The Angels have reached a point that has felt a long time coming: there’s real reason to look forward instead of only looking back. A new era of spending has arrived with Stan Kroenke’s ownership, and that matters. So does the wave of talent that has come through the draft and trade deadline, giving the organization a farm system that finally looks like it can do its job.
Just as important, there are young players already on the field who are showing they belong. Reid Detmers, Zach Neto, Walbert Urena and others have given the Angels something they’ve needed for years - evidence that the future isn’t just theoretical.
The only real question now is which of those pieces stay in place and which get moved for something else. That decision will depend a lot on the direction the new front office wants to take.
If the Angels are serious about building the next contending group around young talent already in the system, these are the five players that make the most sense as the core.
Reid Detmers is the most obvious place to start. There’s no shortage of reasons another team would love to pry him away, especially with his value soaring during an astonishing second-half surge.
But trading him would also push the timeline back. The Angels have gone decades without a true ace, and the 27-year-old lefty now has two years of team control left.
With Kroenke’s deep pockets in play, the better move would be to lock him up long-term, even if the price has climbed from where it sat a few months ago.
Zach Neto belongs in that foundation too, even if his progress has looked a little flat at times. He posted a 117 wRC+ in both 2024 and 2025, and he’s sitting at 116 as of September 9.
That’s strong production, but there’s still a sense he hasn’t quite taken the next step. Even so, 3.5-plus WAR shortstops are hard to find, and Neto has come close enough to 30-30 that it would be a mistake to treat him like a finished product.
Whether he ends up as the lineup’s Batman or Robin, he’s too valuable to ignore at a premium position.
Walbert Urena’s rise has been one of the most startling developments of 2026. He began the year as a mid-tier prospect in a farm system that was widely considered one of the weakest in baseball, the kind of player who might not crack every club’s top 30.
Now he’s on track to become the first Angels starter since Jered Weaver in 2006 to finish a rookie season with an ERA below 2.90 and at least 100 strikeouts. At 22, there’s still plenty of room for growth, and paired with Detmers, he could give the Angels a legitimate pair of arms at the top of the rotation.
In the bullpen, Samy Natera Jr. has earned a place in the conversation as well. Left-handed relievers who miss bats at a high rate are valuable, and Natera Jr. has done exactly that.
Over 30 2/3 innings, the 26-year-old has put up a 37.9% strikeout rate, 1.1 fWAR, a 1.83 FIP and a 2.35 ERA. Among the Angels’ relief options, he stands out as the clearest building block.
Ben Joyce is part of that bullpen picture too, but his injury history makes him feel like a risk the club should consider moving for a haul before the next devastating setback.
The last name is the boldest one, but Wade Meckler fits the kind of roster that wins. He doesn’t bring much power, yet he makes contact, gets on base and handles himself well enough defensively while doing the smaller things that matter.
Claimed off waivers in January, Meckler has already become one of those players who can slip under the radar because he isn’t flashy. Even with a slugging percentage below .400, he owns a 120 wRC+ this season.
He runs the bases well, too. That’s the kind of steady, useful player good teams keep around, and the Angels should be one of them.
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Andrew Alvarez will oppose him for the Nationals, who have spent much of the year in a similar spot but have been able to inch back into the NL East race. The Angels, meanwhile, are still trying to shake off a frustrating pattern of falling into the same holes, and Urena's ability to keep that from happening again will go a long way toward determining whether this one feels like another missed opportunity or a step toward something better. [Read more 🡒]