Cade Marlowe has decided the Angels won’t be the path back to the majors.
The 29-year-old outfielder exercised the opt-out in his minor league contract and will become a free agent, according to Ari Alexander of 7News in Boston. Marlowe still had a month left in the 2026 season to push for a promotion, and with a solid .296/.370/.457 line in 23 games for Triple-A Salt Lake, he had at least given Anaheim something to consider.
But the opportunity apparently never felt real enough for Marlowe. With the Aug. 31 deadline looming for teams in the playoff race to add players and keep them eligible for October, he chose to move on rather than wait around.
The move also makes sense in the context of the Angels’ situation. They are 52-82 through Wednesday and already locked into an 11th straight losing season.
Even if Marlowe had stayed, the big-league outfield picture was crowded. Jose Siri, Mike Trout, Josh Lowe and Wade Meckler were all ahead of him, and the path got even narrower when Meckler sustained a concussion on Aug.
- In the last week, the Angels promoted catcher/outfielder Gustavo Campero and defensive specialist Bryce Teodosio before Marlowe.
Marlowe had signed with the Angels on July 21, just five days after the A’s released him from a minor league deal. His numbers dipped a bit after he went from Las Vegas to Salt Lake, but he still posted a strong .897 OPS over 104 games at Triple-A this year.
The left-handed hitter has spent plenty of time raking in the minors. In 2025, he hit .316/.401/.474 for Triple-A Tacoma and stole 12 bases in 15 attempts. He then elected free agency after that season and landed with the Angels on a minor league contract that included a major league camp invite.
Before his 2023 debut with Seattle, Marlowe was considered a fairly well-regarded prospect. He appeared in parts of two seasons with the Mariners, hitting .240/.330/.406 from 2023-24, but he has not appeared on a big league roster since.
This spring, he hit .306/.370/.490 and saw time at all three outfield spots. Now he’ll try to turn that showing into a quicker route back to the majors somewhere else.
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