The Angels didn’t have to wait long for Gavin Grahovac to flash the kind of pop that made him such an intriguing draft pick.
In his first pro action, the third-round selection out of Texas A&M turned heads fast enough to earn MLB Pipeline’s nod as the top-performing player from the Angels’ 2026 draft class. Grahovac made the jump to Single-A Rancho Cucamonga and immediately looked like a hitter built to do damage, batting .304 with eight home runs, five doubles, one triple and 18 RBIs in only 24 games.
The power came with plenty else, too. The 21-year-old also swiped 13 bases and posted a .402 on-base percentage, a .641 slugging percentage and a 1.043 OPS. He did all that in just 92 at-bats, a stretch that offered an early glimpse of the bat speed and impact that drew Los Angeles to him with the 81st overall pick in July.
Grahovac’s path to that draft slot had already included a serious detour. A torn labrum in his left shoulder limited him to six games in 2025 and required surgery after he had broken out as a freshman in 2024, when he set a Texas A&M freshman record with 23 home runs. He came back healthy in 2026 and answered with 22 home runs in his junior season, helping rebuild his stock in the eyes of MLB teams.
Baseball America noted that he also trimmed his strikeout rate to 16.5% while hitting .339 with a .722 slugging percentage. That blend of harder contact and more polish helped push him into the Angels’ plans, and the organization already listed him as its No. 10 prospect after the draft.
MLB Pipeline also assigned Grahovac a 60 power grade, a number that fit what he showed right away in the minors. Both of his home runs came in Rancho Cucamonga’s 5-3 win over Lake Elsinore, another sign that the raw power translated quickly once he got into professional games.
After only 24 games, Grahovac has given the Angels a strong first look at a bat they clearly believe can keep climbing.
In Other News...
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There is also a familiar feel to the way his development is unfolding inside the system, the kind of trajectory the Angels have seen before from another pitching prospect who climbed the ladder with a similar profile. Hurtado spoke in an exclusive interview about his workload and what he is trying to build toward, and that part of the story matters as much as the velocity because it points to the larger question the Angels now have to answer about how far they want to let this breakout go. [Read more 🡒]
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Angels Could Exploit One New Advantage To Fix Multiple Roster Holes
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For an Angels roster that has plenty of holes to patch, that strategy could make sense if the price is right and the front office is willing to take on money as much as talent. Gimenez would add infield help, while the pitching options would address a rotation that needs more stability, but the appeal of those names depends heavily on whether their clubs are motivated to move them and how much contract baggage the Angels would have to absorb. It is the kind of market that can change quickly, and the exact shape of the opportunity is still coming into focus. [Read more 🡒]