Jake Cozart’s first taste of Angels’ organization life came with a postseason burst, and he made it count.
The 23-year-old catcher, who was part of the Jo Adell trade, turned in one of the best playoff runs in the minors after joining Double-A Rocket City. Ian Cundall of Baseball America ranked Cozart No. 11 among the top 15 MiLB postseason performers, a nod to production that doesn’t usually show up in a prospect’s regular-season stat line.
Cozart’s line in the Southern League playoffs was loud: .381/.381/.762. He went 8-for-21 with two doubles, two homers, five runs scored and six RBIs, and he hit safely in all five games he played. Two of those games were multi-hit efforts, including a three-hit outing that produced seven total bases.
The power jump was the real story. Cozart slugged a pair of home runs in the championship series as Rocket City won the Southern League title, but he was already swinging it well before that. He homered in the clinching game of the division series and then went deep again in the first game of the championship series.
That finishing kick matched what happened after he moved from the Cleveland Guardians system to the Angels’ affiliate. In Akron, he had an .714 OPS; in Rocket City, that number climbed to .831. The home-run spike stood out most: seven homers in 28 games after the trade, compared with 10 in 79 games before it.
Cozart wasn’t just bringing the thunder at the plate, either. He was Rocket City’s most impactful hitter during the run, and the coaching staff also liked the way he handled the pitching staff behind the plate.
For the Angels, that matters. Cozart arrived in the organization as a lesser-known piece, but he’s now No. 19 in the system, and catching remains a shaky spot in Anaheim. Fellow acquisition Moises Ballesteros didn’t exactly light the world on fire after coming over from the Chicago Cubs, either.
Cundall pointed to Cozart’s defense as a reason for optimism, saying it gives him a high ceiling. A debut could be in play at some point next season.
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