The Angels are changing up the top of their order again, and Zach Neto is the one paying the price.
For Thursday’s game against the Baltimore Orioles, manager Kurt Suzuki is slotting Wade Meckler into the leadoff role and dropping Neto into the four spot. It’s a notable shift for a player who has spent the past week trying to answer the noise around him without saying much at all.
That noise never really stopped once the trade deadline got close. Neto’s name kept surfacing in conversations about possible moves, with the Boston Red Sox mentioned among the clubs that could have been in the mix. In the end, the deadline came and went, and Neto stayed in Anaheim while several major leaguers were sent out and prospects came back in.
The on-field numbers help explain why the Angels were willing to listen. Neto, 25, has slipped a bit from last season, hitting .228/.316/.419 with a .735 OPS. The sharpest drop has come in his power output, with his xSLG falling from .495 in 2025 to .395 this season.
Even with that step back, he still ranks near the top of the club’s value board. Neto’s 2.5 bWAR trails only Mike Trout, Reid Detmers, and Wilbert Urena on the Angels roster.
Asked about his future before Thursday’s game, Neto shut the door quickly.
“I’m not going to answer that,” he told reporter Rhett Bollinger before Thursday’s game.
It was a blunt response to a question that clearly hit a nerve. After being made available ahead of the deadline, Neto’s standing with the organization feels a lot less settled than it once did, even though he isn’t set to reach free agency until after the 2029 season.
For the moment, he’s still in the lineup and still important to what the Angels are doing. But the move down from leadoff and the silence around his future make one thing hard to miss: this situation is still worth watching.
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