Christian Moore sat down for a physical just prior to his freshman year at the University of Tennessee when the physician noted something that would change the course of the young infielder’s career.
(Conversation paraphrased by Moore on Sunday afternoon)
"Cover your left eye," the physician asked while pointing to an eye chart. "Read as much as you can."
"A. E. D," Moore responded.
"That's all you can see?
"Pretty much. I mean, I can't really see much."
"Try the other eye."
Same result
"Dude, you're blind."
"Huh?"
"How are you here right now? How are you a hitter in the SEC and you can't see?"
Moore shrugged.
"I don't know. I just swing at a white thing coming at my face. I don't know."
The incoming freshman struggled to see and was given contact lenses.
"The first two weeks of having contact was horrible because my depth perception was off," Moore noted. "My timing was off. The ball seemed so big, but I was swinging-and-missing because of how everything fell and how it looked."
The adjustment was quick for Moore, who despite the early struggles with contacts, ended his college career with three consecutive seasons of batting .300 with an OPS over 1.0, and a Tennessee school record 61 home runs.
His career ended on the highest of notes, becoming just the second player in Divison-1 history to hit for a cycle in a College World Series game (Jerry Kindall, Minnesota, 1956) while helping the Volunteers to their first College World Series title.
"It was obviously a once in a lifetime opportunity for me," Moore said of his National Championship victory. "My teammates, my coaches. We worked so hard in the fall and over the course of two years on how to be the best team. How to get over the hump. It was so special. You could just see us persevere. With the coaching staff we have, and the guys in the locker room, it was really easy to do that. How well we all bonded and clicked together. It took a lot of hard work. A lot of hard days and a lot of talking. Trying to get everybody on the same page. I would do it 100 times over again to have that same feeling and to win a national championship."
Moore added the title, "First-round pick," to his already illustrious baseball career after the Angels selected him eighth overall in the 2024 MLB Draft.
While the young man took the stage to drape an Angels uniform over his white dress shirt and "CM" necklace, his college coach held his hand over his mouth to hide a smile.
Tony Vitello has spent the last seven seasons as the head coach of the Tennessee baseball program and was on hand for the 2024 MLB Draft as a guest panel analyst for MLB Network. As Moore took the stage, he couldn't help but express his happiness for his former clubhouse leader and offensive force.
"I've never been around a guy who can decide he wants to win a game and impact it the way (Christian) did," Vitello said on the MLB Network broadcast. "Cognitively, he is off the charts. Ian Kinsler and Max Scherzer are really the only two guys I've been around that have the same type of cognitive ability that (Christian) has."
Moore wasted little time in expressing his desire for victory and success, making a bold proclamation during his interview with MLB Network.
"I'm a winner," Moore declared with unphased emotion. "I'm a competitor. I don't know what's gonna happen in the next couple of years, but I promise you I'll get a ring for sure. It's in my blood."
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Moore's path to professional baseball was followed heavily by Angels amateur scouting director, Tim McIlvaine, who also spent his youth years in the region as a Bronx resident. McIlvaine now resides in Nashville, near a three-hour drive to Knoxville where Moore spent his collegiate years.
"I've always followed him a little bit," McIlvaine said after drafting Moore. "The more you see a guy the more you can see all the little things that they can do."
Moore, 21, is a prodigious power hitter whose batted ball data and contact rates climbed progressively over his three years with the Volunteers, leading to his eighth overall selection. The power was a drawing trait for McIlvaine and the Angels.
"(He has) been fun to watch and he has a lot of power," said McIlvaine. "He plays with a lot of energy and a lot of confidence. I think he is going to be a lot of fun to watch here."
The Angels, known for their aggressive promotions, have had the players quickest from the draft to the Majors in each of the last three drafts (Chase Silseth, 2021; Zach Neto, 2022; Nolan Schanuel, 2023), but don't anticipate such a meteoric rise from Moore.
"Christian is a talented kid like a lot of the guys in this system," McIlvaine said when asked about any aggressive development for Moore. "We are going to let him go at his own pace. We let the players kind of dictate when they're ready. We're going to do as much as we can for when he does come up to the big leagues. But for now, he's going to take his time coming through."
Though the next step for Moore's progression to the Majors from development is unknown from an affiliate assignment or signing bonus standpoint, he expressed confidence in his ability to reach the highest platform of baseball whenever he is called upon.
"I want to be able to compete at the highest level as fast as I can," Moore said with a smile. "I haven't really talked to (the Angels) about it much, and obviously I'm still at the draft so I don't know what's going on with that. But definitely if I get the opportunity, I'm gonna try and roll with it."
Moore expressed some comfortability and knowledge of the Angels organization, noting that he had a text message from Zach Neto that went briefly unanswered due to photo and interview requests, as well as being a teammate of Ben Joyce at Tennessee who sent a positive welcoming message via the Angels social media platforms.
As part of the MLB Develops program as a teenager, Moore has a connection with Angels manager Ron Washington, who coached him during his time with the program.
"I think once (Christian) gets in this environment with the way (Ron Washington) and his guys run everything I think he's just going to excel here," said McIlvaine "I think it's going to be a great spot for him. Christian is hungry and I think once he gets in this pro-environment he's going to take off and it's going to be a lot of fun to watch him rise."
With two more picks on the first day of the 2024 MLB Draft, the Angels selected two right-handed power arms in Texas A&M reliever Chris Cortez (45th overall) and Dallas Baptist starter Ryan Johnson (74th overall).
Cortez, 21, was a three-year reliever for the Aggies with a career 4.67 ERA. In 2024, the hard-throwing right-hander had a 36.7 K% and 2.78 ERA. He has an upper 90's power sinker that has peaked at 101, complimented by an upper 80's cutter/slider variation. He also throws a changeup. He has enough control to work around the zone, but his command limits his projection to relief where he could become a high-leverage arm out of the bullpen. Cortez was ranked the 90th best prospect in the 2024 MLB Draft class by Baseball America.
Johnson, 21, is a six-foot-six right-hander who spent the last two seasons in the Patriots weekend rotation with back-to-back seasons of holding a strikeout rate over 31%. In 2024, Johnson struck out 151 batters in 106 innings, the fourth most in Division-1 baseball, while holding down a 2.29 ERA. Despite Johnson's unorthodox upright delivery with a low release and slingy arm, he fills the zone with a four-pitch mix led by a mid-90's sinker and sweeper that regularly grades out as a plus offering. He also has a changeup and curveball that are distant from his sinker-slider combination. Johnson has the size and control to start through development but may have to refine his delivery to see any rotation projection. Johnson was ranked the 46th best prospect in the 2024 MLB Draft class by Baseball America.
"For the rest of the draft we're going to try and get as many good players as we can," McIlvaine said prior to the Cortez and Johnson selections. "There wasn't any kind of agenda of 'We're gonna stay in this scholastic avenue or this one.' We were looking at all the players we could and want to get as many good players as possible to bring here to Los Angeles."
The Angels will have eight selections on the second day of the 2024 MLB Draft. They will select seventh in each round, beginning with the 81st pick. The draft will begin at 11am PST.
