ANAHEIM, Calif. – On June 12, Angels first baseman Nolan Schanuel was hitting .207 with a .602 OPS.
That is until a three-hit game against the Arizona Diamondbacks put him back on track. The 2023 11th overall pick broke out of the first slump in his young big-league career that night and he has hit .296 with a .842 OPS since.
Entering Monday's game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Schanuel's overall production in this span has garnered 1.5 fWAR, which is the fourth-most of any first baseman in baseball. His 143 weighted runs created plus (wRC+) ranks fifth among first baseman, according to FanGraphs.
In early July, the Orange County Register reported that the Angels coaches talked with him about being more aggressive with pitches in the zone. Despite a recent skid over the last week when he faced a plethora of left-handed pitchers, Schanuel has kept the same mentality.
“Going in the cage every day and repeating what I do and not switching anything up," Schanuel said Monday. "Trusting the process and just kind of taking all the information I need to hear in from the guys downstairs and just kind of learn from that,”
Schanuel has been able to be more aggressive without sacrificing his discipline at the plate. Since July 12, he has walked 35 times while striking out 33 times.
“I think with the aggression, I’ve also seen pitches better,” Schanuel said. “I attack the good pitches early and if it’s not my pitch, I lay off it and I think as I get deeper into counts,
"I tend to get more mistake pitches just because I was more aggressive early in the count and I think it’s paid off since the second half of the season.”
Because he is seeing pitches better, Schanuel’s .417 on-base percentage over this stretch ranks seventh in baseball, according to FanGraphs.
The 22-year-old rookie is learning from the veterans around him daily as well as the coaching staff.
“Just mentally wise, like Kevin Pillar, he’s been a big guy, helping me out,” Schanuel said. “Last year, Mike Moustakas helped me out.
"Learning from (the veterans) and kind of taking in all the information has helped me out a lot.”
Overall, Schanuel is hitting .248 batting with a .716 OPS. On the surface, those numbers are on par with the league-average .244 average and .714 OPS, but Schanuel’s season can be viewed differently if he continues to hit down the season's final stretch.
“He makes the pitcher work,” Angels manager Ron Washington said. “He’s growing, and that’s what we wanted to see from the time we left spring training in February to now. Now we just got to find that consistency.”