MESA, Ariz. — Coming off his first full season in the big leagues, Nolan Schanuel is looking to add power to his repertoire.
Schanuel comes into camp 25 pounds heavier than he was when the 2024 season ended, he says his weight now is 235 pounds. Standing at 6-foot-4, Schanuel has the frame to hit for serious power, but it hasn’t translated on the field so far.
At surface level, Schanuel’s slugging percentage last season was .362 when the league average was .399. Looking under the hood at the analytics gives a better understanding as to why his slugging percentage is so low.
Schanuel doesn’t provide a ton of power because he has one of the slowest swings in baseball. His average swing speed last year was 65.2 mph, which was the fifth slowest in the league among qualified hitters. As a result, he owned the fourth-slowest max exit velocity in 2024 at 105.9 mph and also had a 3.5% barrel rate, when the league average is 7.0%.
On top of gaining 25 pounds, Schanuel said he focused on improving his bat speed and bat path over the winter. He said he did heavy and light bat training in cages and did drills like quarter swings and stick-ems. Stick-ems are when you stop your swing at the point of contact.
As Schanuel searches for power, manager Ron Washington hopes the pursuit of power doesn’t take Schanuel away from what he’s good at.
“I don't want Nolan to lose who Nolan is, because he's still young,” Washington said. “He's got time to present his power. I certainly don't want him to go from being a hitter to thinking he's a power hitter. I think reps and experience is going to take care of his power.”
Another area that Schanuel said he worked on was hitting the fastball. He said he did a lot of work off the machine, focusing on high velocity. Last year, Schanuel hit just .218 against four-seam fastballs.
Schanuel went 1-for-2 at the plate today and is now 3-for-7 this spring with a double.
CADEN DANA BOUNCEBACK START
Angels top pitching prospect Caden Dana made his second appearance of the spring, throwing three perfect innings against a mostly normal Chicago Cubs lineup and striking out three in the process.
This outing for Dana was a vast improvement from his first outing of the spring, where he allowed three earned runs on three hits, two walks and a hit batter. Dana said a mechanical cue of keeping his front side high helped him today.
“The difference is he was pounding the strike zone today,” Washington said. “He came out, he got ahead right away and he stayed ahead for the three innings and that's Caden Dana right there.”
As for his goals this spring, Dana said he wants to learn all he can from the veterans in the rotation.
“I talk to Kyle Hendrick as much as possible and to Tyler Anderson and even (Yusei) Kikuchi,” Dana said. “Those guys, they've been here a lot and you see the way they handle themselves.”
ZACH NETO UPDATE
Washington said that Zach Neto will not be ready for Opening Day as he continues to rehab from shoulder surgery, but should be ready within the month that follows.
“We're not going to force that and then something happens,” Washington said. “We like the progress.”
Neto has continued to progress through his throwing program, now throwing from 60 feet instead of the 45 feet he’s been throwing at recently. Neto only throws on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
“I feel good,” Neto said. “I'm ahead of schedule and trying to do everything I can to get back as soon as possible. But the biggest thing is to come back as healthy as possible, not only for the short-term but for the long-term, hopefully not getting any setbacks.”
As for hitting, Neto hit batting practice on the field for the first time yesterday and took two rounds. Neto mentioned it will be a slow progression as he increases the rounds of batting practice to the point where he can hit every day. Despite the slow progression, Neto said he feels good when he hits.
“I feel there's no restriction or anything,” Neto said. “I feel strong. It's just a matter of getting the timing down and rhythm.”
REST OF THE GAME
Tim Anderson picked up his first hit of the spring when he homered in the first inning off of left-hander Jordan Wicks. Anderson hasn’t homered in a regular season game since July 29, 2023.
Ryan Noda went 1-for-2 off the bench today with a double.
The Angels were down to their last strike when Kyren Paris launched a two-run home run to tie the game. He finished the game 1-for-2 and is now 3-for-6 this spring.
Hans Crouse, José Fermin, Ryan Costeiu and Keythel Key all threw scoreless innings, with Key’s coming in the bottom of the ninth to secure the 4-4 tie with the Cubs.
The Angels have a split squad tomorrow, with the first game at 12:10 PST at Tempe Diablo Stadium against the Chicago White Sox and then a 5:05 PST start at Camelback Ranch to face the Los Angeles Dodgers. Yusei Kikuchi will be on the mound for the night game against the Dodgers.