Digging in to the Angels’ collective slump at the plate ...Middle East

SEATTLE — The Angels remain mired in a frustrating offensive funk.

In an era when hitting is already so tough that the major league average is .240, the Angels would gladly take that instead of what they’ve been doing. The Angels reached Monday’s off day hitting .212, second worst in the majors. Their .655 OPS ranks 25th.

It’s been even worse over the past 15 games: a .188 average and a .553 OPS.

The recent stretch, in which their record is 4-11, has also seen them strike out once every three plate appearances.

Manager Ron Washington has few answers each day when he’s asked to assess the team-wide slump.

“They’re working on it,” Washington said on Sunday. “They’re working every day. They’re talking every day. But once the game starts and those guys go between the lines, they’ve got to get it done.”

What makes it all so difficult to solve is that there is no single button to push. It’s easy to see the team-wide numbers, but those are actually the product of 13 individual hitters, each with distinct issues and distinct ways to go about correcting them.

With each player, the difference between success and failure can be small.

A “hot” hitter might just be seeing the ball well enough to take a borderline 1-and-1 pitch for a ball, swinging the count in his favor, while a “cold” hitter fouls it off, putting himself in a hole.

“It’s really easy to overcook the sauce,” center fielder Jo Adell said. “We’ve had a rough stretch of games. It’s really easy to get in there and panic and try to fix everybody, but the reality is our routines were the same before we started struggling as they are now. Staying in that headspace is going to help in the long run. It’s going to have ebbs and flows. As cold as we got, we can get hot just as fast with the same approach. That’s our goal. To stay consistent.”

Besides, the real work is likely between the ears.

“It’s 90% mental and 10% physical,” shortstop Zach Neto said. “It’s going out there and letting your talent happen.”

To get an idea of how big leaguers do that, we asked four players to describe their pregame hitting routines, and how they change during a slump like this.

Mike Trout

A three-time MVP, Trout is hitting .170 with nine homers and a .731 OPS. There is an element of bad luck to his performance because his hard-hit rate of 47.1% is still well above average.

Lately, though, he’s also been striking out at an alarming rate: 23 times in his last 52 plate appearances.

Trout said his pregame routine starts with 35 to 50 swings in the cage. That includes work off a tee and hitting off of a machine that throws fastballs and breaking balls.

At the moment, his primary focus is his back leg.

“If that goes, then everything tilts back and I’m swinging up and out,” Trout said.

Trout said he also tries to get out on the field for regular batting practice when he needs more swings. For much of Trout’s career, he hit almost exclusively in the cage, but he has changed that up this year, especially on the first day in a new park.

Hitting on the field — against a coach throwing with much less velocity than a real pitcher — is about perfecting the swing path, Trout said.

“You should be able to master BP, and direct the ball where it’s going,” Trout said.

Right before the game, Trout returns to the cage and hits about 10 fastballs and 10 breaking balls from the machine.

As for the scouting report of the opposing pitcher, Trout said he just wants the basics.

“For me, less is more,” Trout said. “I want to know what he has, what his secondary stuff is. I don’t sit on anything. I just look fastball all the time and react to offspeed stuff. For some people, it’s different.”

Zach Neto

Neto has only played nine games since returning from the injured list, and it’s gone pretty well so far. He’s hitting .294 with three homers and a .961 OPS. At the moment, Neto is the only Angels’ hitter who could be classified as “hot.”

To Neto, the preparation starts by studying the opposing pitcher the night before.

“You want to see where the damage is,” Neto said. “Where he gives up extra bases. Coming to the field, you want to have an idea of how he attacks hitters. How he gets people out.”

Once at the ballpark, though, Neto’s routine is minimal. He hits off a tee and then hits flips in the cage, and that’s it before batting practice on the field.

Neto said he rarely hits off of a machine. When he does, he prefers to use the hard rubber balls that the Angels use to let hitters see a little extra “hop” or a little more break on a slider.

“I try to keep it simple,” Neto said.

Neto said he also doesn’t want to look at video of himself swinging, unless he’s really in a slump. Mostly, he trusts the coaches to keep an eye on his swing, only showing him the video when there’s a problem.

Jo Adell

Adell is hitting .195 with two homers and a .569 OPS. The Angels were optimistic about Adell’s future after he made a tweak with his lower body last season. Adell had a .648 OPS with a leg kick, and it jumped to .771 after he switched to a toe tap. His strikeout rate went from 29.1% to 24.8%.

Not surprisingly, his routine starts with small swings in which he keeps his lower body quiet. Adell hits 10 to 12 flips in the cage, with no step at all. He’s simply trying to “find the barrel.” He then hits some flips, focusing on line drives up the middle.

After batting practice on the field, Adell returns to the cage to hit against the machine, getting fastballs and curveballs, as close as 10 minutes before the game.

Adell said he only wants to watch video of himself when something is wrong. Usually, he said, the problem isn’t with his swing, but with his pitch selection.

“A lot of times I’m getting myself out (by swinging at bad pitches),” Adell said. “So that really goes back to what I’m looking for more than what I’m actually physically doing.”

In order to know what to look for, Adell spends about 10 minutes reviewing the scouting report on the opposing pitcher shortly before game time, so it can be fresh in his mind when he goes to the plate.

Luis Rengifo

A switch-hitter, Rengifo has twice as much work to do as hitters who only swing from one side of the plate.

Rengifo said he tries to take swings from both sides of the plate each day, no matter who is starting that day. He said he wants to be prepared for a reliever who might flip him around.

Normally, Rengifo’s best side is the right side. Since the start of the 2022 season, Rengifo has hit .321 with an .898 OPS against lefties, compared with .251 and .683 against righties.

This season, he hasn’t been very good against anyone, which Washington said is still partly because of the time he missed with an illness and injury in spring training. Rengifo is hitting .242 with a .596 OPS, although that’s increased with six hits in the last three games.

Rengifo said he doesn’t take many extra swings when things aren’t going well, but he will look at video. He said he prefers tee work to hitting off the machine in the cage.

Rengifo also said he doesn’t want to be overloaded with information about the opposing pitcher.

“Just what he throws,” Rengifo said. “Then play the game.”

Overall, Rengifo has a simple approach to hitting, regardless of whether hits are falling.

“If you’re not hitting well, you have to make an adjustment,” he said, “but you shouldn’t change your routine.”

UP NEXT

Angels (RHP Jack Kochanowicz, 1-3, 5.47) at Mariners (RHP Bryce Miller, 1-3, 4.21), Tuesday, 6:40 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network West, 830 AM

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