Angels’ defense remains a work in progress, with a few positive signs

DETROIT — Nolan Schanuel admitted that, before this year, he didn’t think too much about his defense.

“It’s not like I didn’t care about defense,” the Angels’ first baseman said. “It’s just offense was the priority for me. And now that mindset has changed to both being a priority.”

That, of course, comes directly from Manager Ron Washington, who has built his career largely on defense. Although Washington is best known for his work with infielders, he’s put a focus on all defense throughout the year.

How has it worked?

“I never had much expectations, because I’ve never seen these guys,” Washington said Wednesday. “I think the defense has been fine. The outfield defense has been a little shaky. But I think as far as the changes that we’ve had on the infield, those guys have handled themselves well. We haven’t had a regular third baseman. We haven’t had a regular second baseman. Only had a regular shortstop and a regular first baseman.

“Everyone else, we’re trying to build them up to the point where they understand how to play defense. So my expectations when I came in is we knew we were going to have to build something, and that’s what we’re still doing. We’re still building.”

The Angels rank 17th in MLB in Defensive Runs Saved (DRS), according to Sports Info Solutions. They are 28th in Outs Above Average (OAA), according to StatCast.

Among the more traditional stats, the Angels are 19th in fielding percentage. They are fifth in defensive efficiency, which is a simple measure of how often they convert balls in play into outs. They are tied for second in double play percentage, which how often they get a double play when there is a runner at first and less than two outs.

Individually, the two best stories have been Schanuel and right fielder Jo Adell.

Schanuel ranks 17th out of 39 qualified first baseman in OAA, and ninth in DRS with a minimum of 500 innings.

“Day and night,” Washington said of Schanuel. “He was so stiff in February, and now he believes that he can move around at first base, and it shows. I think he’s turned himself into one of the better infielders at picking the ball off the dirt. I don’t think I’ve seen him miss one this year. When the ball hits the dirt, he comes up with it.”

Neto has always been known for his defense. He ranks third among shortstops in MLB in Defensive Runs Saved, but he’s 34th in Outs Above Average. He’s fifth among all players in the majors in defensive WAR, according to Baseball-Reference.

“He can be one of the most elite shortstops in the game,” Washington said. “Still some things he has to know. Still some reaction plays you have to learn how to deal with. But I’m very comfortable, and I think any team in baseball would be comfortable with him at shortstop.”

Neto said he’s “cleaned up” a lot of his technique with a season working under Washington. The problems that remain are mental, he said.

“My mistakes have been taking my at-bats out to the field and the ball finding me, and me making an error,” Neto said. “I think that’s probably the next step for me, just trying to separate my hitting and defense.”

The other two infield spots have been a revolving door, making it difficult for the Angels to get any sort of defensive consistency. They’ve used nine third basemen and eight second basemen.

In the outfield, Adell has gone from being a liability to being better than average. He’s fourth in DRS and 17th in OAA.

“Once I got the mindset of being aggressive, I started making better, reads, better decisions,” Adell said. “It’s made a lot of the plays that I’ve had that looked really difficult a little easier, because of my ability to judge the ball.”

Center fielder Mickey Moniak is 19th in DRS and 22nd in OAA, and left fielder Taylor Ward is 13th in both metrics.

NOTES

Right-hander José Marte, who was on the injured list because of a virus, developed some shoulder soreness when he resumed throwing, Washington said. There is no timetable for him to return. …

Right-hander José Soriano, who is out with arm fatigue, has still not resumed throwing. “We’re going to continue to let him build up really slow,” Washington said. “At some point, he’ll start ramping things up.”

UP NEXT

Angels (RHP Jack Kochanowicz, 1-3, 6.08 ERA) at Tigers (RHP Keider Montero, 4-5, 5.15 ERA), Thursday, 10:10 a.m. PT, Bally Sports West, 830 AM