Maybe your first instinct when reading the title of this post will be the same as mine when first contemplating the idea of writing about the subject. Jo Adell is a young player who the Angels surely will want to keep hold of for their long-term—but, well, it isn’t quite so simple. Adell will be 27 at the start of next season, and the Angels only have him under team control for two more years. While they may very well opt to retain him, particularly after trading Taylor Ward, it wouldn’t be the most shocking development ever to see them looking to move a player like Adell with an eye to the future.

As far as the player himself, Adell is a name we’ve been hearing about for the better part of a decade as your classic toolsy athlete struggling to put it all together. After years and years of frustration, that expectation dimmed considerably ahead of last season, and for the first time in his career, Adell managed to be a solid if unspectacular player.

2025 Statistics: 152 games, 573 PA, .236/.293/.485, 37 HR, 98 RBI, 112 wRC+, -12 Outs Above Average, 1.2 fWAR

2026 FanGraphs Depth Charts Projections: 146 games, 630 PA, .237/.300/.472, 35 HR, 94 RBI, 110 wRC+, 2.2 fWAR

Contract Status: Adell will be arbitration eligible for the second time in his career, set for a significant boost from the $2.1 million he’s made in 2025 after the best year of his career.

Previously a bat with a career strikeout rate well above 30 percent, Adell managed to lower that figure to a manageable 26.4 percent. More importantly, he simply started actually doing damage when he connected, something that had been a problem in years past. Whatever the failings and nitpicking of his batting line, with an OBP under .300, Adell mashed 37 bombs.

Here is the comprehensive list of players in the American League with more long balls in 2025: Aaron Judge, Cal Raleigh, and Junior Caminero. That type of power will play anywhere, even if the total production isn’t necessarily where you’d like it to be.

One aspect that hurts Adell quite considerably is that, despite his physical traits, the defensive work is awful, to the point that he put up 1.2 fWAR despite being a pretty solid hitter for a full season. It was so bad that the projections expect a bit of a bounce back on defense, given the outlier nature of his performance on the grass. With Mike Trout at a completely different stage in his career, the Angels asked Adell to be their primary center fielder in 89 games last season, and it did not work well, with a -8 OAA tally in that position.

One might wonder if a new team could work a little bit better with Adell, as any sort of improvement here would go a long way towards increasing his value. At the same time, those defensive woes are a big part of why his acquisition might not cost as much as you’d expect of a young hitter coming off a 37-homer campaign. With Grisham and Jasson Domínguez initially covering two of the Yankees’ three starting OF positions, the track record, or lack thereof, probably warrants another capable option at least, and the Angel outfielder could worth a look in that role.