{"id":329030,"date":"2026-05-23T06:11:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T06:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/329030\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T06:11:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T06:11:09","slug":"anaheim-native-wade-mecklers-big-debut-powers-angels-over-rangers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/329030\/","title":{"rendered":"Anaheim-native Wade Meckler’s big debut powers Angels over Rangers"},"content":{"rendered":"

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Wade Meckler introduced himself to the Big A on Friday when he made a slick sliding catch in the top of the first inning to snag a foul ball down the left field line, even crashing into the wall in the process.<\/p>\n

But if that catch was how he introduced himself to his new team’s fans, the bottom of the first was how he said hello.<\/p>\n

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He took the first pitch of his Los Angeles Angels’ career, a 97.9 MPH fastball at the top of the zone from Rangers starter Jacob deGrom<\/a>, and ripped it 403 feet into the right field pavilion for a three-run home run that improved the Angels to a four-run lead at the time. With it, Meckler became the first Angel to homer in their debut with the team since Mike Napoli<\/a> did so on May 4, 2006.<\/p>\n

“It was sick. That’s an awesome homer for him, first one at that,” Angels<\/a> catcher Logan O’Hoppe said. “The energy he brought in Spring Training is contagious. [He] picked up right where he left off with the boys tonight. Happy he’s here.”<\/p>\n

Meckler\u00a0was called up<\/a> just before Friday’s game against the Texas Rangers, a game the Angels won 9-6 after an offensive onslaught that Meckler largely set the tone for, after outfielder Josh Lowe<\/a> was designated for assignment.<\/p>\n

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Putting on the Halo red has a special meaning for Meckler, who grew up an Angels fan and attended Esperanza High School in Anaheim.<\/p>\n

Meckler’s journey<\/p>\n

He was drafted in the eighth round of the 2022 MLB Draft by the San Francisco Giants<\/a> after a two-season career as a walk-on at Oregon State and made his Major League debut on August 3, 2023, playing 20 games at the Major League level overall during the 2023 season.<\/p>\n

Following that season, Meckler bounced around various levels of the Minor Leagues through 2024-25 before being designated for assignment by the Giants in December 2025.<\/p>\n

“It’s been a little bit. Spent a lot of the last couple of years injured, grinding through injuries. Just feels good to be healthy and be able to compete the way I feel like I’m capable of competing,” Meckler said. “Obviously, it’s really cool to be in the Big Leagues for your childhood team as well.”<\/p>\n

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The Angels claimed Meckler off waivers in January 2026, before eventually designating him for assignment as well. Meckler cleared waivers and the Angels out-righted him to Triple-A Salt Lake, where he began his season. But after five hitless games, he was sent to Double-A Rocket City.<\/p>\n

Once with the Trash Pandas, Meckler began to thrive, posting a .974 OPS in 27 games with four home runs and 13 RBIs.<\/p>\n

It was those numbers and Meckler’s overall intensity, which he showed off well in Spring Training, that impressed manager Kurt Suzuki<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Angels Wade Meckler #53 runs to third base during an MLB game against The Texas Rangers on May 22nd, 2026 at Angels Stadium in Anaheim, California.<\/p>\n

Jon Bryan – The Sporting Tribune<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Angels Wade Meckler #53 runs to third base during an MLB game against The Texas Rangers on May 22nd, 2026 at Angels Stadium in Anaheim, California.<\/p>\n

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“That’s just the way he plays,” Suzuki said of Meckler. “We know he plays the game hard. We’ve seen him play the game the way he does… I think he’s just a naturally good baseball player.”<\/p>\n

Meckler finished his stellar season debut with home run, a walk and a swinging bunt that he legged out for an infield single on the way to a run and three RBIs.<\/p>\n

There haven’t been many bright spots in the Angels’ season so far, especially not as of late, but the rise of another Anaheim-native star in Meckler might just be the boost that the team needs in a time like this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANAHEIM, Calif. – Wade Meckler introduced himself to the Big A on Friday when he made a slick…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329031,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,1426,56806,106286,7,57476,70428,10900,2866,136624,5128,1334,4820,5224,17203,72637],"class_list":["post-329030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-angels","tag-angels-fan","tag-angels-stadium","tag-california","tag-jacob-degrom","tag-josh-lowe","tag-kurt-suzuki","tag-los-angeles-angels","tag-mike-napoli","tag-mike-trout","tag-mlb","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-texas-rangers","tag-the-angels","tag-wade-meckler"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}