ANAHEIM \u2014 So far, the dream has played out pretty well for Wade Meckler.<\/p>\n
The Anaheim native<\/a> made a diving catch and hit a homer in his first inning with the Angels back in May<\/a>. Since then, he\u2019s sprinkled dramatic moments along with consistency the Angels haven\u2019t seen often from a rookie hitter.<\/p>\n Meckler, 26, heads into the final 10 games of the season hitting .292 with a .751 OPS.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s done really well this year,\u201d Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. \u201cHe\u2019s shown a lot of great things, a lot of positive things. He plays hard every day. Everything he\u2019s been doing has been really impressive. We just hope he keeps it up and keeps improving every day.\u201d<\/p>\n Meckler said the key for him has been keeping the right mental approach each day.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve done a good job of separating games, whether it\u2019s a good game or a bad game, kind of figuring out what the task at hand is for that night, based on who\u2019s throwing, based on their bullpen, based on what I need to do on defense,\u201d Meckler said. \u201cI\u2019ve done a good job of separating the different facets of the game over the length of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n Meckler had a taste of the big leagues with the San Francisco Giants in 2023, getting just 64 plate appearances. He was designated for assignment by the Giants last winter, and the Angels grabbed him. They also later DFA\u2019d him, but they were able to keep him on a minor league deal until calling him up in May.<\/p>\n Now, he\u2019s become a key part of the Angels\u2019 lineup. He has been hitting third, behind Zach Neto and Mike Trout. Ideally, he\u2019s probably suited to be a leadoff hitter, but Nolan Schanuel\u2019s absence has left a hole in the middle of the lineup.<\/p>\n Meckler doesn\u2019t always play against lefties, and when he does, he usually bats ninth. He has a .789 OPS against righties and a .515 OPS against lefties this season.<\/p>\n Meckler said in the minors he typically did better against lefties the more he saw them.<\/p>\n \u201cIn Double-A, we faced the Nationals\u2019 team and they threw six lefties in a row,\u201d Meckler said. \u201cThe first three games, I felt terrible. The last three games, I felt great. It\u2019s just one of those things that comes with at-bats. I think I have the tools to handle different types of left-handed pitching, but I need to expand the toolbox a little bit. Part of that just comes with at-bats and experience and just getting better at the approach stuff. I think I\u2019m more than capable of being productive against both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n Suzuki said he has seen encouraging signs from Meckler against lefties.<\/p>\n \u201cWe haven\u2019t seen many at-bats, but for the most part he stays in there well,\u201d Suzuki said. \u201cHe uses the whole field, stays on the offspeed stuff well. There\u2019s a lot to like, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n SCHANUEL UPDATE<\/p>\n Schanuel, who is out with a strained intercostal muscle, is returning to Anaheim because soreness interrupted his rehab assignment after one game at Triple-A Salt Lake.<\/p>\n Although the setback makes it seem unlikely that the first baseman will return before the end of the season, Suzuki wasn\u2019t closing the door entirely.<\/p>\n \u201cI understand where we\u2019re at in the year,\u201d Suzuki said. \u201cI know we\u2019re getting close to the end. We\u2019re going to evaluate him. See where we\u2019re at. See how he\u2019s feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n NOTES<\/p>\n Suzuki had no report on Thursday afternoon from Samy Natera Jr.\u2019s MRI exam, which had been scheduled for earlier in the day. The relief pitcher is on the injured list because of forearm inflammation, so his season is over. \u2026<\/p>\n Right-hander George Klassen said he felt good during his bullpen session on Tuesday, and he\u2019s scheduled for another one on Friday. He is expecting to mix in more sliders and curveballs this time. Klassen (back) said he\u2019d like to get back and pitch at least once before the end of the season.<\/p>\n UP NEXT<\/p>\n Twins (LHP Connor Prelip, 5-7, 5.24 ERA) at Angels (RHP Grayson Rodriguez, 4-7, 6.10 ERA), Friday, 6:38 p.m., ABTV, 830 AM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANAHEIM \u2014 So far, the dream has played out pretty well for Wade Meckler. The Anaheim native made…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467406,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,2866,1334,127],"class_list":["post-467405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-los-angeles-angels","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467405","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=467405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}