TEMPE, Ariz. \u2014 Zach Neto\u2019s goal is simply to stay on the field this season. And if he, and the rest of the Angels key players can do the same, he has high expectations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re right there,\u201d the Angels\u2019 shortstop said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have young guys who haven\u2019t experienced this before We all know what it takes now to get to that next level, playing in October.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just a matter of trusting each other. Staying healthy is the most important thing and, just going out there and competing, knowing that everybody thinks we\u2019re going to lose every single game and proving people wrong. That\u2019s what we love to do in here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neto has only known losing with the Angels. The only player on the roster who experienced a winning season with the Angels is Mike Trout, who was there when they were last over .500, in 2015.<\/p>\n
Now, Trout is 34 years old and on the downside of his career, while Neto is 25 and considered one of the rising stars in the game.<\/p>\n
If the Angels are to finally win again, it is likely that Neto will lead them there.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sky is the limit for him,\u201d manager Kurt Suzuki said. \u201cThe first thing he\u2019d like to tell is he wants to play a full season. He wants to stay out there on the field. We\u2019re the best club we can be with him on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neto suffered a shoulder injury at the end of the 2024 season and had surgery. He missed the first few weeks of 2025. He also missed time with injuries in 2023.<\/p>\n
Around that, though, his numbers have steadily increased. His OPS has gone from .685 to .761 to .793. The major league average for a shortstop is .723.<\/p>\n
Last season Neto jumped from 23 to 26 homers, even though he had 48 fewer plate appearances. While Neto played 27 fewer games in 2025, he was mostly at leadoff, so he came to bat more often each game.<\/p>\n
Neto said he\u2019s \u201chopefully in the leadoff spot every single day\u201d in 2026. With the departure of Taylor Ward, the Angels could use Neto in more of a run-producing spot, but for now Suzuki also seems to be happy with Neto at the top.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s amazing that he wants to be a leadoff hitter,\u201d Suzuki said. \u201cThat\u2019s where his mentality is. Trout can lead off. We have options. But having Zach have that mentality is great.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the holes in Neto\u2019s game is strikeouts. He whiffed in 27% of his plate appearances, which is worse than the big league average of 22%.<\/p>\n
He said that\u2019s been an issue that he\u2019s worked on with new hitting coaches Brady Anderson and John Mabry. They told him that, as he advances in his career, pitchers are going to throw him tougher pitches to hit, so he needs to take them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got with Brady and John about how special of a player I am and knowing that everybody else in the league knows that, and it\u2019s just a matter of hitting the pitch that I want to hit and not what they\u2019re trying to throw me,\u201d Neto said. \u201cThat\u2019s a learning step. I had a very good year the year before and now people are starting to understand that I could hit the fastball pretty good, so it\u2019s just a matter of being able to hit a pitch that I like and not trying to hit what they throw at me.\u201d<\/p>\n
STEPHENSON UPDATE<\/p>\n
Right-hander Robert Stephenson continues to make steady progress toward what he expects will be a spot on the Opening Day roster.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely,\u201d Stephenson said after his bullpen session on Monday. \u201cBeing a reliever, you really don\u2019t need more than a handful of games in spring to be able to get ready for the season and then I can still build up during the season. Just being able to throw one inning at a time helps obviously. But I don\u2019t see any reason why I shouldn\u2019t be able to be ready to go for Opening Day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stephenson threw some offspeed pitches during Monday\u2019s session, and he said he\u2019s expecting to throw everything at normal intensity the next time he takes the mound.<\/p>\n
Stephenson, 32, is in the final year of a three-year, $33-million deal, and so far injuries have limited him to just 10 innings in 12 games. He missed the start of last season rehabbing from Tommy John surgery and the end of the season with what he subsequently described as \u201cthoracic outlet symptoms.\u201d<\/p>\n
NOTES<\/p>\n
The Angels used the same three outfielders on Monday as they did in their exhibition opener, but each was in a different spot. On Saturday, they went with \u2014 from left to right \u2014 Josh Lowe, Bryce Teodosio and Jo Adell. On Monday, they used Adell, Lowe and Teodosio. \u201cTrying to move guys around, to give us some outfield flexibility,\u201d Suzuki said. \u201cSeeing how they react, how they get jumps and all that stuff.\u201d \u2026<\/p>\n
Veteran Angels relievers Kirby Yates, Jordan Romano and Drew Pomeranz were not on the list to pitch any of the first three exhibition games. Typically, veteran relievers get started in games a little later. \u201cThose guys have done it for a long time and we\u2019ll ease them in,\u201d Suzuki said. \u201cThey know what they have to do to get ready. We trust them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TEMPE, Ariz. \u2014 Zach Neto\u2019s goal is simply to stay on the field this season. And if he,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[2322,363,99],"class_list":["post-486230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-los-angeles-angels","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}