In 2017, the Angels moved towards building a strong defense to prop up the big bats of Trout and Pujols; that strategy somewhat backfired when Trout missed time with a thumb injury and Albert Pujols became the worst everyday player in baseball. Fortune smiled on the Angels with an offensive surge from Andrelton Simmons, who posted the team’s highest bWAR, but it wasn’t enough to offset sluggish performances from the rest of the lineup, as the average Angel batter only posted a wRC+ of 93 last year, 21st in baseball. As a team, they accumulated 16.
2018 AL West Preview: The Angels’ Lineup
