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Angels Have Practical Reason to Promote Christian Moore Ahead of 2025 Season

Maren Angus-Coombs

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
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Christian Moore went from winning a national championship with the University of Tennessee to dominating professional baseball.

In nine minor league games, he is 19-for-38 (.500) with six home runs, two doubles and seven strikeouts. His career-opening hot streak has shown few signs of slowing down.

How likely is it that the Angels call Moore up ahead of the 2025 season?

Angels play-by-play broadcaster Wayne Randazzo would like to see him at some point this season.

“Christian Moore has worn out the minor leagues so far in his first two weeks of pro ball," Randazzo said on the Baseball Isn't Boring Podcast. The Angels, the way they’ve done things, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Moore sooner than later. A guy who has a good bat but is supposed to … need some work defensively, it’s the perfect situation for him to walk into with Ron Washington, to improve defensively before this season is even over so that he can come back into spring training next year and be ready to contribute to this team that’s probably going to look a little different.”

Although it's easy to take Moore's offensive prowess for granted, the Angels would love for his defense to be just as polished by the time the team is in position to contend for a playoff berth. To that end, it makes sense to pair Moore with manager Ron Washington, a renowned infield coach, as soon as possible.

The Angels might not be ready to contend in 2025, but it would be nice if Moore is ready to play second base at a major league level by then.

Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello spoke about Moore's early success recently.

"It's surreal seeing him in a different uniform. I don't like not seeing him in orange but I definitely like seeing him do well and climb the ladder and I know he is with good people," Vitello said. "They've done a ton of homework on him to begin with and since they have drafted him they've been in constant communication with us just trying help him be the best player he can be."

Moore was spectacular for the Volunteers. Not just in 2024 but all in three seasons he spent in Knoxville.

Moore finished with a .338 batting average, 61 home runs, and 160 RBIs in 162 starts — which happens to be the same number of games in a full MLB regular season.

While many would like to see Moore in an Angels uniform this season, the first-round draft pick is focused on where he is right now and that is with Double-A Rocket City in Huntsville, Ala.

"Obviously the media says a lot of things, and people have a lot of speculation about things," Moore told The Athletic's Sam Blum. "I know there’s things I need to take care of each and every day. And if the Angels and whoever makes that decision decides to call me up, that’s great."

"But I’m not going to sit here every day and try to think about it. I’ve got to play ball at the end of the day, and that’s what I’ve got to focus on," Moore added. "Right now I’m a Trash Panda, and I’m worried about winning games for the Trash Pandas. If they want me to go up there and help them win games, obviously I’ll do it. But right now I’m worried about where my feet are."

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Maren Angus-Coombs
MAREN ANGUS-COOMBS

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