Angels' Manager Wants Slugger With 43 Percent Strikeout Rate to Swing More

Jeremy Hanna | Sep 7, 2024

Aug 24, 2024; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Los Angeles Angels first baseman Niko Kavadas (28) makes contact with a ball during the eighth inning at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images / John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images

As the 2024 MLB season comes to an end, the Los Angeles Angels have brought up multiple players from their minor league teams. This includes Niko Kavadas, a first baseman who has shown promise with his powerful bat.

However, the transition for Kavadas has been a bit rough. In 14 games with the Angels, has maintained a .111 batting average with five runs, five hits, four RBI, two home runs, and one stolen base.

Still, this is the beginning of the young slugger's MLB career, and manager Ron Washington sees plenty of potential in Kavadas.

According to Stefan Stevenson of the Daily Bulletin, Washington just wants Kavadas to swing more, saying that "a swinging bat is a dangerous bat."

“I told him at the major league level, if you don’t get it off your shoulder," Washington said, "because these guys are around the plate a lot, you don’t know the umpires – so if you see something, you’ve got to get a swing at it.”

“Hopefully, we can get him to the point where he’s starting to feel more comfortable and starts seeing pitches and swinging at them instead of watching to see if they’re a ball,” Washington said. “Swing before you take.”

Already, this approach has been working for Kavadas, who hit his second home run this past Wednesday against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“I was able to create a leverage count and get a really good heater from Bobby Miller on the inner half,” Kavadas said. “Yeah, it felt good to get the head [of the bat] out.”

On top of that, Kavadas has begun to feel more comfortable since some of his teammates from the minor leagues have followed him to Los Angeles.

“It’s been good to have some familiar faces in the clubhouse and I’m getting comfortable with the staff and knowing everyone’s names and how everyone operates,” Kavadas said. “I think these last couple of weeks have been really, really good.”

Kavadas originally played baseball at Notre Dame for four years, finishing his collegiate career with a .286 batting average, 46 home runs, and 146 RBIs. He was selected by the Boston Red Sox with the 316th overall pick in the 11th round of the 2021 MLB Draft.

Kavadas continued to impress during his minor league career and was named minor-league Offensive Player of the Year by the Red Sox organization in 2022.

Kavadas found his way to the Angels at the trade deadline when the Red Sox sent him to Los Angeles alongside Matthew Lugo, Yeferson Vargas, and Ryan Zeferjahn for Luis García.

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