Angels Outfielder Drawing Trade Interest From NL Central Squad: Report

Maren Angus-Coombs | Jul 26, 2024

Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

The Los Angeles Angels are looking for trade partners for several players ahead of Tuesday's trade deadline. Could the Pittsburgh Pirates be one of them?

According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post on Thursday, the Pirates are reportedly still interested in Angels outfielder Taylor Ward.

Through 88 games this season, Ward is batting .230/.314/.399 this year with 14 home runs in 97 games. He currently leads the Angels in home runs and RBIs and ranks third in slugging percentage and OPS among qualified batters.

FINAL: Holy crap. Taylor Ward had a game-tying three-run homer with two outs in the ninth.

Sal Frelick made an absurd home-run robbery to end it.

6-3, Brewers. pic.twitter.com/01HOzzVZej

— Sam Blum (@SamBlum3) June 19, 2024

Paul Zeise, a columnist at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Columnist, posted on X (formerly Twitter) on July 10 that the Pirates were in on Ward. However, Ward has been in a slump since June 1, batting .175/.286/.294 over his last 41 games.

Ward has only been with the Angels organization since he was selected in the first round of the 2015 MLB Draft. He entered the 2016 season as the club's No. 1 prospect but hasn't lived up to the hype spending most of his early years as a part-time player.

It wasn't until 2022, when he joined the team full-time, that Ward's career began to take off. He hit .281 with 23 home runs, 65 RBI, an .833 OPS and 3.6 Wins Above Replacement that season.

Ward's 2023 season was limited to 97 games after getting hit by a pitch in the head, suffering multiple facial fractures that ended his season in July. He was batting 253 with 14 home runs and 47 RBIs when he went down.