Angels Youngster — a 'Dead Man Walking' — Gets Day Off

Maren Angus-Coombs | Sep 10, 2024

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

In the final month of the season, the Los Angeles Angels are focusing not only on evaluating many of their young players but also on managing the workload of their regulars.

This includes catcher Logan O’Hoppe and first baseman Nolan Schanuel, both of whom were not in the lineup on Sunday.

“We’re trying to keep O’Hoppe healthy the rest of the year," manager Ron Washington said. "We’re on a little rotation with him and Schanuel. You can see he’s a dead man walking, so I had to give him a day off."

O'Hoppe won't admit that his recent struggles have been due to fatigue but nobody would be mad if he did. He has appeared in 121 games this season, 115 of them behind the plate.

“We're supposed to be tired right now in September,” O’Hoppe said. “I didn't just admit that I am tired. Don’t take it the wrong way, but I really do believe that we're supposed to be tired right now. We've been going since January. I trained in the offseason to try to push myself to be a little fatigued and then go hit and do my baseball stuff after that. So that's what I trained for. And obviously wouldn't have it any other way.”

Washington expressed that he doesn't believe O'Hoppe's struggles are due to overuse, viewing them instead as a valuable learning experience. He sees it as an important lesson for a catcher working through his first full season.

“We all are fatigued at this point of the year, and we all deny it at this point, but that's why your mental part comes in,” Washington said. “He's learning how to deal with that because what he's been going through lately, it will put you in a mental strain. But I've always told him, ‘It's not how you start, it's how you finish.’ So as long as he finishes strong, you'll forget about all the stuff that happened.”

O’Hoppe agreed with Washington, acknowledging that this experience would benefit him in the long run. While he hasn't given much thought to adjusting his offseason routine yet, he remains confident in his current program for preparing for the season.

“What I've seen in my career so far is the first time going through anything is the hardest,” O’Hoppe said. “So I’m trying to be grateful for the struggle right now and learn from it, and try not to have it last too long.”