Angels' Zach Neto Says He's Still Struggling Mentally on Defense

Maren Angus-Coombs | Aug 30, 2024

Jonathan Hui-USA TODAY Sports

Los Angeles Angels manager Ron Washington is known as a defensive guru around Major League Baseball. He has brought that knowledge with him to the West Coast, and is trying his best to teach his young infielders.

The process has been slow but the hard work is paying off.

Shortstop Zach Neto has always been recognized for his defensive first. He ranks third among MLB shortstops in Defensive Runs Saved, but he's 34th in Outs Above Average. According to Baseball-Reference, he's fifth in defensive WAR among all players in the majors.

“He can be one of the most elite shortstops in the game,” Washington said. “Still some things he has to know. Still some reaction plays you have to learn how to deal with. But I’m very comfortable, and I think any team in baseball would be comfortable with him at shortstop.”

Neto has been a student of the game, soaking up everything that Washington has taught him. Most of his issues are mental.

“My mistakes have been taking my at-bats out to the field and the ball finding me, and me making an error,” Neto said. “I think that’s probably the next step for me, just trying to separate my hitting and defense.”

Washington is pleased with the team's progress overall as fielders, but he knows they can be better.

“I never had much expectations, because I’ve never seen these guys,” the Angels' first-year manager said Wednesday. “I think the defense has been fine. The outfield defense has been a little shaky. But I think as far as the changes that we’ve had on the infield, those guys have handled themselves well. We haven’t had a regular third baseman. We haven’t had a regular second baseman. Only had a regular shortstop and a regular first baseman.

“Everyone else, we’re trying to build them up to the point where they understand how to play defense. So my expectations when I came in is we knew we were going to have to build something, and that’s what we’re still doing. We’re still building.”

As the Angels move forward, they need to find a permanent fixture at third base and second base. Those two positions have been a revolving door. They’ve used nine third basemen and eight second basemen this season.

Even the outfield has improved under Washington's leadership. Jo Adell is considered above-average.

“Once I got the mindset of being aggressive, I started making better, reads, better decisions,” Adell said. “It’s made a lot of the plays that I’ve had that looked really difficult a little easier, because of my ability to judge the ball.”