Angels News: Jared Walsh Will Not Become a Free Agent

The struggling first baseman will stay with the organization.

Late Thursday of last week, the Angels pulled off one of the biggest moves of the trade deadline when they sent Edgar Quero and Ky Bush to the White Sox to get Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López. 

In order to make room for them on the roster, changes had to be made.

Ben Joyce was transferred to the 60-day IL, and Jared Walsh was designated for assignment.

This led many to believe that Walsh might be on his way out of LA to look for a team that would keep him on the roster.

Well, good news Jared Walsh fans. He's staying.

This question has been answered.

Jared Walsh is staying in the Angels org. He accepted an assignment to Triple-A. He’s not on the 40-man. https://t.co/JGXGOCcAIl

— Sam Blum (@SamBlum3) August 1, 2023

This will give him time to get right. The 2021 All-Star is only batting .119 on the year, and he's been dealing with injuries on and off again for the entire season. He's only appeared in 28 games.

The next time Walsh is called up, the Angels will have to add him back on to the 40-man roster, which begs the question, will we see him back in the majors this year?

Honestly, I think the 2023 campaign is just a reset year in Jared Walsh's career. Ever since coming into the league, he had been a consistent part of the Angels lineup.

We saw some regression last year, but nothing this extreme. He still hit over the Mendoza line at .215. While that's not great, he still hit 15 home runs and his OPS sat at a respectable .642.

The potential is there for Walsh to be great. In his All-Star campaign in 2021 he hit 29 home runs and had a batting average of .277, so there's no question he's a very talented first baseman.

The question is, can he stay healthy?