Angels News: Logan O’Hoppe Ecstatic to Return to Halos, ‘This is the Happiest I’ve Been in a While’

O'Hoppe close to making his return

Sitting on the bench for the last four months has taken a toll on Logan O'Hoppe. Being sidelined with a shoulder injury, the rookie catcher has been unable to play since the beginning of April. 

Now that he is finally back with the team, and even played in their game on Friday, there is no one more excited in the Angels clubhouse than O'Hoppe.

“This is the happiest I’ve been in a while,” O’Hoppe said.

(Via Orange County Register)

The Angels top prospect was injured in a game in New York against the Yankees in April. The extent of the shoulder injury required surgery that had a timetable return of 4-6 months. 

Now that he is back, O'Hoppe will be a key part of a team that is trying to make the postseason. With the call up of 2023 first-round pick Nolan Schanuel and O'Hoppe back in the lineup, the Angels look very different than they did last week. 

The road to recovery for O'Hoppe took a lot of time and energy but it is all paying off, according to manager Phil Nevin. 

Since he is fully healthy, Nevin wants O'Hoppe to be a leader on the team. 

“We had a schedule mapped out, but each day he was improving more and more,” Nevin said. “He’s in incredible shape. He was swinging the bat very well. He was getting ready to catch nine innings tonight and so we felt like with our best team on the field, Logan O’Hoppe catching nine here is more beneficial to us.”

(Via Orange County Register)

The Angels did not have much catching depth in replacement of O'Hoppe. Chad Wallach and Matt Thaiss both took over catching duties but were unable to replicate the production O'Hoppe was having at the beginning of the year.