For years under scouting director Eddie Bane, the Angels tended to take higher-risk, higher-reward, often more-expensive high school players in the amateur draft.
Then, after Bane was fired and replaced by Ric Wilson, the team changed direction drastically in last year’s draft. The trend continued Tuesday, when seven of the Angels’ eight picks were college players, five of them pitchers.
The Angels’ top pick Tuesday was right-handed reliever R.J. Alvarez from Florida Atlantic. They lost their top two picks after signing free agents Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson.
Alvarez, 20, was 5-0 with a 0.53 ERA and eight saves in 21 appearances for Florida Atlantic last season. Alvarez spent his first two college seasons as a starter but moved to relief as a junior and struck out 45, walked nine and gave up 18 hits in 34 innings. He was ranked No. 78 in Baseball America’s Top 500 prospects.
Here are the rest of the Angels’ picks from Tuesday:
2B Alex Yarbrough, MississippiRHP Mark Sappington, RockhurstSS Eric Stamets, EvansvilleC Andrew Patterson, Montgomery HS, Ala.RHP Austin Adams, South FloridaLHP Michael Roth, South CarolinaLHP Chris O’Grady, George Mason
