The Angels announced that they have claimed outfielder Wade Meckler off waivers from the Giants. He had been designated for assignment by San Francisco last month. The Halos had a couple of 40-man vacancies and didn’t need to make a corresponding move.
Meckler, 26 in April, changes teams for the first time. The Giants drafted him in 2022 and he has been with that club until today. Generally speaking, he has a contact-based approach at the plate with limited power. He stepped to the plate 1,157 times in the minors over the past three years with just 16 home runs but his 13.1% walk rate and 16.7% strikeout rate in that span were both excellent figures. Even with the lack of power, his combined line of .311/.403/.431 in those seasons translated to a 127 wRC+, with some help from a .371 batting average on balls in play.
Despite the solid numbers, the Giants never gave him much time in the majors. He got a brief look in 2023, hitting .232/.328/.250 in 64 plate appearances, but wasn’t called up in either of the past two campaigns.
Whether his offensive approach can work against big league pitching isn’t really known at this point. According to Baseball America, he does well with fastballs but whiffs on a lot of breaking pitches. He does have a solid floor thanks to his speed and defense, however. BA describes his speed as “double-plus”. During his brief stint in the majors in 2023, Statcast ranked his sprint speed in the 95th percentile of big leaguers. He has played all three outfield spots in his professional career.
The Angels don’t really have a clear solution in center field right now. Jo Adell got most of the playing time there in 2025 but his defensive grades were poor. The Halos opened a corner for him by trading Taylor Ward to the Orioles for Grayson Rodriguez. The club has some willingness to let Mike Trout play center field going forward, after limiting him to right field and the designated hitter spot in 2025, but that likely wouldn’t be for more than an occasional appearance.
Bryce Teodosio got into 50 games in center for the Angels last year and got good grades for his glovework, but he hit just .193/.236/.287. Matthew Lugo is in the mix but he’s a converted infielder without the same defensive acumen. He hasn’t hit yet in the majors either. Kyren Paris is in a somewhat similar position. Nelson Rada might take over the position in the long run but he’s only 20 years old and hasn’t made his major league debut yet.
Considering that group, the Angels have been understandably linked to the center field market this offseason, but they haven’t really done anything about it. Perhaps that will change before Opening Day but it’s a good landing spot for Meckler now. He can battle for playing time either as the regular center fielder or for a role as a fourth outfielder. He also has an option remaining and could be sent to Triple-A as depth.
If things go well, the Angels can keep him around for a while. He has just 24 days of big league service time, that means he is still years away from qualifying for arbitration and even further from free agency.
Photo courtesy of Darren Yamashita, Imagn Images