WEST SACRAMENTO — Nolan Schanuel has a new approach at the plate.
The Angels’ 23-year-old first baseman is no longer looking to simply get hits, as he was when he was still trying to get his footing as a big-leaguer.
“The first year to last year, I was looking at what pitch I can get a hit on,” Schanuel said. “It wasn’t ‘What pitch can I do damage with?’ And that’s kind of where my mentality has changed from last year to this year.”
The best example of that was Monday, when Schanuel had a homer and two doubles. It was the first time in his career that he had hit three balls over 100 mph in one game.
It was part of a 16-game stretch in which Schanuel hit .364 with a .952 OPS. His slugging percentage was .491 in the recent stretch, compared with .356 in the first 30 games.
Schanuel had already spent his winter working to improve his bat speed – which is up from 65.2 mph to 68.1 mph – and now he has a new approach to complement that.
Schanuel said Angels hitting coaches came to him about three weeks ago and suggested that he refine what he’s doing at the plate.
“In the past, I was more of a location guy,” Schanuel said. “If it was a certain location, didn’t matter the pitch, I was gonna go.”
On Monday, for example, Schanuel knew that A’s right-hander J.T. Ginn relied mostly on his sinker. So Schanuel went up to the plate looking for a sinker on the inner half of the plate. Period.
The first three pitches he saw were a cutter, a changeup and a sinker away. Schanuel took them all. The fourth pitch was a sinker on the inner half, and Schanuel drilled it 418 feet, for his third homer of the season.
The next time, Schanuel took the first five pitches. At that point, the count was full, so he couldn’t be so picky with two strikes. Ginn threw him a sinker over the middle, and Schanuel doubled.
Right-hander Mitch Spence, the A’s next pitcher of the night, threw mostly cutters. So Schanuel took the first three pitches, including a slider over the middle of the plate, until he got a cutter over the middle. He doubled again.
“I’m hunting mistakes, honestly,” Schanuel said.
Schanuel acknowledges that approach is going to get him in a lot of two-strike counts, but he said he doesn’t mind that.
“I think with my hand-eye coordination, I’m OK to get to two strikes,” he said. “I think most of my hits might be with two strikes anyway.”
Manager Ron Washington said he appreciates the change in Schanuel’s approach, and he made sure to give props to hitting coaches Johnny Washington, Tim Laker and Jayson Nix.
“He’s more aggressive,” Ron Washington said. “He’s barreling up more balls. The work he’s doing in the cage with the hitting coaches is starting to pay off. Those hitting guys spent a lot of time with him. They took a lot of heat early, and I certainly hope you guys give them some praise now. They’ve been busting behind the scenes. That’s what you’re seeing those guys do out there right now, from all the work that they put in.”
MONCADA SITS
Third baseman Yoán Moncada was out for the second straight game. Washington said he simply wanted to give Moncada “an extra day,” but he then acknowledged that Moncada “aggravated” his thumb injury with a swing Tuesday night.
Moncada missed the end of spring training and most of April because of the thumb injury. It still affects him from time to time, mostly when he swings and misses from the right side.
Washington said Moncada would be back in the lineup Friday.
SACRAMENTO EXPERIENCE
Outfielder Taylor Ward said the Angels’ first experience playing at Sutter Health Park went well.
“I love how the ball flies,” Ward said. “That’s for sure. The lights aren’t terrible. Not as bad as Tampa.”
The A’s are playing for at least three seasons in a Triple-A ballpark while their new home in Las Vegas is under construction, so the Angels will be coming here at least five more times.
Ward said the clubhouse amenities were actually better than Oakland.
“This is way cleaner,” he said. “The food is better.”
The problem, he said, is that the clubhouse is in center field, which is inconvenient. Players can’t easily get between the dugout and clubhouse during the game.
The heat, which could be more of an issue later in the summer, was not a problem for this trip.
“We’ll see when we come back in August,” Ward said.
Right-hander Kyle Hendricks, who started Tuesday, said he enjoyed the experience.
“It’s a cool environment,” he said. “It’s intimate, brings a little perspective to baseball.”
NOTES
With about a month and a half to go before All-Star selections, Washington began the campaign for Zach Neto. “I’ll be biased and say that Neto is the No. 1 (shortstop in the American League),” Washington said. “But then another team will be biased and say their shortstop. I think he has a great chance of being an All-Star, but I think we have to wait and see what the manager for the All-Star team needs and who makes the All-Star team.” All-Star selections are a combination of fan and player voting, and Major League Baseball makes the final selections to ensure that each team has a representative. …
The Angels traded first baseman Ryan Noda to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for cash considerations. Noda had been designated for assignment over the weekend to make a spot for right-hander Hunter Strickland on the 40-man roster. …
The Angels had not won six straight road games since 2018, when they won 11 straight games on the road.
UP NEXT
Marlins (RHP Sandy Alcantara, 2-6, 7.99) at Angels (LHP Yusei Kikuchi, 0-4, 3.50), Friday, 6:38 p.m., FDSN West, 830 AM