Kent Bewley's News Story Collection

The MLB All-Star Break is upon us in 2026 and with almost 100 games played for each team in the league, the dog days of summer are inching closer. For now, there is time for most of these players to rest up for the rest of the season. But for those fortunate enough to compete in the All-Star Game, they have plenty of media appearances and get-togethers with fellow stars of the sport to attend to. The only player from the last-place Los Angeles Angels to be selected to the American League All-Star roster is Mike Trout, who will be playing in his first All-Star Game in seven years after missing out on three straight Midsummer Classics earlier in this decade due to injuries. Trout will be leading off for the AL’s starting lineup and be playing in center field at Citizen’s Bank Park in Philadelphia, which is only 50 miles away from his hometown of Millville, New Jersey. There will certainly be some loud cheers in the Philly crowd for Trout as he is a big fan of the Philadelphia Eagles. Other than that honor for Trout, the Angels have other things to focus on such as assessing their most recent draft class and pondering which moves they could make at the trade deadline, which is set for Mon, Aug 3 this year. Let’s break down each of these topics in this news dump.

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Trout Returns to All-Star Stage in Hometown Metropolis of Philly, Where He Considered Competing in HR Derby for First Time Before a Hamstring Injury Forced Him to Back Out

As mentioned above, Mike Trout is making his eighth official All-Star Game appearance in his 11th fan selection to the event and the 12th one overall. Trout returned from a hamstring injury this past week to play in four games leading up to the All-Star Break for the Angels. With 422 career home runs currently and nearing career milestones such as 2,000 career hits and 2,000 career games played that he could have reached if not for the onslaught of injuries that have robbed him of hundreds of games that he could have played in, Trout is now basically the “old man” among the heavy set of All-Stars from both leagues. Soon to be 35 years old, Trout will participate in the All-Star Game in the presence of his two sons Beckham(soon to be six years old) and Jordy(who is three years old). Trout will lead off for the American League starting lineup against the starting pitcher for the National League in the hometown pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies in Cristopher Sánchez, who is a very good left-handed pitcher and looks to be a prime candidate for the NL Cy Young Award this season. The batters behind Trout include Yordan Alvarez of the Houston Astros and Shea Langeliers of the Athletics. The middle of the AL lineup includes Junior Caminero of the Tampa Bay Rays, Bobby Witt Jr(Kansas City Royals) and Cody Bellinger(a starter in right field in replacing his fellow New York Yankees teammate Aaron Judge, who has been out with a rib injury since early June). The bottom third of the AL lineup consists of Riley Greene(replacing the injured Byron Buxton), Ben Rice(installed as the starting first baseman with Vladimir Guerrero Jr opting out of the game and Nic Kurtz out with a thumb injury) and Ernie Clement(who was the leading vote-getter among AL players on the starters ballot). The starting pitcher for the American League is Dylan Cease, who is making his first career All-Star appearance.

The opposing lineup of the National League includes Kyle Schwarber(in place of Shohei Ohtani, who opted out of the game due to a groin injury), Juan Soto, Freddie Freeman, C.J Abrams, Max Muncy, Ozzie Albies, Brandon Marsh, Andy Pages and Drake Baldwin. The NL’s pitching staff is more toothless with Jacob Misiorowski, Paul Skenes and Logan Webb not pitching in the game due to injury or other reasons. Other Angels such as José Soriano, Zach Neto and Reid Detmers could have been chosen as reserves for the game, but they were not, leaving Trout as the sole Angels representative at the Midsummer Classic. Trout will be the first Halos player to actually participate in the All-Star Game since Shohei Ohtani and Carlos Estévez did in the 2023 edition at T-Mobile Park in Seattle. With 18 home runs and 39 RBIs along with 58 runs scored, Trout doesn’t have the most impressive numbers for an All-Star, but was selected due to his immense popularity and baseball fans wanting to see him play on one of the biggest stages the sport has to offer. Trout will more than likely have two at-bats in the lead-off spot before being replaced by a reserve outfielder such as Ceddanne Rafaela of the Boston Red Sox or Randy Arozarena of the Seattle Mariners or Tristan Peters of the Chicago White Sox. Trout will have a chance to continue his good hitting in the Midsummer Classic as he has 7 hits in 17 at-bats, including two home runs, two doubles, four RBIs and three walks. Trout won the All-Star Game MVP award in back-to-back years in 2014 at Target Field in Minneapolis and 2015 at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati. With the odds of being an MVP in this All-Star Game a bit longer with much younger stars and pitchers to potentially help their league win the game, including with the entertaining “swing-off” which took place after a winner couldn’t be determined after nine innings at last year’s All-Star Game in Atlanta, Trout will still look to do his best at the ballpark known as The Bank.

One more thing on this subject. Trout actually considered putting his name into the Home Run Derby contest for the first time in his career. But due to him suffering the hamstring injury a few weeks before the All-Star festivities, Trout opted not to participate in tonight’s Home Run Derby contest. Trout will be watching with his boys from the sidelines as sluggers such as Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper(who won the event in 2018 in DC when he was still a member of the Washington Nationals), Junior Caminero, Munetaka Murakami, Ben Rice, Jac Caglianone, Willson Contreras and Jordan Walker compete for the Derby crown. Trout saw a couple of his star teammates compete in the Home Run Derby in Albert Pujols in 2015 and Shohei Ohtani in 2021. Both of those batters saw their offensive power numbers decline in the second halves of those seasons, so Trout was probably wise to not participate in the Derby, which has a brand new format in terms of abolishing the timer and allowing each batter 20 swings in the first round and 15 swings each in the second and final rounds. Regardless, it will still be fun seeing Trout compete as one of the more aged All-Stars in MLB this season. Among starters for both leagues, only Freddie Freeman is older than Trout. Eventually, Trout will make his final All-Star appearance and be just like Derek Jeter was in 2014, when Trout was only 22 years old and ascending towards the first MVP in his amazing career.

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Angels Draft Breakdown: From Two-Way Stud from Huntington Beach to Relatives of Halos Legends From The 2000s Decade

The weekend before the All-Star break was the stage for the 2026 MLB draft, which held its first five rounds on Sat, Jul 11 and the remaining 15 rounds on Sun, Jul 12. With John Mozeliak as the Angels interim GM, he left the draft decisions to be made by a group of staffers led by director of scouting Tim McIlvaine. With the 12th overall pick in the draft, the front office selected the best available player in two-way high school star Jared Grindlinger, who plays at Huntington Beach High School. As a left-handed pitcher and left-handed batter, Grindlinger has great potential with a 6’3” frame and he is following in the footsteps of his brother Trent, who is a catcher and went on to play college ball at the University of Tennessee. Jared reclassified himself to be a part of this draft class in 2026 and enters his Senior Year of high school with a commitment to Tennessee in hand. Now drafted by the Angels, Grindlinger is being labeled as an outfielder first, with his pitching abilities being good for the high school level but untested at the minor leagues. Grindlinger is far from the first Angels player to have hitting and pitching on his resumé. Shohei Ohtani displayed that ability in four of the six seasons that he played in Anaheim and Jared Walsh even had the ability to pitch and hit before eventually giving up his pitching abilities and staring as a left-handed throwing and hitting first baseman. Grindlinger is the first high school prospect to be drafted in the first round by the Angels since Jordyn Adams was in 2018. With Perry Minasian gone, there is a very small likelihood that Grindlinger will be the first prospect of the draft to make his big league debut, so he won’t join the ranks of Reid Detmers, Chase Silseth, Zach Neto or Nolan Schanuel in that regard. But he is certainly an interesting pick made by a shoestring Angels front office.

Other notable draft picks for the Halos include second baseman Jarren Advincula out of Georgia Tech(second round), third baseman Gavin Grahovac out of Texas A&M(third round), catcher Garret Wright out of Tennessee(eighth round) and outfielder Jake Long out of Utah(13th round). But two of the most interesting selections made by the Halos were of ballplayers who happen to be bloodline descendants of two Angels legends from the 2000s. With the 141st pick in the draft, the Halos selected Jaxon Willits, whose father is Reggie Willits(who played for the Angels for six seasons in his big league career from 2006-11). The younger Willits is a shortstop out of Oklahoma, whose baseball program just won the College World Series this past month in Omaha and Willits was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player after his incredible hitting helped lead the Sooners to their third CWS title in program history. Jaxon’s brother Eli Willits was the first overall pick in the 2025 draft by the Washington Nationals. As a six-foot shortstop, Willits is a switch hitter with impressive contact and on-base skills. Whether Jaxon Willits ever makes it to the big league roster in Anaheim just like his father did is another question, but he continues a family tradition of playing in the big leagues.

Later in the draft, the Halos front office made another selection of a relative of an Angels franchise legend. That would be none other than Jack Salmon, whose uncle Tim is hailed as a heroic figure in the franchise due to his clutch play in the 2002 World Series. As a 19th round pick out of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the younger Salmon is an outfielder just like his uncle and played high school baseball at Corona Del Mar High School in Newport Beach before playing collegiately at Golden West College, the University of Hawaii and UNLV. Salmon is 6-3 and weighs 210 pounds and had a powerful offensive season as a Senior for the Rebels baseball team. Salmon’s father Mike played college baseball and college football at USC before playing in the NFL as a defensive back for the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers. Mike Salmon was born a couple of years after his older brother Tim, who played his entire career with the Angels and ranks high on a lot of offensive lists for the franchise in terms of home runs, RBIs, runs scored and games played. Looking to follow in his uncle’s footsteps, Jack Salmon will have a long road to traverse if he is to make it onto the big league roster. Tim Salmon debuted near the end of the 1992 season as a 24-year old left fielder. Jack is currently 22 years old, so he’ll have a couple of years to try and match his uncle’s mark of making his big league debut. Overall, it was an interesting draft for the Angels, who are trying to continue improving their farm system as a majority of their minor league teams are doing pretty well this year. If only that could be true for the big league roster.

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With Worst Record in MLB, Angels Have Potential Big Trade Deadline Moves to Consider Making With Some Key Players on Active Roster

With 97 games played so far in the 2026 season, the Angels are tied with the Kansas City Royals for the worst record in all of MLB at 38-59. On pace to have a similar record to what they had in the 2024 season and trying to avoid their first 100-loss season in franchise history, the Halos are in a very tough position. With them losing ten of their past 12 games entering the break, the Angels are in last place in the AL West but they find themselves 11 and a half games back of the first-place Texas Rangers. If their record at this time of year was similar to that of 2025, they would be near or in first place of the division. But so many close losses and struggles to win on the road away from the Big A have plagued the Angels this season. The Halos are likely to be sellers at the trade deadline, which occurs on a Monday in August this season. But the front office has limited players with trade value and with Mozeliak as the interim GM, there is little question that the assets that the Angels would acquire could actually help the franchise long-term.

The top three players who are likely to be traded or hold the most trade value on the Halos currently are José Soriano, Reid Detmers and Jo Adell. There have been rumors that Mike Trout could waive his no-trade clause and be traded to a team of his choosing, but Trout has publicly said that he wants to remain an Angel for the rest of his baseball career. So, a trade of Trout is very unlikely to happen and would negatively impact the franchise in so many ways. With Soriano and Detmers both having good stretches in the starting rotation this season, they are both prime trade candidates. In a trade market featuring Tarik Skubal as a potential big trade chip, teams with holes in their pitching staff such as the Chicago Cubs could need extra pitching depth. Soriano started this season with a historic 5-0 record and an all-time low ERA of 0.24 in his first six starts. But since late April, Soriano has struggled to find his groove and he has also not gotten many favorable decisions with a lack of run support from his teammates. So, a change in scenery could be in order for Soriano, who has been a part of the Angels starting rotation since late in the 2023 season.

As for Detmers, he has had an interesting career so far for the Halos as he made his big-league debut roughly five years ago and threw a no-hitter in May 2022. But Detmers has struggled to stay consistently good in the rotation and was demoted to being a reliever in 2025. Detmers reclaimed his spot in the starting rotation for this season and leads the team in strikeouts with 123 over 19 starts in the rotation so far. Detmers had his hot stretch from late May to late June as he threw plenty of scoreless innings and only won a couple of games due to not enough run support and a failure of the bullpen to hold leads that he helped protect. As a good southpaw with raw strikeout ability, Detmers could potentially find himself on a roster in need of a good left-handed pitcher with a strikeout ability. Whether he gets moved or not is unknown at this time, but the Halos could get a good package of prospects and draft capital in return for Detmers.

Finally, Jo Adell isn’t having a career year like he did in 2025 with his high amount of home runs and RBIs leading the team. But he still leads the Angels in hits and RBIs so far this season across 96 games that he has appeared in. Adell could be more valuable for his defensive flair as he made three outstanding catches in one night in right field on Sat, Apr 4 against the Seattle Mariners. Adell has made other home run robbing catches this season and has a high amount of robberies in right field in his career overall. A team seeking outfield depth or a starting-caliber outfielder could trade for Adell, who has been in the Angels organization since being drafted in the first round in the 2017 MLB draft. Adell’s trade value is still high and he could have been traded in the 2025 offseason. Instead, the front office opted to trade Taylor Ward to the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for Grayson Rodriguez. If a trade offer for Adell could command a good starting pitcher, then that makes the trade worth more it, especially if Soriano and/or Detmers get dealt. The Angels have more than enough prospect depth to fill the holes that would be left vacant if all three key players are traded. Starting-caliber pitchers such as Sam Aldegheri, Caden Dana, and George Klassen could potentially be called up to join a rotation that features a rising star in Walbert Ureña and a good young arm in Rodriguez. As for Adell, his departure could make room for the promotion of Nelson Rada, who just appeared in the MLB All-Star Futures Game and displayed his good speed and baserunning skills in Philadelphia.

So, the Angels are not in a good spot right now, but they will open their second half schedule with 12 out of 15 games at home and the three road games will occur up the coast against the San Francisco Giants. Home series against the Detroit Tigers, St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Astros and Milwaukee Brewers will conclude July and lead into August. There is a chance for the Halos to get themselves out of last place in the division as the Athletics lost nine games in a row heading into the All-Star Break. We’ll see how things play out for this 2026 Halos squad after this break concludes.