Yuba City High graduate Max Stassi will join first-year field manager Kurt Suzuki’s staff in 2026 as the Angels big league catching coach.
As part of his 10-season big league career, Stassi played 240 games over parts of four seasons with the Angels from 2019-22, after they acquired him from the Astros before the ‘19 Trade Deadline. He spent last year in the Giants organization and played 20 games with Triple-A Sacramento at Sutter Health Park in west Sacramento.
GM Perry Minasian raved about Stassi’s character and cited the importance of his relationship with Suzuki during their time spent with the Angels from 2021-22.
“He has a great relationship with our manager,” Minasian said via an MLB.com report earlier this month. “When you’re both catching, they were attached at the hip, right? So that’s important from a manager standpoint; to have people around you that you trust, that you love, that are talented, too. They make players better.
Stassi jumped to the big leagues straight from high school where he was a four-year varsity star for the Honkers, accumulating a career .514 batting average, 170 hits, 40 home runs, 43 doubles, 10 triples, 162 RBIs and scored 176 times in 121 games, according to MaxPreps.com.