{"id":698066,"date":"2026-05-13T18:24:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T18:24:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/698066\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T18:24:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T18:24:32","slug":"angels-drop-zach-neto-in-lineup-shuffle-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/698066\/","title":{"rendered":"Angels drop Zach Neto in lineup shuffle \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

CLEVELAND \u2014 Manager Kurt Suzuki is hoping that a lineup change can get Zach Neto going, and in turn help the Angels\u2019 struggling offense<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Neto had been the Angels\u2019 leadoff hitter, but he was dropped to No. 6 on Wednesday. Vaughn Grissom replaced him at the top of the order.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, the biggest thing was just to try to take the pressure off him,\u201d Suzuki said. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of pressure, when you\u2019re scuffling a little bit and not playing how you want to play. This is just a way to take the pressure off and let him go and starting having fun, and not feeling the weight of the world is on him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neto, 25, came into Wednesday\u2019s game hitting .216 with a .708 OPS, down from .257 and .793 last season. Although he was walking at career-high rate, he was also striking out at the highest rate of his career.<\/p>\n

Things were beginning to turn for him. After an 0-for-22 slump, he had hits in six straight games before Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Suzuki said being a leadoff hitter adds pressure to a slumping player.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what makes him good \u2013 he wants to be the guy in that spot,\u201d Suzuki said. \u201cIt can be good. It can also be a detriment because you put a lot of pressure on yourself. He was willing to do whatever it takes for the team, and he felt like if this (lineup change) was going to help the team, then he was all for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grissom, who had never started at leadoff in the majors, came into the game with a .271 average and a .789 OPS. He had a .346 on-base percentage, with nine walks and seven strikeouts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really like the way Griss has been swinging the bat, both against lefties and righties,\u201d Suzuki said. \u201cI felt like this would give a good at-bat in front of Mike (Trout).\u201d<\/p>\n

POMERANZ TO IL<\/p>\n

The Angels placed left-hander Drew Pomeranz on the injured list because of elbow inflammation. Suzuki said they will re-evaluate him after the 15 days, so there\u2019s no more specific timeline right now.<\/p>\n

They activated right-hander Ryan Johnson, who had been out with an illness and then a hamstring injury.<\/p>\n

Suzuki said he didn\u2019t think Pomeranz had been pitching with any discomfort until Tuesday. He has a 7.20 ERA this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just something he brought to everybody\u2019s attention last night,\u201d Suzuki said. \u201cWe felt like the IL was the best. Just kind of knock it out early in the season. Get rid of it and have him come back ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

The move means Johnson is, for now at least, in the Angels\u2019 bullpen. He started the season in the rotation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see him as a guy that can do both,\u201d Suzuki said. \u201cI think if we need him as a starter, we can keep him as a starter. If we need him in the bullpen, he can do that. I think the luxury of having RJ is he can do everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Angels have a rotation opening Sunday, so Johnson would presumably be a candidate to fill that. Suzuki said they\u2019ve also considered activating Grayson Rodriguez. He pitched Sunday at Class-A and was scheduled to throw a bullpen session Wednesday.<\/p>\n

TV CHANGES<\/p>\n

The Angels announced<\/a> that Patrick O\u2019Neal would no longer be a part of the team\u2019s broadcast team. O\u2019Neal\u2019s contract expired this month. He had been working in various capacities on Angels broadcasts for 13 seasons.<\/p>\n

Trent Rush, who had worked mostly on Angels radio, will take over as the backup television play-by-play man, working the games when Wayne Randazzo is not available. Kent French, who had worked with the Angels up until 2024, will be back as a host for the pre- and post-game shows.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neal released a statement<\/a> thanking the Angels for his time with the team. He is still in talks to continue working with the Kings.<\/p>\n

NOTES<\/p>\n

Catcher Logan O\u2019Hoppe (fractured left hand) was set to play again at Triple-A on Wednesday night, the third game of his rehab assignment. O\u2019Hoppe had a hit and two walks Tuesday. He could return to the Angels lineup as soon as Friday. \u2026<\/p>\n

The Angels still don\u2019t know when Ben Joyce (shoulder surgery) is going to pitch in another minor-league game, but Suzuki said he\u2019s not going for any further testing. Joyce hasn\u2019t pitched since last Wednesday. \u201cHe\u2019s still doing his throwing and things, still playing catch and all that stuff,\u201d Suzuki said. \u201cI think he just needs a couple days to recover and we\u2019ll see how he is after.\u201d<\/p>\n

UP NEXT<\/p>\n

Dodgers (TBD) at Angels (RHP Jack Kochanowicz, 2-2, 3.97), 6:38 p.m. Friday, ABTV, 830 AM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND \u2014 Manager Kurt Suzuki is hoping that a lineup change can get Zach Neto going, and in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":698067,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2390],"tags":[291,5,1165,446,3223,774,56,3224,3222,4,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-698066","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-angels","8":"tag-angels","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-la-angels","12":"tag-laangels","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-los-angeles-angels","15":"tag-losangeles","16":"tag-losangelesangels","17":"tag-mlb","18":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116568671133340570","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=698066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/698067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=698066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=698066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=698066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}