{"id":706390,"date":"2026-05-23T06:39:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T06:39:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/706390\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T06:39:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T06:39:15","slug":"anaheim-native-wade-meckler-powers-struggling-angels-to-a-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/706390\/","title":{"rendered":"Anaheim native Wade Meckler powers struggling Angels to a win"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Wade Meckler<\/a> had quite the homecoming.<\/p>\n

The Yorba Linda native dominated in his Angels debut, hitting a first-pitch, three-run homer off Jacob deGrom in his first at-bat and making a sensational catch in foul territory, all in the first inning, to help his hometown team beat the Rangers 9-6<\/a> on Friday night at Angel Stadium.<\/p>\n

Meckler attended Esperanza High in Anaheim and grew up an Angels fan. After he was called up from Double-A Rocket City on Friday, Meckler finished with two hits in what was the Angels\u2019 highest-scoring game since April 26, when they scored nine in extras against the Royals.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, it was pretty cool,\u201d Meckler said. \u201cJust trying to make a play on defense. But getting your first homer up, it\u2019s pretty hard to top that.\u201d<\/p>\n

In sending the 97-mph four-seam fastball from deGrom (3-4), a two-time Cy Young Award winner, 403 feet to right center, Meckler became the first Angels player to homer in his first at-bat with the team since Mike Napoli did against the Tigers in 2006.<\/p>\n

Meckler was also the first player to hit a homer in their Angels debut since Randal Grichuk did in 2023 against the Braves.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know he plays the game hard,\u201d Angels manager Kurt Suzuki<\/a> said. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen him play the game the way he does in spring training. \u2029So I think [Meckler\u2019s] just a naturalist, good baseball player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meckler hit .315 over 111 at-bats with the Angels in spring training, after being claimed off waivers by the franchise in January.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old shared pregame that he grew up rooting for classic Angels names such as Chone Figgins, Torii Hunter and Erick Aybar during the mid-to-late 2000s.<\/p>\n

But there was another Angels player Meckler watched growing up: his new teammate, Mike Trout.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty surreal,\u201d Meckler said. \u201cYou grew up watching a guy every day on TV for 10 years, and then all of a sudden, he\u2019s a teammate. It\u2019s pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally the Giants\u2019 choice with the 256th pick in the 2022 MLB Draft, Meckler has struggled to find his footing in the majors. However, his night couldn\u2019t have gone much better.<\/p>\n

Suzuki and the middling Angels, at least, would probably like Meckler to stay hot forever. After all, he earned a shot with the big-league club after hitting .343 with 34 hits and 13 RBI through 27 games with Rocket City.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels good,\u201d Meckler said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a little bit. Spent a lot of the last couple years injured, grinding through injuries, and it feels good to be healthy and able to compete. I feel like I\u2019m capable of competing. And obviously, it\u2019s really cool to be in the big leagues for your childhood team as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite entering on a three-game skid, the Angels came to play to open a three-game series against the Rangers.<\/p>\n

Shortstop Zack Neto hit a pair of solo shots: one in the first and another in the eighth. The four-year MLB veteran is up to 12 career lead-off homers and has three in 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a lot of fun,\u201d Neto said. \u201cFrom one through nine, even the guys on the bench, coming in and doing their job \u2026 We had the big hit when we needed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Right-handed starter Grayson Rodriguez also earned his first win of the year after tossing 5 2\/3 innings of four-run ball.<\/p>\n

In the seventh, Neto preserved the Angels\u2019 6-5 lead after throwing out Josh Jung at home. Neto caught a strong throw to the infield from Jo Adell after a Brandon Nimmo RBI double.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, defense wins games,\u201d Neto said.<\/p>\n

Angels catcher Logan O\u2019Hoppe was banged up during Jung\u2019s play at the plate. However, he shut down any concerns after the win.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be at the doc one more time, but I\u2019m fine, O\u2019Hoppe said. \u201cIt\u2019s the same feeling that all the headshots feel like. You feel out of it and a little slow, but usually a good night\u2019s sleep takes care of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Angel Stadium stretched, second baseman Oswald Peraza hit his sixth homer of the year, a solo shot against lefty Jalen Beeks.<\/p>\n

Neto hit his second homer of the night in the eighth against righty Chris Martin, and first baseman Nolan Schanuel capped the Angels\u2019 scoring with an RBI single nine pitches later.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt throughout, guys were getting good at-bats,\u201d Suzuki said. \u201cWe were getting guys on; there was a couple times we didn\u2019t get them in, but we\u2019re constantly getting guys in position to score.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Angels still hold an MLB-worst 18-34 record, but beat the AL West\u2019s second-placed team before an announced crowd of 34,288. Fans in the right-field pavilions continued to chant \u201csell the team.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wade Meckler had quite the homecoming. The Yorba Linda native dominated in his Angels debut, hitting a first-pitch,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":706391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2393],"tags":[291,5,88767,29165,84467,8655,88763,24646,403,88762,4,149,88766,88764,1567,69,3240,4840,88765,2022],"class_list":["post-706390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas-rangers","tag-angels","tag-baseball","tag-esperanza-high-school","tag-first-angels-player","tag-first-at-bat","tag-friday-night","tag-highest-scoring-game","tag-hometown-team","tag-jacob-degrom","tag-meckler","tag-mlb","tag-rangers","tag-right-center","tag-rocket-city","tag-texas","tag-texas-rangers","tag-texasrangers","tag-three-run-homer","tag-two-hit-night","tag-win"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116622522034607742","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706390","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=706390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/706391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=706390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=706390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=706390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}