Euribiel Angeles Excels In First Taste Of Full-Season Ball

The Padres were barred from signing any prospect for more than $300,000 in the 2018-19 international window, their penance for blowing past their bonus pool two years earlier.  

Not a problem.  

Padres head of international scouting Chris Kemp knew he’d turn up value anyway, and he was right.  

Case in point: 19-year-old Dominican middle infielder Euribiel Angeles, who in his first assignment in the U.S. led Low-A West in batting average prior to a late-August promotion to High-A Fort Wayne.

Before moving up a level, Angeles had hit .343/.397/.461 with three home runs and 18 stolen bases in 87 games for Low-A Lake Elsinore. That was not surprising given how the righthanded hitter first popped onto Kemp’s radar in the Dominican Republic. 

“He just continued to have quality at-bats,” Kemp said. “He was always working counts. He was spraying the ball all over the field. He gave you the feeling where it just seemed like he was going to hit.” 

And even hit for power despite a 5-foot-11, 175-pound frame.  

It’s an unofficial stat, but Angeles remains the only prospect to homer twice in a tryout game since Kemp took over the Padres’ international operation. After signing for $300,000 in July 2018, Angeles flexed his muscles a bit more with a home run in the Dominican Summer League all-star game while penning a .301/.359/.376 batting line across his first 44 games as a pro.  

Angeles was signed as a shortstop but profiles as a utility type in the mold of the since-traded Tucupita Marcano or Double-A infielder Eguy Rosario. 

Angeles’ advanced baseball IQ is one reason the Padres didn’t hesitate in jumping him from the DSL directly into full-season baseball after losing 2020 to the pandemic.  

The belief that he’ll continue to grow into more power, as he’s showcasing with 31 extra-base hits at Lake Elsinore, was another.  

“He’s always hit, ever since we started scouting him in games,” Kemp said. “He’s always had a knack to barrel the ball up . . . He has a knack for being clutch. Big spot, the pressure is on, he always seems to come through.”

 

FATHER FIGURES 

— Removed from competition to address continuing issues with a blister and mechanical inefficiencies, lefthander MacKenzie Gore returned to the mound in the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League after a two-month hiatus. He had struck out 22 batters against four walks in 16.1 innings of three-run ball. Gore had a 5.85 ERA in six starts to start the year at Triple-A El Paso.  

— Righthander Kevin Kopps, this year’s Golden Spikes Award winner and the Padres’ third-round pick out of Arkansas, struck out a batter Aug. 20 in his High-A Fort Wayne debut. Kopps, 24, struck out 10 in 4.2 innings of one-run ball to start his pro career in the Arizona Complex League.