ANAHEIM — A week after the dust had settled from a tumultuous trade deadline, which Zach Neto said was the most stressful time of the year, John Mozeliak had a meeting with the Angels’ shortstop.
Mozeliak, the Angels’ interim GM, met with Neto, Manager Kurt Suzuki and the hitting coaches during the Angels’ home series against the Texas Rangers that started on Aug. 10.
“Mo was new and he just wanted to hear from all of us and see what was going on and how we can move forward,” Neto recalled on Tuesday. “I think it was just one of those meetings that kind of gave me the confidence to say, we’re all in this together, and not just individualized. It was pretty cool and definitely helped me with confidence.”
A few days after that, Neto was experimenting with the hitting coaches on a tweak to his stance. A few days after that, Neto brought it into a game.
That night, he had five hits and seven RBIs, both career highs. He completed the week with 14 hits in 28 at-bats, on his way to winning American League Player of the Week.
“He’s potentially an elite player,” Mozeliak said. “Him finding where he needs to be, it’s nice to see. In this league, when you have confidence you play better. Certainly the way he’s carrying himself and how he’s going about it, he’s doing it right.”
Of course it’s not as simple as saying that one meeting and one swing change flipped a switch, but Neto said both made an impact.
Between the All-Star break and the Aug. 3 trade deadline, Neto hit .203 with no home runs and a .531 OPS. He struck out in 34% of his plate appearances. Although Neto said his concentration had not been impacted by the deadline, the results suggested otherwise.
The meeting with Mozeliak seemingly shifted his perspective.
“We knew that I wasn’t having the year I wanted to have,” Neto said. “It was just a matter of putting it all together.”
Mozeliak said he wanted to get all the parties together to figure out the solution to getting Neto on track.
“When people are going through struggles at times, the one thing you want to eliminate is any confusion on why,” Mozeliak said. “I thought it just made sense that we sit down tougher and understand what we might be missing. And I wanted to have him have a voice in it because it is his career. I also wanted the coaches to give their opinion on what they were doing. Most importantly, I wanted when we left the room, I wanted everybody to agree on what the path was going to be. It’s nice to see him having that success.”
Toward the end of that homestand, Neto and the hitting coaches developed a change in his stance. Instead of having his bat pointing up as he waited for the pitch, it was more parallel to the ground, on his shoulder.
“It’s making me hit the ball more,” Neto said. “I’m putting the ball in play more often, hitting pitches in the zone and not missing them. I think that’s real important.”
Neto said he spent about four days in the cage with the new stance, and he finally brought it into a game last Thursday in Houston.
When Neto asked the coaches if he should try it in a game, he said they told him “what else is there to lose?”
“I went out there and tried it with a ton of confidence, knowing that my coaches were going to back me,” Neto said. “It ended up working out for me.”
In the first five games that Neto used the new bat position, he struck out only three times in 24 plate appearances.
He’s got just about a month of season left to show if he can finish the year that way.
“I’m the best version of myself when I’m consistent every single day, whether that’s hitting, defense, baserunning, attitude,” Neto said. “Just being consistent, being a good teammate. Everything else will work out. I think it’s just a matter of finishing strong and being healthy. I haven’t played a full year in two years now. That’s a goal of mine, just to finish the year healthy and go into the offseason on a high note, and being able to enjoy it.”
NOTES
Left-hander Samy Natera Jr. (back) threw a bullpen session on Tuesday, the first time he’d done that since he went down with the back injury. Natera said he had continued playing catch while he was out. “I just didn’t recover as fast as we wanted, but I feel really good right now,” Natera said. He would be eligible to be activated next Tuesday. …
Outfielder Wade Meckler, who is on the concussion injured list, took batting practice on the field on Tuesday. The Angels are hoping he can return to the lineup when he’s eligible, on Friday, but that’s not certain. “We’ve got to take it day by day and see how he feels,” Suzuki said. …
First baseman Nolan Schanuel (intercostal) has not yet begun baseball activity on the field, Suzuki said.
UP NEXT
Guardians (LHP Joey Cantillo, 9-7, 3.73 ERA) at Angels (RHP Grayson Rodriguez, 4-5, 6.41 ERA), Wednesday, 1:07 p.m., ABTV, 830 AM