Telepeer

Angels’ Gio Urshela reunited with influential hitting coaches

February 24, 2023

TEMPE, Ariz. — The Angels have reunited Gio Urshela with the hitting coach who was there when he turned his career around.

Within a couple of weeks in November, the Angels hired Phil Plantier as their assistant hitting coach and acquired Urshela from the Minnesota Twins.

“I am really excited to be with him,” Urshela said of Plantier. “I learned a lot with him in 2018.”

At that time, Urshela was joining his third organization of the season, starting in Cleveland and passing through Toronto on his way to the New York Yankees.

Plantier was the Yankees’ Triple-A hitting coach when Urshela arrived that August, having hit .244 with a .544 OPS with the Blue Jays’ Triple-A affiliate. That was on the heels of hitting .225 with a .589 OPS in 167 big-league games with Cleveland and the Blue Jays.

In short, Urshela had done little to show that he was anything but a good-field, no-hit player.

Although Urshela has said that what’s happened since began with the help of Plantier, you won’t get Plantier to take any credit.

Or even to describe specifics of what they did.

“Gio tapped into his athleticism as a hitter,” Plantier said. “It’s always the player that makes decisions and Gio made really good decisions. He worked on things that were good for him. He was able to own what he was doing. He’s a good athlete and he figured it out.”

Urshela said Plantier mostly helped change his approach, getting him to pull the ball with a little more power into the gaps instead of simply spraying it to the opposite field.

Urshela hit .307 with an .815 OPS over the final 27 games of the season with Plantier at Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes Barre.

In 2019, Urshela hit .315 with 21 home runs and an .889 OPS in the majors with the Yankees.

Marcus Thames, now the Angels’ hitting coach, had that role with the Yankees in 2019, so the Angels now have both of the hitting coaches who oversaw Urshela’s career breakthrough.

What’s more, Angels manager Phil Nevin was the Yankees’ third base coach.

“Something clicked when he got to New York,” Nevin said. “He got a chance to play a lot. The most impressive thing about that is the splits with him are really, really good. Right-handed, left-handed, he’s about the same on both sides.”

Urshela has a career .744 OPS against righties and a .764 OPS against lefties.

When the Angels made the deal with the Twins to get Urshela, they were attracted to that offensive package as well as his ability to play anywhere on the infield.

Urshela, 31, has started 520 big-league games at third and 39 at shortstop. He provides an insurance policy if third baseman Anthony Rendon gets hurt again, and he can also fill in at other spots. Nevin said Urshela could play shortstop “once or twice a week” when the season starts, and he didn’t rule out the possibility of him playing even more.

On Friday, Urshela was working out at first base, a position he could play instead of Jared Walsh when the Angels are facing a left-handed pitcher.

Nevin said Urshela will get more reps at other positions once he returns from playing for Colombia in the World Baseball Classic.

“I am good playing all four positions,” Urshela said, adding that he’s particularly intrigued by the chance to play more shortstop because “you are more in the game. Everywhere the ball goes, you have to move. At third, you mostly stay at the base.”

Urshela’s flexibility on the field fits with his profile off the field, too. Nevin said his “positive energy is unmatched” in the clubhouse.

“He wants to win but he’s got an infectious personality,” Nevin said. “Always upbeat, always positive, very energetic, very positive around the guys. Great teammate. He really is. He’s just a tremendous individual. We’re lucky to have him.”

NOTES

After Tucker Davidson starts the Angels’ exhibition opener Saturday, they’ll have Reid Detmers, Patrick Sandoval and Shohei Ohtani start the next three games. Nevin said Tyler Anderson and Chase Silseth are on the schedule after that, but the days aren’t set yet. …

Los Angeles Angels |

Angels’ David Fletcher looks to put injury-marred 2022 behind him

Los Angeles Angels |

Angels spring training photo day: Familiar faces and new additions

Los Angeles Angels |

Albert Pujols enjoying retirement, happy to be back helping Angels

Los Angeles Angels |

Hoornstra: What has MLB learned about the economics of baseball in the last 21 years?

Los Angeles Angels |

Angels’ Ben Joyce ‘electric’ lighting up radar guns

Catcher Edgar Quero will enter Sunday’s game after starter Logan O’Hoppe, Nevin said. Quero is just 19 years old, having played at Class-A in his breakthrough 2022 season. He’s considered one of the Angels’ top five prospects. “I’m excited to see him,” Nevin said. “He’s young. … For him to come up here and experience this is awesome for him.” …

Former Angels Darin Erstad and Troy Percival have been in camp this week as guest instructors. …

The Orange Lutheran High baseball team was on the field to watch workouts Friday morning. They were guests of Nevin, whose nephew plays on the team. Orange Lutheran is playing in a tournament this weekend in Mesa, Arizona.

Orange County Register

News Details

Angels’ Gio Urshela reunited with influential hitting coaches

NOTES

Related Articles

News

CONTACT INFO

QUICK LINKS

SERVICES

CURRENT NEWS