Zach Neto goes 4-for-5, homers against Boston

Neto took Red Sox lefty starter Jake Bennett deep a couple pitches after having a called third strike overturned on a challenge in the third inning. It was his 25th round-tripper of the season. The 25-year-old shortstop has looked like a completely different player since the Angels opted not to move him at last month’s trade deadline, hitting .301 (37-for-123) with six homers, 25 RBI and five steals over his last 30 games.

Neto’s home run was his 23rd of the season. With the Angels trailing 1-0, Neto hit a game-tying solo home run off Phillies reliever Jonathan Bowlan in the eighth inning. The Angels would go on to lose in extra innings. Neto is 18-for-47 (.382) with three home runs, nine runs scored, 12 RBI and two steals over his last 11 games. He’s hitting .236 with a .750 OPS and 65 RBI this year.

Neto stayed hot with a three-hit game against the Rangers on Saturday, scoring two of the Angels’ three runs in the win. He’s on a five-game hitting streak and is 12-for-23 (.521) with four runs, a home run, eight RBI, four doubles and a triple in that span. Neto is hitting .235 with a .746 OPS and 61 RBI.

Neto opened the scoring in the top half of the first inning with an RBI single off of Peter Lambert. He then chipped in an RBI single in the fourth inning that extended the Halos’ lead to 6-2. Neto broke the game wide open with a 428-foot (107.6-mph EV) three-run blast off of Bryan King in the fifth inning that made it a 14-2 ballgame. Just for fun, he added on a two-run double in the seventh inning and a single off of LaMonte Wade Jr. in the ninth. The only thing he did wrong on the night was getting caught stealing for the 11th time on the season. With his impressive five-hit night, the 25-year-old shortstop is now slashing .231/.314/.422 with 21 homers, 61 RBI and 17 stolen bases.

There aren’t any rumblings of the dynamic shortstop dealing with any sort of injury, so it’s just a night of rest for Neto. Denzer Guzman will start in his place at shortstop and will bat sixth against Rangers’ star right-hander Jacob deGrom.

Neto doubled in the first inning, then drove in a run with a base hit in the third, stole third, and scored on a sacrifice fly. The 25-year-old shortstop is hitting .225/.309/.416 with 20 homers, 75 runs scored, 52 RBI, and 15 steals across 524 plate appearances.

Neto, mentioned as a potential trade-deadline prize, wound up not moving and was dropped down to the cleanup spot today. That part is not great news for his fantasy value, but it’s not like you’re dropping Neto. Hopefully this can spark him a bit as over his last 15 games this is his only homer and he’s hitting just .197/.258/.295 over that timespan.

The revelation comes as a bit of a surprise as the Angels appear to be more willing to move on from someone like Neto, who was viewed as one of their more long-term building blocks. There are plenty of teams that could use a shortstop, which is probably why Los Angeles interim general manager John Mozeliak is going to entertain overtures. It doesn’t sound like anything is imminent, but the Angels could be headed for more of a full-scale teardown than many anticipated.

Expressing an interest and being willing to meet the likely high asking prices are two separate things, but it’s interesting to note that the Rays are looking to be aggressive, especially when it comes to pitching. According to Murray, any additional starter the Rays bring in wouldn’t necessarily mean Griffin Jax or Ian Seymour are out of the rotation. Instead, the Rays are looking for pitching depth to help offset innings and injury concerns surrounding Shane McClanahan and Drew Rasmussen. The team could decide to use a six man rotation or occasionally skip starts in order to keep those guys healthy for the playoffs. Considering Peralta is a free agent at the end of the season, he would be the most likely target of the trio.

That may not seem like a lot, but Passan notes that it’s a major change from previous trade deadlines. Neto is under team control for three more seasons, so trading him could net the Angels a haul of prospects to help expedite a rebuild and fill out a depleted organization with young talent. A few teams, including the Red Sox, Braves and Yankees, have already reached out to the Angels.