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O'Hoppe

O’Hoppe returns to Los Angeles’ lineup prior to Tuesday’s series opener against the Brewers after missing exactly one week with a concussion. The 25-year-old backstop has launched 19 home runs across 109 games this season, but a lackluster .217 batting average has dragged down his fantasy appeal.

The 25-year-old backstop has been sidelined since September 8 after he was struck by the backswing of Jacob Wilson. Prior to landing on the injured list, he was hitting .217/.260/.386 with 19 homers, 43 RBI, two stolen bases and a 133/21 K/BB ratio over 416 plate appearances.

O’Hoppe will get some additional time off to rest and recover after suffering a freak head injury during Sunday’s game against the Athletics when he was struck by a warmup backswing from rookie Jacob Wilson. It’ll be Travis d’Arnaud and Sebastian Rivero handling the catching duties in his absence.

Both Angels catchers had brutal months of August, with O’Hoppe’s .363 OPS actually topping d’Arnaud’s .337 mark. O’Hoppe still figures to finish out the year as the Angels’ starting catcher, but he’s been enough of a disappointment offensively and defensively this year that it’s worth questioning whether he should be handed the job in 2026.

The big fly was a 407 foot shot that left the bat at 103.9 mph for his 19th home run of the season. It was also only O’Hoppe’s second home run of the second half. The 25-year-old has not had the breakout season that many were hoping for and has gone just 18-for-82 (.219) in 23 games in the second half with two home runs, six RBI, and a 25/5 K/BB ratio. He’s exclusively a two-catcher league option.

O’Hoppe gets a breather for the series finale in Anaheim against the Orioles. Travis d’Arnaud will begin the contest behind the plate and hit sixth while O’Hoppe rests.

O’Hoppe swatted a two-run homer off Brandon Walter in the third, and then went deep again with a runner on in the seventh off Kaleb Ort. The 25-year-old backstop is up to 16 homers in 2025, and they’re the first homers O’Hoppe has hit in the month of June. Perhaps this is the game that gets him going again, as he was hitting an ugly .089/.128/.111 in the month prior to Saturday’s game.

O’Hoppe has really struggled with the bat since the end of May, and the 25-year-old will begin Wednesday’s contest on the bench with Travis d’Arnaud behind the plate.

O’Hoppe’s plate discipline issues haven’t stopped him from posting a .799 OPS this season, but the strikeouts are really piling up of late. He’s fanned at least twice in each of his last five starts, and it’s been three weeks since he started a game and didn’t strike out at least once. He has a 35.1 percent strikeout rate for the season, up from 29.7 percent last year. Only Michael Toglia, who was just sent down by the Rockies, has a higher strikeout rate among qualified hitters. O’Hoppe’s power production is up, too, but it’s hard not to think that the strikeouts will catch up to him at some point.

As expected, O’Hoppe is back in Los Angeles’ lineup after clearing concussion protocol. The 25-year-old backstop sat out Tuesday’s game out of an abundance of caution after being hit in the head by a backswing during the late stages of Monday’s series opener. He’s been on fire at the dish of late, going deep five times over his last 11 contests since May 17.