How Adell had 'tremendous improvements' in '24

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In his first full season as the starting right fielder for the Angels, Jo Adell endured some ups and downs but ultimately was on his way to finishing the year strong before sustaining a season-ending left oblique strain on a swing on Sept. 6.

Adell was placed on the 10-day injured list on Sept. 7 and transferred to the 60-day IL on Sept. 9, officially ruling him out for the rest of the year. Adell, 25, was disappointed to see his campaign come to an end via injury, but was pleased with progress he made this year.

“I'm proud of the way that I grinded through,” Adell said. “I had bumps and scratches, but I fought through and tried to find a way to come every day and find a way to make an impact. One thing I'm most proud of is defensively. I came out and really just did my thing and really took charge of right field. Really proud of that, because it's obviously something that I worked on and made a big part of what I wanted to improve on. So I’m happy with that and my power numbers.”

Adell’s improved defense was obvious via the eye test after his struggles in the outfield in recent years, and the advanced metrics back it up. At the time of his injury, Adell was tied for first with San Francisco’s Mike Yastrzemski among all qualified right fielders with six defensive runs saved, per FanGraphs.

The progress came because of the hard work Adell put in during the offseason and in Spring Training, as a lack of effort has never been Adell’s issue. His arm remains a work in progress, but his reads and jumps were much better this year, and he mostly avoided costly mental miscues in the outfield.

Offensively, Adell batted .207/.280/.402 with 20 homers, 15 doubles and 62 RBIs in 130 games. But he had been swinging the bat better since ditching his leg kick before the club’s series against the Rockies on July 30. Before making the change, Adell hit .192/.265/.384 with 15 homers and 46 RBIs in 96 games. But after making the mechanical adjustment, he hit .248/.320/.451 with five homers and 16 RBIs in 34 games. He also cut his strikeout rate from 29 percent to 25 percent after the change.

“They were awesome,” Adell said of the changes. “Taking the leg kick away and moving into more of a toe-tap really helped me with runners in scoring position. I was able to get the job done and wasn’t fighting myself as much. So [I] look forward to continuing and mastering that.”

Angels manager Ron Washington was proud of the way Adell made improvements throughout the season and believes he can be a big part of the organization going forward. Mickey Moniak and Adell were both thrust into everyday roles with Mike Trout’s season-ending injury in late April, and Washington believes they both got better as the season went along.

“[Adell] made tremendous improvements,” Washington said. “He has to make some more on offensive side, I think, and that's the mental side of the game. He’s got to learn how to quit giving away so many at-bats. So that's a part of his winter that he has to make certain that he learns how to handle every single at-bat. But his defense went to a different level, and he settled down on the basepaths.”

Adell said his oblique is expected to be healed by October, which should allow him to have a normal offseason heading into next year. He remains under team control through 2027, and his goal is to continue to get better and learn from his first full season in the big leagues. He said he plans to spend the offseason near the club’s Spring Training complex in Arizona and noted that the renovations there should be completed, which will allow him to do more training under the guidance of the organization.

“I’m going to work to get better and come back stronger,” Adell said. “The No. 1 thing is I want to take control of my ABs a little bit more. There were a handful of at-bats I think I gave away, not intentionally, but maybe just not the right plan. So I'm looking to go in and work on building the right plan and continue to pick those pitches out to do damage with. The more you can do that, the better the result is for me.”