'Angels fan since Day 1' Aguilar makes MLB debut

This story was excerpted from Rhett Bollinger's Angels Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

First baseman/outfielder Ryan Aguilar was called up by the Angels on Friday, as the club had to make several roster moves when Taylor Ward, Ryan Tepera and Aaron Loup were placed on the restricted list because they aren’t vaccinated against COVID-19 and can’t travel to and from Canada.

Aguilar, who grew up in Anaheim and attended Esperanza High School before playing collegiately at the University of Arizona, said he was excited to finally achieve his dream of reaching the Majors. Aguilar, 27, played six seasons in the Brewers organization without ever getting called up and thought his baseball career was possibly over this offseason. But the Angels had interest in a Minor League deal and Aguilar excelled at Double-A Rocket City, hitting .280/.427/.517 with 15 homers, 13 doubles, 11 stolen bases and 48 RBIs in 88 games.

“I was an Angels fan since Day 1,” Aguilar said. “There was a point in time for about a month [when] I didn’t think I was going to play again. But I got myself together around October and I was going to play independent ball. But the Angels called in December and I couldn’t have been more excited.”