Confidence on display for this rookie

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.

CLEVELAND -- Rookie shortstop Zach Neto is getting more and more comfortable with each passing game in the Major Leagues and it’s starting to show.

Neto, the club’s No. 2 prospect per MLB Pipeline, has impressed through his first 27 games, especially defensively. But he’s also been displaying more power recently, as he hit his first career homer on Tuesday against the Astros, doubled off the left-field wall on Friday, homered on Saturday and doubled on Sunday against the Guardians.

“I’m starting to feel like myself in the box,” Neto said. “I made the adjustments I needed to make and saw what I was doing wrong. I think I found my swing again and now it’s about keeping it.”

Neto, 22, certainly doesn’t lack confidence and it carries over into the way he plays the game. He hasn’t looked overmatched despite being the first player from the 2022 Draft to reach the Majors and having played just 44 games in the Minors before getting called up.

Neto, who has hit .250 with a .704 OPS, has also shown his unorthodox leg kick can work in the Majors, although he does dial it down with two strikes. He said it’s just another thing he’s done to prove the doubters wrong, which is something he’s dealt with his whole career, including not being a huge prospect out of high school and having to prove himself at Campbell University in North Carolina.

“People saying things like my leg kick wouldn’t work just gives me more confidence to prove people wrong,” Neto said. “My whole life I’ve been proving people wrong. So to be able to go out here on the big stage and show people that I can do it and I can do it the way I got here, it just shows a lot.”

Neto made his second error on Sunday but made three strong defensive plays on Saturday, including shielding José Ramírez from sliding back into second on a pick-off play, a double play started on a hard shot up the middle and a diving catch that he bobbled before throwing to first for a double play.

Angels manager Phil Nevin said Neto has solidified the defense by becoming the club’s everyday shortstop and that he shows poise beyond his years.

“He’s more and more impressive each day,” Nevin said. “The fast-learning curve he’s on. The things he was able to do in the Minor Leagues in a short time. We heard such great things and then seeing it now come out in the big league level. The game [Saturday] was kind of, I wouldn't say its coming out party because we've seen it for a little while, but a really impressive game. His confidence has always been high and now we’re seeing it on the field.”

His play also impressed longtime Guardians manager Terry Francona, who said after Saturday’s game that he’d heard of Neto last year because he was on Cleveland’s radar in the Draft. But the Angels took Neto with the No. 13 overall pick and the Guardians had the No. 16 selection.

“I think if you talk to our [front office], I think they broke our hearts when they took him ahead [of us],” Francona said. “Probably shouldn’t say that, but I think he was really well thought of coming out of Campbell.”