'He's a stud': Neto reaching uncharted territory for Angels shortstops

KANSAS CITY -- Zach Neto is doing things the Angels have simply never seen from a shortstop.

The 23-year-old shortstop swatted his 19th homer of this season, his second in as many days, to power the Angels to a 9-5 win over the Royals on Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium.

He’s the first infielder in franchise history to have 19 or more homers and 22 or more stolen bases in a single season, now just one blast away from a 20 HR/20 SB season. Neto is also just three homers shy of tying Jim Fregosi (22 in 1970) for the most homers in a single season by a shortstop in Halos history.

And he’s just getting better. Neto has blasted six homers and driven in 16 runs in the past 15 games. Entering Tuesday, Neto was batting .314 since July 9 -- 10th highest in the American League in that span -- before adding two more hits and a walk against the Royals.

“Swinging at strikes,” Neto said. “Definitely getting my pitches and not missing [them]. That’s something we talked about [with] my hitting coaches, you know, just pretty much stop chasing pitches out of the zone, and [instead] zone into what I want to hit. And I’ve been doing a pretty good job of hammering the balls that I want to hit.”

Neto’s latest clobbering came off a Cole Ragans fastball up at the top of the zone over the middle of the plate. The Royals’ lefty threw the same pitch in almost the exact same spot a pitch before, but all Neto could do was foul it off.

“I was trying to go up and in, I had been going up and in all night,” Ragans said. “Threw it there the first time, fouled it off, didn’t feel like he was on it. Threw it there again, and obviously he was.

“ … It probably wasn’t the right pitch in that situation.”

Ragans was right: Neto wasn’t on it, he said as much postgame. But he also told himself he wouldn’t miss the next one.

“He threw me a first-pitch fastball that I was a little late on and I just told myself, ‘Man, don’t be late for another one,’” Neto said. “And he threw another one, and I wasn’t late for it. I was able to beat it to its spot and do some damage.”

Neto sent that next fastball a Statcast-projected 424 feet, giving the Angels a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

The second-year shortstop hit nine homers in his first year in the big leagues, but he has erupted at the plate in his sophomore season. Neto has 27 doubles and one triple to go along with his 19 homers, leading Los Angeles in batting average (.262), RBIs (63), runs (57) and hits (111).

“He’s a stud, man,” said Tyler Anderson, who picked up the win to become the Angels’ first lefty to notch 10 victories in a season since Hector Santiago in 2016. “He’s a really good player, and he’s grown a lot this year. I’m excited to watch his continued growth.”

Neto also showed off his glove, making an over-the-shoulder catch to rob Freddy Fermin of a hit in the eighth and keep the Royals’ rally at bay.

Then the Halos’ bats really got to work. Los Angeles scored seven of its nine runs -- the first time the club has scored more than three since Aug. 11 against the Nationals -- in the final four innings. Anthony Rendon, Logan O’Hoppe and Kevin Pillar all drove in a pair of runs.

“That’s just what we’re all about,” Neto said. “Putting together quality at-bats, moving guys when we need to. We were leading early in the game, and they were out-hitting us big time. It doesn't matter how many hits we got, it's just a matter of timely hitting, you know, moving guys over when we need to and just producing runs.”

Hunter Strickland, José Quijada and Ben Joyce then set down the final seven batters in order -- highlighted by Joyce’s 104.8 mph pitch in a sequence to strike out Bobby Witt Jr. and seal the win.

But with the way Neto is swinging the bat, and the rest of the young talent on the team is starting to play, the Angels are hoping to get more opportunities to finish out the end of games as the team learns how to win.

“Battling. I think that’s the biggest thing we talk about, just battling our tails off up there,” Neto said. “Give it to the next guy on deck … We know we do a pretty good job when we get into other guys’ bullpens, and we’re better hitters when we do.”