The Angels have a nifty little streak going. For two years in a row, they’ve had the first player from the previous year’s Draft to debut in the big leagues.

In 2022, Chase Silseth was the first 2021 draftee to get called up, coming up straight from Double-A to make seven starts with the Angels, and he’s now off to a very good start in Triple-A. Now it’s 2022 first-rounder Zach Neto’s turn to make the leap from Rocket City up to Los Angeles.

When the Angels made him the No. 13 pick in the Draft, they thought he was the kind of advanced college performer who could move quickly. He did, after all, hit .407/.514/.769 in his final year at Campbell after posting an OPS north of 1.000 in the Cape Cod League (with a wood bat) the summer prior. And he wasn’t a one-year wonder: Neto hit .403/.500/.751 in his college career.

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Perhaps some thought the top half of the first round was a bit early to take Neto, who isn’t the biggest guy in the world, who uses a big, unorthodox leg kick at the plate, who didn’t play for a major program. But the Angels were actually pleasantly surprised when he wasn’t taken in the first dozen picks.

You hear about arguments in Draft rooms between scouting and analytics departments. This time, though, the Angels were harmonious. To his credit, Angels area scout Nick Gorneault was on Neto from the get-go, wanting to get confirmation via his performance during his junior year, which he obviously received. And when it came time to discuss players, this was one of those rare occasions where the two departments were aligned and the data backed up the scouting evaluations even more. The Angels saw a potential impact player on both sides of the ball.

So far, MLB Pipeline’s No. 82 prospect has done nothing but prove them right. He certainly raised the expectations bar higher by reaching Double-A during his summer debut and hitting .320/.382/.492 in 30 games there. All he’s done this year is hit .444/.559/.815 over seven games with Rocket City. The guy just never strikes out, with a 10.3 percent K rate in college, where he walked more than he whiffed, a rate that has gone up to just 20.4 percent in a pretty small sample size of Minor League play.

That pitch recognition is going to help him easily adjust to big league pitching. Even with the leg kick and what looks like a big, uphill swing, Neto uses incredible hand-eye coordination to consistently barrel up the baseball and make hard contact. His ability to swing at good strikes also helps him tap into his power, especially to his pull side, without sacrificing any of his hitability. We gave him a 60 hit tool for a reason.

Even though he has just average speed, Neto is aggressive on the basepaths and has outstanding instincts. He’s never going to lead the league in steals, but he has swiped bags (and will continue to) and will help the Angels by routinely taking extra bases.

Those instincts also help him defensively. He has really quick feet and hands to go along with an arm that fired a low-90s fastball as a reliever at Campbell, meaning he’s going to play a solid shortstop in the big leagues for a long time.

His ability to be an impact player on both sides of the ball, at a premium position, is why the Angels took him in the first round. But it goes beyond just the on-field skills. Neto plays with a little swagger and showed a strong “I belong here” attitude during his time in big league camp this year. It’s not an overly cocky thing where you have to worry about him upsetting veterans. Quite the contrary: He’s going to bring a healthy edge to the big league club and be a big asset in that clubhouse. Clearly, that’s something the big league staff saw during Cactus League play and had to figure into the decision to bring him up after just 44 Minor League games of experience.

Neto may not set the world on fire right out of the gate, but he won’t be overmatched. And he’s performed, and hit, pretty much everywhere he goes, so even if it takes him a minute, look for him to quickly adjust and let his play speak for itself.