Jo

Adell

As presumed, Adell will miss the rest of the season with the oblique strain he suffered Friday. He finishes the year at .207/.280/.402 with 20 homers and 15 steals in 451 plate appearances. The Angels ought to explore upgrading in right field this winter, but Adell did occasionally look like a major league regular this year, especially with the way his defense has improved.

It was irritation last night. Now that it’s being termed a strain, we imagine Adell will miss the rest of the season. Kevin Pillar (thumb) landed on the IL as well, so it’ll be the newly recalled Jordyn Adams and Bryce Teodosio filling in for Adell. Both are speedsters with big questions about their bats. If it was just one or the other, they might be worth picking up for cheap steals in deeper leagues. However, since they’ll presumably be splitting time, neither seems like a very good choice.

Irritation? Is that better or worse than tightness? Adell missed most of the second half last year due to an oblique strain. Kevin Pillar stepped in after Adell struck out in his first at-bat. Jordyn Adams would probably get the callup if Adell lands on the IL. He’s not much of a hitter, but his stolen base ability could make him useful in mixed leagues.

Adell continues to show flashes of immense fantasy potential, but the fact that he’s still striking out close to 30 percent of the time means that there are going to be some pretty stark peaks and valleys production-wise in the future. At 25 years old, we’re not ruling out the possibility that he makes some strides in the plate skills department, and finally makes the metaphorical leap to stardom, but we’re fairly confident he’s going to settle in as an ultra-streaky slugging outfielder for the next few years. He’s up to 20 homers and 15 steals in just 125 contests after taking Mariners starter Bryan Woo deep for a pair of big flys during Saturday’s back-and-forth slugfest.

Adell laced a two-run double off Chris Bassitt in the second inning of what looked like it would be a rare strong day for the Angels’ offense. However, those two runs would be the last two they’d score in a game that would eventually be blown in the ninth innings. Nevertheless, Adell may finally be turning a corner. Before you hurl your tomatoes, he has a .272/.348/.427 slash line over his last 30 games that has come with a shrinking strikeout rate and more contact in the strike zone. Overall, he’s up to 18 homers and 14 stolen bases on the season, albeit with an ugly .214 batting average.

Adell really shouldn’t be batting ninth for the Halos at this point. He’s hit .281/.392/.476 with four homers and four steals in his last 25 games. He’ll be especially worth playing in mixed leagues if the Angels move him up in the order.

Adell gave the Angels an early 2-1 advantage with his mammoth 431-foot (106.5-mph EV) two-run shot on the first pitch that he saw from Mitchell Parker in the second inning. That would be his only hit in four at-bats on the night. For the season, the maddeningly inconsistent slugger is now hitting .202/.277/.399 to go along with 17 homers and 53 RBI.

Adell delivered a hard-single up the middle with two outs in the ninth, plating Brandon Drury. Julio Rodríguez might well have thrown Drury out had he been manning center field, but Victor Robles made a mediocre throw up the third-base line and Cal Raleigh failed to hold on to the ball, not only allowing Drury to score but also permitting Zach Neto to race around for an insurance run. Adell also walked tonight. He’s hit in seven straight to improve to .199/.270/.399 for the season. We wouldn’t call that good, but it’s quite a bit better than what Mickey Moniak is doing, which could be big with Mike Trout set to return this weekend. It also might be moot by next week, since a Taylor Ward trade would keep both Adell and Moniak playing fairly regularly.

Adell’s homer came off Austin Voth after Ryne Stanek left due to injury. He drove in five of the Angels’ 11 runs in the team’s three wins over the Mariners the last three days. Perhaps his seven-week slump is finally coming to an end, though now he’ll have to avoid the rust that comes with four days off. He finishes the first half at .190/.255/.399 in 291 plate appearance.

It’s been a tough couple weeks for Adell, after showing some extremely promising signs at the outset of the year, as he’s batting .185 (17-for-92) with three homers and one steal over his last 30 games. He’s also struck out a whopping 29 times during that span. It’s possible he’ll never make a sustained breakthrough in the contact department, but he’s still capable of putting together hot stretches where he looks like one of the most impactful power/speed combo contributors in the fantasy landscape.