While the Angels season hasn’t gone the way that they had hoped it would, the team still was able to see what some of their younger guys could do. They found a few guys who could be a part of the future of this organization, so the season wasn’t a complete failure.
One of those young players is rookie shortstop Zach Neto. Neto battled through some injuries this season, but whenever he has been on the field, he has been electric for this ballclub. But he has been in a bit of a slump since returning from injury a few weeks ago.
However, it seems that his manager Phil Nevin has his back, and gave him some much-needed reassurance as the team gets ready to head into the long offseason.
“This is the first time he’s had to deal with a little bit of failure and I don’t really call this failure,” Manager Phil Nevin said. “He considers it failure because he’s used to hitting .400 in college and he’s hitting .230 in the big leagues. You try to explain to him how impressive it is. But it’s still frustrating making outs whenever you do.”
On the year, Neto is hitting .223 with nine home runs and 34 runs batted in. It's been a good start to his career, even with the struggles of late that he has seen.
Every player goes through slumps throughout the year, and for a rookie, it's even more common for it to happen.
"Neto said preparing his body for the grind of a 162-game season is one of the things he wants to work on this winter. He was injured twice this season, missing a month with an oblique injury and another month with a back injury."
This offseason will give him a chance to continue working on his game and get ready for next season. Neto is the shortstop of the future for the Angels, so they will be relying on him more next year. It should be fun to watch him grow as a player, and this confidence boost from Nevin should help before the winter.
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