Angels Budding Star Wants to Sign Long-Term Extension With Halos

With all of the excitement surrounding Opening Day, it is hard not to look toward the future regarding some of the Los Angeles Angels' brightest young pieces like catcher Logan O’Hoppe, shortstop Zach Neto, reliever Ben Joyce, and first baseman Nolan Schanuel, among other young pieces.

One of these up and coming star for the Halos recently expressed his interest in staying in Anaheim long term.

Joyce was asked about his desire to ink a long-term deal with the youth movement via The Athletic's Sam Blum and gave a positive response.

“Yeah, of course,” the reliever said. "I’d love to stay with them as (long as) I can. We all came up together, grew up in the game of baseball together. It would definitely be exciting to play with these guys as long as I can. I love it here. If I could play with these guys forever, I would.”

After owner Arte Moreno extended the contract of general manager Perry Minasian last August, he seemed to hint at the idea of keeping the young foundation together in the midst of what would become a 99-loss season.

“Perry and his baseball operations staff have begun to lay the foundation for a bright future of Angels baseball,” Moreno said. “We have been impressed by the steps Perry has taken to infuse our major-league team with young and exciting talent. … We believe this extension will allow him to continue the vision of building sustainable success.”

With a core that is on the same page as Angels brass, this can lead to many more wins than last year's abysmal total of 63.

Joyce is coming off a fabulous 2024 that saw an 2.08 ERA over 31 appearances. He finished with a WAR of 1.6, a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 2.36, and four saves on the year.

His total earnings in 2025 will be $800,000.

For more Angels news, head over to Angels on SI.