Angels Provide Cautiously Optimistic Update About Injured First-Round Pick

The news could've been worse.

The Angels announced that Christian Moore, their first-round draft pick in July whose promising rookie season was interrupted by an injury, suffered a left meniscus injury that will be treated conservatively before ramping up baseball activity.

Moore hasn't played since he sustained the injury in the field in an Aug. 30 game against the Tennessee Smokies.

A meniscus injury, coincidentally, ended the season of Angels star Mike Trout earlier this year. But while Trout needed surgery, the Angels are apparently optimistic Moore can return to health without it.

According to the club announcement, Moore is remaining with their Double-A affiliate, the Rocket City Trash Pandas.

Moore, 21, was the eighth overall pick out of the University of Tennessee in the recently completed draft. He played just two games with Class-A Inland Empire before he was promoted to Rocket City, and was putting himself in position to rocket all the way to the majors in the tradition of recent picks Zach Neto and Nolan Schanuel.

In 22 games with the Trash Pandas, Moore slashed .302/.355/.512 with five home runs and 10 RBIs.

More to come on this story.