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The Angels selected Nolan Schanuel in the draft. Daniel Shirey/MLB/Getty Images

Historic Angels call-up shares name with franchise icon

By Victor Barbosa | Last updated 8/18/23

Nolan Schanuel was celebrating his 21st birthday six months ago, and it's only been 40 days since he was rejoicing after being selected in the 2023 MLB June Amateur Draft.

It was reported on Friday morning that the first baseman is now getting prepared to call Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani and others his teammates, and ESPN's Jeff Passan noted that "last player to debut this early in his drafted season was Chris Sale, who came up Aug. 6, 2010 — about two months after the draft, which was moved to July in recent years."

Scouts that were all-in on Schanuel this spring said he could go straight to Double-A.

After the Angels picked him, the speculation shifted to if he’d be the first guy in the big leagues from this class.

From the Florida Atlantic Owls to playing with Shohei Ohtani in 21 games! https://t.co/5VsaHicVnr
— Kiley McDaniel (@kileymcd) August 18, 2023

Remember the whole, "Who Cares About The MLB Draft Cause You Won't See Them For 8 Years!" take? Well, the Angels are changing that in a big way! https://t.co/MUtqNtYnBo
— Baseball Isn’t Boring (@BBisntBoring) August 18, 2023

With the Los Angeles Angels (60-62) "totally" out of the postseason chase, according to Mike Petriello, the MLB.com reporter theorized why the franchise is making such a drastic move in calling up Schanuel.

The Nolan Schanuel promotion is fun, and unexpected, but the Angels are totally out of the race, so I don't think it's that. It's that today is "promote a guy and he can still retain rookie eligibility next year" day, so I view this as: extended spring training for a 2024 bat.
— Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello) August 18, 2023

Whatever the case may be, it's an unconventional and exciting piece of news for baseball fans to follow over the final few weeks of summer and something that doesn't seem to have a real downside.

Schanuel is listed as a left fielder and right fielder and went 20-for-59 with one home run, 12 RBI and 16 walks against nine strikeouts across 16 games at Double-A this season. Though he hasn't spent any time on the mound in his brief minor league career, Schanuel (full name Nolan Ryan Schanuel) shares his name with one of MLB's all-time greatest pitchers.

Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan spent eight of his 27 big league seasons with the California Angels. During his tenure, he made five of his eight All-Star teams, finished as the MLB strikeout leader seven times and placed second in the AL Cy Young voting in 1973. Ryan is the league's all-time strikeout king with 5,714 punchouts.

2022 All-Star first baseman C.J. Cron has been battling a back injury and hasn't started three of the last four games for Los Angeles, so Schanuel could see some immediate playing time.

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