SAN FRANCISCO — The encouraging stretch of Logan O’Hoppe’s season seems like a distant memory.
The Angels’ catcher hit .354 with a 1.013 OPS over a 15-game span in June, which he said was because he resumed doing a pregame hitting routine that he’d discovered as a young minor leaguer.
O’Hoppe is still doing the same routine, but he’s now hit .127 with a .294 OPS over his last 20 games.
“I feel like we’ve talked about my struggles at the plate for the past two seasons, and I think the more we talk about it, the more you realize how pissed off I am about it,” O’Hoppe said on Friday. “Everyone knows the player I was when I got traded over here (in 2022). Everyone knows the player I was when I debuted until about midway through ’24. I was really confident in that. I was playing well, hitting homers.”
In an injury-shortened 2023 season, O’Hoppe hit 14 homers in 51 games, with a .796 OPS. He hit 16 homers with an .804 OPS through the first four months of 2024. In nearly two years since, he’s hit .204 with a .592 OPS.
“No one wants me to get back to that player more than I do,” O’Hoppe said. “I’ve shown I could do it. Shoot, I was two years younger when I did it, so I’m more than capable of doing it. I work too hard to not be that.”
O’Hoppe was not in the lineup on Wednesday, with an off day in between, or Friday. Manager Kurt Suzuki said there was no larger plan behind the consecutive days off. The Angels were facing a right-handed pitcher on Friday night, so Suzuki wanted the left-handed bat of switch-hitting catcher Tyler Heineman in the lineup. The Angels are facing lefties on Saturday and Sunday.
Suzuki said he still has faith that O’Hoppe can improve.
“You’re going to go through good times, and you’re going to go through tough times,” Suzuki said. “Sometimes when you’re having his struggles, he’s getting a pitch to hit and he’s fouling it off. That can get frustrating. I think we’ve just got to go to the basics, right? Get a good pitch and have a good approach and stick with it. Try not to worry too much about results. Try to worry more about process than results.”
JOYCE UPDATE
Right-hander Ben Joyce pitched a scoreless inning at Triple-A on Thursday night, the first time in his two rehab assignments this season that he’s gotten to that level.
That suggests that he’s getting close to finally returning to the big leagues for the first time since he had shoulder surgery in May 2025.
“Obviously seeing how he recovers, but all the reports we got is he’s doing great,” Suzuki said. “He’s feeling good.”
Joyce averaged 101.9 mph on his fastball and he topped at 103.2 mph.
“I think it’s more just him feeling how he feels, if he feels like he’s ready,” Suzuki said. “Because at the end of the day, if he doesn’t feel like he’s ready, then he’s not going to contribute. If he feels he’s ready, if he feels he’s strong enough to come up and good enough to go, then we’ll definitely have a conversation.”
NOTES
Catcher Travis d’Arnaud (plantar fasciitis) is scheduled to catch nine innings in his next game at Triple-A, which would be one of the final hurdles for him to clear to return to the Angels. …
Infielder Adam Frazier (elbow) is dealing with “normal soreness that typically comes with not playing for a while and having to play again,” Suzuki said. “I think with Frazier it’s just taking it day by day and seeing how he feels.”
Angels 15th-round draft pick Cameron Jackson is the only player who hasn’t signed yet. Jackson, a high school shortstop from Georgia, has a commitment to the University of Oklahoma. The deadline is Monday.
UP NEXT
Angels (RHP Ryan Johnson, 2-4, 6.10) at Giants (LHP Robbie Ray, 8-6, 3.33), Saturday, 1:05 p.m., ABTV, 830 AM