TEMPE, Ariz. — The highs and lows from Kyren Paris’ season in 2025 would rival the most stomach-churning rollercoaster.
Paris began the year as the Angels’ biggest surprise of the spring, and he ended it playing winter ball in Mexico to make up for the half-season lost to injury in a frustrating finish.
“It was real unfortunate,” Paris said of the injury. “But it’s all part of the journey.”
His journey has come almost full circle, because now he’s pretty much where he was at the start of last spring. He’s buried in a crowded depth chart, trying to fight his way past infielders like Christian Moore, Vaughn Grissom, Oswald Peraza, Adam Frazier and Chris Taylor, and outfielders like Bryce Teodosio and José Siri.
Last season Paris sizzled in spring training and won regular playing time as an outfielder, hitting an eye-opening .366 with five homers in his first 15 games of the regular season.
Over the next 28 games, he hit .106 with 47 strikeouts in 91 plate appearances. He was sent to Triple-A in late May, and about five weeks later he was hurt diving for a ball in the outfield, essentially ending his season.
How did he go from being so hot to being so cold?
“He’s a young player that is adjusting to the league and this game is about adjustments,” manager Kurt Suzuki said. “He came out and obviously he was on fire. And then the league made an adjustment and now KP has to make an adjustment.”
Paris, 24, explained last spring that the hot streak was the result of a reworked swing. Paris sought the help of controversial hitting coach Richard Schenck, who is best known for working with New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge and having a huge social media footprint.
Schenck got Paris to move back in the batter’s box, and open his stance. He squatted more and hovered his front foot to delay his swing.
It all worked great until pitchers adjusted and started pounding him with low and away pitches that he couldn’t quite reach. Paris chased 37% of pitches that were out of the zone, low and away, and he whiffed on 77% of those swings.
“As the pitchers adjusted to how they were pitching me, I think that I could have done a better job with my approach,” Paris said. “That’s something I’ve been continuing to work on and look at. I don’t think it had anything to do with the swing. I think it was more just the pitches that I was swinging at.”
Paris didn’t get to play much at Triple-A after the big league slump because he got hurt. He returned for just five minor league games in September. That’s why he chose to get extra at-bats in the winter league in Mexico. He hit .264 with an .814 OPS in Mexico. He did walk 15 times and strike out 16 times in Mexico, which is perhaps a sign that he’s figuring out which pitches he needs to take.
Paris said he talked to Schenck this winter but did not work out with him.
So far this spring, Paris is 1 for 6 with two strikeouts and a walk.
His path to playing time last season was in the outfield. After the Angels moved Mike Trout to right field, they had an opening in center. Now, the Angels have more options in center and Paris is spending more time in the infield. He can play, second, third and shortstop. He was originally drafted as a shortstop.
“I’m ready to play wherever,” Paris said. “I just want to be on the field and help the guys and help the team win.”
BACHMAN UPDATE
It’s now been almost a year since the last time that right-hander Sam Bachman had to deal with any injuries, after the previous few years were a frustrating series of interruptions.
“Being on the field consistently and getting reps and not start-stop, start-stop, I think it’s been hard to find my footing,” Bachman said. “Being healthy, that’s the only thing I’ve been missing.”
In Bachman’s first outing of the spring, he walked the bases loaded and couldn’t get out of the inning. But on Wednesday, he pitched a perfect inning, with two strikeouts.
Bachman’s primary weapons are a 98 mph fastball and a slider, and he’s trying to integrate a changeup.
“I did it a lot in Triple-A and liked the results I was getting from it,” Bachman said. “Just mixing that in to lefties.”
Bachman, 26, was the Angels’ first-round pick from their all-pitcher draft in 2021. So far he’s pitched just 37⅓ innings in the majors, with a 4.82 ERA.
NOTES
The Angels had a “show and go” day on Thursday, meaning there were no formal workouts in the morning before the game. Many players still showed up for individual hitting or fielding work, though. “You’re excited right in the beginning, the first two weeks, then you kind of start hitting a little bit of a wall,” Suzuki said. “You’ve been going every day, waking up at 6:00 in the morning, 5:30, whatever. You wake up. You come here. Your body hits a little bit of a wall. I’ve experienced it. I just felt like it was the right time to give the guys a ‘show and go’ and maybe energize them a little bit and break up the monotony of waking up at 5:30 every day. “ …
Right-hander Caden Dana is still limited by an illness. He has not participated in any formal workouts with the rest of the pitchers. He’s been coming to the facility to play catch on his own. Once Dana can return, the Angels will be able to assess how far behind he is, Suzuki said. …
Left-handed reliever Brent Suter will start the Angels’ exhibition against the Cincinnati Reds on Friday. Suzuki said they want Suter to be stretched out to be a multi-inning reliever. With Yusei Kikuchi gone for the World Baseball Classic, the Angels have a hole in their spring training rotation.