Minor League Player Spotlight: Angels' Moore

Christian Moore admits that the biggest adjustment he's had to make coming from college baseball to the pros is the speed of the game. But if his performance of late is any indication, this year's No. 8 overall Draft pick has hit the ground sprinting.

Moore earned Southern League Player of the Week honors after going 11-for-20 with a pair of four-knock efforts and two multihomer contests across five games between Aug. 5-12 for Double-A Rocket City. MLB's No. 80 overall prospect sports a 1.484 OPS through his first 11 games as a pro.

"I would say that this week it’s started to slow down a little bit," Moore told Robert Flores, Lauren Shehadi, Dan Plesac and Mark DeRosa on MLB Network's MLB Central. "I’ve been traveling all over. I’ve been in different states, different places, just playing all over. So, this week, I’m a little bit more comfortable with the guys, playing with them for about a week and a half now. But, it’s definitely been fun. Definitely a journey I’ll never trade for anything else."

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Moore served as a catalyst for the Trash Pandas offense the entire week, recording a trio of mulithit games while clubbing four home runs, driving in six runs, scoring seven times and walking twice. The 6-foot-1, 210-pound infielder paced the Southern League in hits, homers, runs, slugging (1.150), OPS (1.741) and total bases (23).

The Tennessee product is finding his footing against the advanced skillset of players at the Double-A level.

"Guys are way more comfortable throwing fastballs in [at this level]," he told MLB Network. "You know, in college, it’s mostly two-pitch guys, now I’m facing starters that are four-pitch guys, who can locate anything. So, it’s just understanding that instead of me just sitting on a slider, maybe I have to sit on an off-speed, just something slower. And then go from there and react."

Moore is coming off of a College World Series title with the Volunteers. During his playing days in the SEC the righty swinger even had the opportunity to face this year's National League starter in the MLB All-Star game, Paul Skenes. A memory he cherishes.

"He's a dog, for sure. He's really good," Moore said. "Facing him in college was definitely fun, obviously, because he had the hype around his name. But it was tough -- 102 mph fastball coming at out with sink and that slider. And now he's added that splinker which I never got to face, thank God. But, I'm fortunate enough to be able to say that I faced him."

And it might not be too far off until the 21-year-old gets to face Skenes again in the big leagues. The Angels' organization has not been shy about putting top prospects on the fast track to The Show in recent years, and if Moore continues this level of success he might force L.A.'s hand. But, that's not something this year's No. 8 overall Draft selection is thinking about right now.

"If you work hard and you produce hopefully you’ll get a chance to be called up. That’s how I look at it," he said. "But, I just try to take it day by day. This game is obviously tough and if you start thinking about other stuff while you’re in the box bad things can happen. So, just try to take it day-by-day, pitch-by-pitch, and worry about winning ballgames."

Moore is also a product of the MLB Develops program. He participated in the 2018 and 2020 Dream Series, as well as the Breakthrough Series and Hank Aaron Invitational in 2019. Moore credits a great deal of his success with that experience.

"They’ve helped my game so much in the last couple of years," he said. "Going to those and staying away for a weekend or a week and hearing what big leaguers and Hall of Famers have to say in critiquing your game. It definitely helped me a lot and I’m super blessed for it. Those guys really helped shape my game to where I am today."