Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the top 50 of each major North American sports team. That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists and consistently look to update them when necessary and based on necessity. As such, we are delighted to present our post-2024 revision of our top 50 Los Angeles Angels.

As for all of our top 50 players in baseball, we look at the following: 

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the American League.

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles that are not reflected in a stat sheet.

Please note that our algorithm has changed, which yielded minor changes throughout the baseball lists.

Last year, the Angels had their first year of the post-Ohtani era finished last in the division as expected.  There were no new entrants based on 2024, but there was one from the new algorithm.

As always, we present our top five, which saw two changes based on the new algorithm.

1. Mike Trout

2. Chuck Finlay

3. Nolan Ryan

4. Jim Fregosi

5. Shohei Ohtani

You can find the entire list here. 

Under the new algorithm, Finlay surpasses Ryan for #2 and Jim Fregosi entered the top five..

With the new algorithm, Shortstop Gary DiSarcina comes in at #49.

We thank you for your continued support of our lists on Notinhalloffame.com.

The California Angels were no powerhouse in the 1960s, and bluntly, they were pretty bad.  However, if there were a team MVP for the decade, it would have to be Shortstop, Jim Fregosi.

Before he reached the Majors with the Angels, he was in the Red Sox system.  The Angels took him in the expansion draft, and he was on the main roster in 1961 and a regular at short by 1963.  Named to six All-Stars, including five consecutive (1966-70), Fregosi was an excellent hitting infielder for his day, showing occasional power (four years with double-digits in Hone Runs). He had at least 140 Hits annually from 1963 to 1970.  In all of those years, he was considered valuable enough to where he received MVP votes, peaking in 1967 with a seventh-place tally on the strength of a Gold Glove, 171 Hits, and a .290 Batting Average.

The New York Mets traded for Fregosi after the 1971 season, but he wasn’t the same player.  The Mets loss was California’s gain, as Nolan Ryan was one of the players they landed.  With the Angels, Fregosi had 1,408 Hits, 115 Home Runs with a .268 Batting Average.

Fregosi would later manage the Angels from 1978 to 1981, and in 1989, he became the second player inducted into the Angels Hall of Fame.  Nearly a decade later, Fregosi’s number 11 was retired by the team.

Jim Fregosi’s Major League debut coincided with that of the Los Angeles Angels, and it would not take long for the Shortstop to establish himself as one of the premier players at his position.