Florida Atlantic’s Nolan Schanuel during an NCAA baseball game on Tuesday, April 4, 2023, in Boca Raton, Florida.
Nolan Schanuel heard his name called by the Los Angeles Angels at the 2023 MLB Draft in July.
And just over a month later, the first baseman received another memorable call from the club.
In a historic promotion, the Angels called up Schanuel to the bigs on Friday just weeks after they drafted him 11th overall. The 21-year-old will bat leadoff for the Halos in his MLB debut against the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night.
Schanuel's promotion to the MLB level, which came after 40 days in the minors, is the second fastest since 1979, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Only pitcher Ariel Prieto, who debuted with the Oakland Athletics less than a month after being drafted in 1995, reached the bigs faster than Schanuel over the past 40-plus years.
Among drafted position players, Schanuel is the fifth fastest to ever reach the bigs, according to Baseball America. Only Dave Roberts (1 day after being drafted in 1972), Bob Horner (10 days after being drafted in 1978), Dave Winfield (14 days after being drafted in in 1973) and Brian Milner (17 days after being drafted in 1978) had quicker callups.
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The Angels have been one of the more aggressive teams in promoting draft picks to the bigs in recent years. According to ESPN Stats & Information, Schanuel is the fifth player from the 2022 and 2023 draft classes to reach the majors, with three of the other four also being Angels.
Schanuel, a native of Boca Raton, Florida, was selected by the Angels following a three-year career at Florida Atlantic. In 2023, the left-handed batter hit .447/.615/.868 with 19 home runs and 64 RBIs over 59 NCAA contests.
Since being drafted, Schanuel has logged 21 appearances in Los Angeles' minor league system, with 16 coming at the Double-A level. Albeit a small sample size, Schanuel was putting up crooked numbers with Double-A Rocket City, hitting .339/.480/.475 with one homer and 12 RBIs.
The Angels will be hoping the addition of Schanuel, along with the nearing returns of Mike Trout and Logan O'Hoppe, can help skyrocket the team's extremely slim playoff chances.
Los Angeles opted not to trade AL MVP favorite and pending free agent Shohei Ohtani at the deadline, instead making win-now moves by bringing in Lucas Giolito, Randal Grichuk and C.J. Cron. But the Halos are just 4-11 in the month of August as they've fallen to 60-62 and seven games out of the final AL wild card spot.
