This morning brought roster moves for the Los Angeles Angels, with veteran corner infielder J.D. Davis officially having his contract selected to the major league roster. The news, initially reported by Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, was subsequently confirmed by MLB Trade Rumors, noting Davis’ presence in the visiting clubhouse in Tampa.
This move necessitated a corresponding roster adjustment, which has now been revealed: Third baseman Yoan Moncada is headed to the 10-day injured list due to a right thumb sprain. To create a spot for Davis on the 40-man roster, left-handed pitcher Jack Dashwood has been designated for assignment.
Los Angeles Angels Roster Move Deep Dive
Davis, who will turn 33 later this month, had signed a minor league deal with the Angels during the offseason. After not making the initial major league roster out of spring training, the eight-year veteran demonstrated strong performance with Triple-A Salt Lake, posting a .297/.357/.486 slash line with two home runs, a double, four walks, and eight strikeouts across 42 plate appearances, showcasing a solid 9.5% walk rate and a 19% strikeout rate.
Originally a first-round pick (No. 75 overall) by the Houston Astros in 2014, Davis debuted briefly with Houston in 2017. Following limited opportunities in his first two seasons, he was traded to the New York Mets prior to the 2019 season. From 2019 through 2023, Davis proved to be a productive hitter for both the Mets and the San Francisco Giants, combining for a .268/.352/.443 batting line (119 wRC+) with 63 home runs in just over 1800 plate appearances.
While his strikeout rate was a bit elevated at 27.3%, he also demonstrated a good eye at the plate, walking in 10.2% of his plate appearances. However, his offensive numbers regressed toward the league average in the final year of that stretch, and he experienced a significant downturn in 2024 with the Oakland Athletics and New York Yankees, batting just .218/.293/.338 in 157 plate appearances.
Interestingly, Davis did reduce his strikeout rate slightly last season and still made hard contact at a strong 43.7% clip, but his ground-ball rate spiked to a career-high 61.4%, a problematic trend for a player lacking significant speed. In his peak years from 2019 to 2022, his ground-ball rate hovered just below 47%.
Moncada, 29, had signed a one-year, $5 million guaranteed deal with the Angels this past offseason. He has been dealing with thumb pain throughout spring training and the early part of the season, appearing in only eight games and accumulating just 27 plate appearances, where he went 4-for-21 with two doubles, six walks, and eight strikeouts, resulting in a .190/.370/.286 slash line.
Once a highly touted international signing and a key figure in the Chicago White Sox’s rebuilding efforts, Moncada showed flashes of stardom early in his career, leading to a five-year, $70 million extension from Chicago. His breakout 2019 season, where he hit .315/.367/.548 with 25 home runs, made that contract seem like a sound investment.
However, injuries have consistently hampered Moncada’s production in subsequent seasons. Over the life of that five-year deal (which included the shortened 2020 season), he appeared in just 404 games, hitting .244/.326/.395, roughly league-average production that fell short of the White Sox’s initial high expectations.
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Jack Dashwood, a 27-year-old left-hander, was added to the Angels’ 40-man roster ahead of the 2024 Rule 5 draft. Despite pitching only 10 innings in Double-A last year due to injury, he posted an impressive 15-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio during that limited time.
He followed that with a strong showing in the Arizona Fall League, pitching another ten innings with just four runs allowed on 10 hits and an excellent 17-to-2 strikeout-to-walk mark. However, his start to the 2025 season with Triple-A has been rocky, allowing a dozen runs in his first two frames.
The Angels now have five days to either trade Dashwood or place him on waivers, a process that would take an additional 48 hours. It is also possible that they could waive him before the five-day trade window closes. Regardless, the Angels will need to resolve Dashwood’s roster status within the next week.