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9
Los Angeles Angels · Shortstop

Zach
Neto

SS · #9 Age 25 · Bats R / Throws R · 6'0" 185 lbs ★ The Franchise
ST AVG
2026 Spring
ST OPS
2026 Spring
ST HR
2026 Spring
10.2
bWAR
since '24 OD
130+
wRC+
2024 season
A+
Grade
Must Extend
Now
🌵 2026 Spring Training — Updated Nightly
Games
AB
AVG
OBP
SLG
HR
RBI
SB
Career Statistics
YearGAVGOBPSLGOPSHRRBISBwRC+WAR
202396.244.319.397.716134761032.8
2024148.270.348.446.7941975111306.3
2025155.261.339.431.7701872141183.9
2026 ST

The Best Player on This Roster. Full Stop.

Zach Neto has accumulated 10.2 bWAR since Opening Day 2024. Not shortstop-adjusted. Not age-qualified. A top-10 position player in baseball over the last two seasons — playing for the Los Angeles Angels, a team that has done almost everything else wrong.

FanGraphs was direct: Neto is "likely the best player on the team now." The Red Sox agreed this offseason — Boston made a legitimate run at him before the Angels held firm. That is the telling detail. Other teams know what the Angels have. The question is whether the Angels know what the Angels have.

The extension math: Seven years, $140–175M. Do it this spring. Every month of delay is a month Neto adds to his résumé, watches another postseason without him, and prices himself further from a hometown discount. The Red Sox will be back. The Yankees will call. Extend him now.

His defensive value is what separates him from offensive-only shortstops. Neto finished 2024 with elite range metrics — not just good enough to stay at short, but actively making the pitching staff better. Every ground ball through the left side that becomes an out is an earned run not allowed.

The 2026 spring numbers are small-sample theater, but the approach is identical: consistent contact, patience at the plate, the kind of at-bats that tell you a player hasn't changed who he is. Whatever the spring line says, Neto's game is built on repeatability. That's the most bankable trait in baseball.