TEMPE, Ariz. -- With Nolan Schanuel's ability to control the zone and make contact at an elite rate, Angels manager Kurt Suzuki doesn’t see why the first baseman can’t step it up another level offensively.
Suzuki offered high praise for Schanuel, who is just 24 years old, but is heading into his fourth season in the Majors and his third full year as the club’s starting first baseman.
“This guy should be in the batting title conversation I feel like yearly,” Suzuki said. “That's how good I feel like he can be. The guy works his butt off. He's out here with a great attitude, and he's just been a joy to be around.”
Schanuel, the No. 11 pick in the 2023 Draft out of Florida Atlantic University, memorably spent just 40 days in the Minor Leagues before making his debut late in the '23 season. He's posted a career .259/.353/.371 slash line in 308 games, including slashing .264/.353/.389 with 12 homers, 23 doubles and 53 RBIs in 132 games last year.
Schanuel has developed into a solid No. 2 hitter because of his ability to put the ball in play. He struck out in just 12.6 percent of his plate appearances last season, which was much lower than the league average of 22.5 percent.
Among advanced statistics provided by Baseball Savant, he ranked in the 93rd percentile in squared-up percentage and strikeout percentage, the 92nd percentile in whiff percentage and in the 83rd percentile in launch angle sweet-spot percentage. But he ranked in the fourth percentile in bat speed and sixth percentile in hard-hit percentage.
In short, Schanuel is incredible at putting the bat on the ball, but he has one of the shortest and slowest swings in the Majors, which limits his power production. It’s why Schanuel has worked to improve his bat speed using underweighted/weighted bats and has seen results, including a jump of 2.3 mph last year that was the sixth-best improvement in the Majors in ’25.
“I worked on a lot of bat speed stuff and a lot of barrel control too,” Schanuel said. “I feel like with the bat speed, you lose that barrel control because you're so worried about swinging as hard as you can that you lose the end of the barrel. And the worst thing you can do is hit a bunch of popups. So I just worked on a good trajectory, keeping it between a 10 and 26 [degree] launch angle.”
Schanuel has seen his launch angle improve each year in the Majors, going from 6.5 in '23 to 10.3 in '24 and 13.2 in '25. The sweet spot is considered between eight and 32 degrees but for it to be a barrel, it has to leave the bat at least 98 mph. Schanuel’s average exit velocity was 87.5 mph and he recorded just 19 barrels on 424 batted balls in ‘25.
So Schanuel knows to increase his production he has to start hitting the ball harder, which will lead to more hits and power. He also is well aware of all the talk about his lack of home run production, but he believes he can still be a valuable hitter without being a traditional slugger.
“I think for me, maybe my power might not show in homers, but in doubles,” Schanuel said. “So hopefully I can increase my doubles and that'll increase the slug and give these guys more RBI opportunities.”
Suzuki pointed to Schanuel’s age and said he thinks Schanuel will only add more power as he develops. He has the frame at 6-foot-2 and 220 pounds, so now it’s about hunting the right pitches to hit and adding to that bat speed and exit velocity.
“You get older, you get that daddy strength,” Suzuki said. “The power's gonna come, and in my experience, I played with a lot of guys that really learned how to hit when they were younger, and as they got older, the power came, but they weren’t trying to produce it.”
Schanuel, though, said his overall approach at the plate won’t change, as he’ll remain a picky hitter and only swing at pitches he believes he can do damage with. His teammates also like to joke with him about how active he will be with ABS challenges this year, and while he’s curious to see how it works, his plan at the plate won’t be any different.
“I think keeping that same mentality at the plate and just carrying it over this year has worked,” Schanuel said. “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. So I’ll take it over and test it out in spring games.”