Since their inception earlier this decade, the Double-A Rocket City Trash Pandas have been one of the most recognizable clubs in Minor League Baseball. They had never made it to a Championship Series but they’ve had a handful of future Angels make their way through Madison, Alabama, including 2024 first-round pick Christian Moore, who lit the Southern League ablaze that August.
But Arjun Nimmala is on a different level. A first-round pick in his own right -- albeit by the Blue Jays in 2023 -- the sweet-swinging righty clobbered a homer in his third consecutive game Thursday, marking his fifth in his past five contests and ninth in 13 outings during September, regular season included.
The solo shot from the Angels’ top prospect accounted for just one run in Rocket City’s 13-3 win over Knoxville at Covenant Health Park, but it was a jolt that’s been emblematic of the club’s fortunes since he arrived on Aug. 5. With homers in both of the Trash Pandas’ postseason games thus far, Nimmala has helped to send the club to its first Southern League Finals appearance.
The shortstop’s latest roundtripper came in the fourth inning against an inside heater from right-hander Dawson Netz (Cubs) that likely would have been called a ball had Nimmala not swung -- but when you’re swinging it as well as MLB’s No. 37 prospect is, you might as well take a rip. Nimmala has collected two hits in six of his past seven outings.
“I think a lot of it has to do with his approach," said Rocket City manager Joe Kruzel of Nimmala last Thursday. "When he’s taking batting practice, he’s working the middle of the field and the other way, just trying to put a good swing on it. He makes good swing decisions in the zone, which allows him to do damage.”
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Arriving in the Southern League as the return in the José Soriano trade with Toronto at the Deadline, Nimmala ranked in the top 10 on the circuit in homers (8, sixth) OPS (.966, seventh) and total bases (60, 10th) down the stretch. He had a brief absence due to a laceration on his left hand, but that barely slowed him down en route to posting a career-best .864 OPS this year across time with five Minor League clubs.
Nimmala ranked among the league leaders in line-drive rate in the Eastern League prior to the trade. He kept on hammering the ball for Rocket City, posting a 29.7 percent mark down the stretch, which ranked ninth on the circuit among batters with at least 120 plate appearances.
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Dating back to when the Blue Jays selected Nimmala 20th overall in 2023 out of the Florida high school ranks, he’s had a unique uppercut swing that features “an abrupt finish,” which earned early comps to Julio Rodríguez and Mookie Betts. Adding his two playoff homers to his 16 regular-season roundtrippers won’t officially give him a new career high, but it is indicative that he’s grown into his 60-grade power tool.
Still only 20 years old, Nimmala has long been a bundle of potential. But now, fully healthy after missing a month earlier this summer with a right hamstring strain, he’s capitalizing on it.
Another of the Halos’ Trade Deadline acquisitions (from Cleveland in the Jo Adell deal), Jacob Cozart (LAA No. 22), played a major role in the clincher, going 3-for-5 with four RBIs, including a two-run homer.
By virtue of their latest victory, Rocket City will lock horns with Biloxi in the Southern League Finals, which begin Sunday. For prospect fans, it will also provide a glimpse at two of the top shortstops in the sport with Nimmala squaring off against Milwaukee’s Jesús Made (MLB’s No. 1 prospect), who also homered to help propel his club to victory Thursday.