Welcome to the Blue, Angelo Mora!

With the Winter Meetings officially over there is only one development related to a new addition to the Dodgers to tell you about. This morning, as a part of the Triple-A portion of the Rule 5 Draft, the Dodgers picked up Dominican infielder Angelo Mora from the Baltimore Orioles. Per Rowan Kavner at Dodger Insider:

The versatile 24-year-old infielder hit .291/.334/.435 between Double-A and Triple-A in Philadelphia’s organization last year, spending the majority of the season with Double-A Reading, where he hit .295/.348/.470 with 19 doubles, three triples and nine home runs in 322 plate appearances. 

Mora played all over the place in Double-A last year, logging innings at second base, shortstop, third base, left field and right field. At Triple-A, he only played the infield. The majority of his time was spent as a middle infielder in 2017. 

The switch-hitter batted .287/.330/.409 in 298 plate appearances as a lefty against right-handed pitching and batted .303/.344/.496 in 128 plate appearances as a righty against left-handed pitching.

As for what he can do, some in the Phillies organization thought he could be an everyday second baseman. Given our precarious situation at that position he could potentially step in and steal the job from Logan Forsythe. Obviously, only time will tell, but you gotta love the potential. Per Jim Salisbury at Baseball America:

“Angelo was always an intriguing but frustrating guy," (Phillies director of player development, Joe) Jordan said. “He was always a talented kid. In fact, there were days when he was the best player on the field, but he was inconsistent offensively and defensively. His inability to handle adversity got in his way for a long time.

I'm not sure what the last sentence is about (most of the scouting report is hidden behind a paywall), but maybe a change of scenery will help him out. He has the tools, but has not been able to put it all together.

BTW, Mora was basically released by the Phillies this winter after seven years with the club; which allowed him to sign a free agent minor league contract with the Orioles this past November. Since Baltimore chose to not protect him from the Rule 5 Draft this morning, the Dodgers swooped in to steal him.

Overall, it appears he is another one of those super-utility players. The kid has played everywhere, and you know that's something the Dodgers love. Unfortunately, he doesn't quite have the defensive reputation you want from a utility guy. No doubt, though, he'll be given an opportunity to improve, and could see himself in Dodger Blue at some point next season if he does take that next step. I'm crossing my fingers in hopes that the front office has found another diamond in the rough.

In celebration of him joining the club I made two fantasy Baseball cards of him that you can see at the very top of this post.

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