L.A. Angels: Hank Conger Holding Down the Fort

Hank Conger has accomplished something in eight games that Mike Napoli couldn’t accomplish in five years. He was able to somewhat convince Mike Scioscia that Jeff Mathis is not worthy of being a starting catcher.

I say somewhat because Mathis will still get his starts like he did last night against the Texas Rangers. But one thing is pretty clear: if the Angels want to score more runs, then Conger is their guy behind the plate.

Through eight games, Conger is hitting .333/.429/.625 with two home runs. What I like about Conger is that his peripherals through 28 plate appearances are pretty much in line with what he did in the minors. His K Percentage is 16.7 percent, which falls right in line with his 16.8 K Percentage in five minor league seasons and his 10.7 BB Percentage is slightly better than the 7.2 percentage he had.

Yes, we are working off of a small sample size here, but it’s still promising nonetheless.

I hope Scioscia is smart enough to realize that the Conger is the better option behind the plate for the Angels. I don’t think anyone wants to see Conger become the next Napoli in Anaheim.

Here are some other things you should know about Hank Conger…

Age: 23

Bats: Both

Throws: Right

College: None

Drafted: 25th pick of the first round of the 2006 Draft out of Huntington Beach High School

Minor League Stats:

Year	Lev	G	PA	H	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2006	Rk	19	76	22	1	11	7	11	.319	.382	.522	.903
2007	A-Rk	87