Despite a decent start to the 2025 season, the wheels quickly fell off for the Los Angeles Angels.
It was understandably a tough time when Ron Washington left due to a medical issue. The team was hovering around .500 and actually showed decent enough promise to the point that some were expecting a possible playoff run.
However, under the stewardship of interim skipper Ray Montgomery, the team was unable to sustain the same level of potency shown earlier in the season.
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Sam Blum of The Athletic caught up with Halos catcher Logan O’Hoppe recently to debrief on the tumultuous season this past year.
O’Hoppe, one of the team’s best and most accomplished players, was publicly questioned in September by then-manager Ray Montgomery. O’Hoppe’s usual standard on the field was not where it had been — and this was particularly the case on defense. Trying to make sense of it, Montgomery spoke about the supposed relationship between his catcher and the pitching staff.
“Listen, you don’t have to go to dinner with each other, and you don’t have to be best friends. But when you step out of the dugout, when you cross the lines, there has to be a trust,” Montgomery said. “There doesn’t have to be a love. … And [O’Hoppe] probably got to earn a little bit of that back.”
Suffice to say, but the comments did not sit well with O’Hoppe in the slightest.
“As far as [Montgomery’s] comments about me having to earn things back, there has not been one instance this year with any of my pitchers where I butted heads, got into it, caused any reason for them not to trust me. Not one,” O’Hoppe said.
“A lot of perspectives on my relationship with different pitchers has come from people that aren’t me, and aren’t my pitchers either. If you ask any of the pitchers about it, I am sure that they would say our relationship is great. I certainly don’t feel like I have to earn anybody’s trust.”
This is another example of the volatility centered around this franchise. It’s not exactly a feud between the player and former coach, though it illustrates two ways of thinking that clearly are not aligned with one another.
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With the new skipper Kurt Suzuki being a former MLB catcher himself, there’s hope he can help O’Hoppe regain the form both offensively and defensively he’s shown in the past. Considering he’s turning 26 in February, there’s plenty of time for a revival.
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