Kyren Paris Is Raking Right Now — Don’t Look Away

On Wednesday evening, Kyren Paris became just the 7th player in MLB history to tally five home runs and four stolen bases within his team’s first 11 games. No one has ever done it in fewer plate appearances.

Paris has been a revelation for the Angels and fantasy managers—but who is he?

The athletically gifted speedster was selected at just 17, among the youngest players in the 2019 draft. Between the pandemic and early injuries, Paris had logged only 219 professional plate appearances by the end of 2021.

He made up for lost time over the next two seasons, slashing .248/.379/.417 with 26 homers and 77 stolen bases. The tools were beginning to translate. He stayed healthy, remained young for his level, and consistently walked over 15% of the time, though a strikeout rate near 30% showed the swing was still a work in progress.

Paris entered 2024 as Baseball America’s No. 4 prospect in the Angels' system. He was always more of a tools bet than a polished product.

Then the bottom fell out:

Afterwards, it didn’t appear as if there would be a role for him at the big league level, but something changed over the winter.

Sam Blum of The Athletic reported that Paris trained with Aaron Judge’s personal hitting coach this offseason. That work caught fire in camp. Paris impressed the Angels so much this spring that the team released Mickey Moniak, clearing the runway for Paris to break camp with the big league club.

Now What?

The performance has carried into the regular season, and like anyone with a 355 wRC+, he’s overperforming.

It’s far too early for metrics like barrel rate and xwOBA to stabilize, but it’s still notable that he ranks in the 90th percentile or better in both.

Paris is walking at an elevated rate again, and his K% is down, though a propensity for swing-and-miss suggests that could be his first form of regression.

The 23-year-old doesn’t have enough playing time to qualify for 2025 in Robert Orr’s SEAGER metric, but small-sample data from the past two seasons show he’s aggressive on hittable pitches. Paris also doesn’t chase out of the zone—his swing decisions are strong.

The strikeout issues come more from a lack of contact skills and taking massive hacks than from poor discipline.

Paris’ recent home run surge has led to fewer opportunities to swipe bases this week, but he’s still perfect in his big league career (8-for-8) and is stealing at one of the highest rates in the league.

After starting just two of the Angels’ first seven games, Paris has been in Ron Washington’s lineup for the past four. However, his playing time remains uncertain. This is the Angels, after all—a team with every incentive to give young players a shot, but one with Luis Rengifo, Tim Anderson, Yoan Moncada, Nicky Lopez, and Kevin Newman potentially complicating things. And that’s before Zach Neto (shoulder) returns from his rehab assignment.

If Paris keeps homering and stealing bases, the rational assumption is that he’ll earn regular playing time. That could include growing pains, though. Despite four homers in the past three days, I’m not 100% sure if he’ll even start this afternoon.

As of today, though, he’s forcing us to take him seriously. Like I once wrote, you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube. The Angels have to recognize it. This is happening.

He'll likely cool off — that's how these stories often unfold. But the improvement is real, the opportunity is here, and for now, I'm all in.