The Los Angeles Angels added outfielder Aaron Hicks on a one-year deal worth the $740,000 vet minimum. They made the move despite having Jo Adell, Taylor Ward, and Mickey Moniak on the roster.
Therefore, it remains to be seen if one of them will be sent to the minor leagues. Likewise, the Angels will be paying Hicks less than a million dollars because the New York Yankees are still paying the bulk of his salary after he was released last May.
Angels, OF Aaron Hicks agree to deal, per https://t.co/Z3s2EpgF39's @Feinsand. pic.twitter.com/2anyWaKoCc
— MLB (@MLB) January 29, 2024
Once he left New York after eight years, he finished the 2023 Major League Baseball season with the Baltimore Orioles. Hicks made a difference with the Orioles after hitting .275 with 31 runs batted in and 55 hits in 200 at-bats.
While Hicks will suit up for the Angels, he will receive $9.74 million from the Yankees as part of the seven-year, $70 million contract extension he signed in 2019.
Hicks’ best season in Major League Baseball came in 2018 when he batted. 248 for the Yankees. He had a career-highs in hits (119), runs batted in (79), home runs (27), and at-bats (480). Those numbers helped him earn votes for the American League Most Valuable Player award.
Aaron Hicks started his MLB career five years after the Minnesota Twins took him in the first round of the 2008 Amateur Draft. After three seasons, the Twins traded him to the Yankees for John Ryan Murphy.
Playing for the Angels means that he will play for his hometown. He was born in Los Angeles and raised in Long Beach, wherein he attended Woodrow Wilson Classical High School. Hicks has a career .233 batting average with 716 hits, 387 RBIs, and 108 home runs in 3,078 at-bats.
-Lance Fernandez