Christian Moore: Everything you need to know

Triple-A Salt Lake placed Moore on its 7-day injured list Sunday due to a leg injury, Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com reports. Moore hadn't played since April 25 on account of the injury, which Angels general manager Perry Minasian relayed is a minor issue that won't keep the young infielder on the shelf for too long. Before succumbing to the injury, Moore failed to win a spot on the Angels' Opening Day roster but had gotten off to a nice start to the season at Salt Lake with a .219/.437/.452 slash line and more walks (28) than strikeouts (24) over his 103 plate appearances.

The Angels optioned Moore to Triple-A Salt Lake on Saturday. Moore entered spring training competing against Adam Frazier for the starting job at second base. The former didn't make much of a case for the Opening Day roster, going 7-for-40 (.175) with one home run, three RBI, one stolen base and 11 strikeouts across 14 Cactus League games. Frazier will be on the Angels' Opening Day roster while Moore starts the season in the minors, where he'll look to improve his approach at the plate and earn a major-league call-up from the Halos in 2026.

Moore is batting just .189 this spring, but he's shown increased exit velocity and less swing-and-miss, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports. Per Fletcher, Moore ended play Monday with the 11th-highest average exit velocity in the majors this spring, with his 96-mph mark considerably higher than the 89 mph he registered in the majors last season. Despite the lack of results in terms of hits, Moore didn't seem concerned about his bad luck, saying, "Whether it falls or not, I'm not really worried about that right now. I just want to make sure I'm making consistent contact every day and making sure I'm at least catching one barrel a day, and a legit barrel. That's kind of where my focus has been and it's been good so far." It's also promising that Moore has been making decent contact -- his strikeout rate so far this spring is at 22.5 percent after he whiffed at a 33.7 percent clip last year. Moore is battling for the Angels' starting job at second base, with light-hitting journeyman Adam Frazier possibly his greatest competition for the role.