Catcher Gabriel Davalillo comes from a long line of baseball players from Venezuela.
His grandfather Vic played 16 seasons in the big leagues. His uncle Pompeyo was also a big leaguer. His father David spent five years in the minors with the Angels. His brother David Jr. is a righthander in the Rangers organization.
Following a strong offensive showing in his debut campaign, Gabriel looks to be the next Davalillo to carve out a successful career in professional baseball.
“He’s grown up around the game, (which has) certainly benefited him and his career,” Angels assistant GM Joey Prebynski said. “He has a great foundation with his family and the baseball background.”
A bat-first catcher, Davalillo was the Angels’ top international signee in 2025 at $2 million. He immediately exhibited his offensive prowess in the Dominican Summer League, slashing .302/.408/.518 with seven home runs in 41 games.
An aggressive hitter, Davalillo demonstrated the ability to hit for power with a 90th percentile exit velocity of 102.5 mph, while limiting his in-zone whiff rate to about 10%. That translated to a strikeout rate of 12.4%.
“He has a tremendous amount of offensive upside from a run-production standpoint,” Prebynski said. “He does a great job of being able to control the zone. He has plate coverage and the ability to stay in the zone and stay on plane. There is natural rhythm and timing.
“Those are the things Gabriel does really well.”
The Angels are less certain about the 17-year-old’s future behind the plate.
Davalillo has an above-average arm, but his slow transfers held him back in the DSL, where he threw out just six of 34 basestealers.
The Angels moved Davalillo to third base during instructional league to add versatility to his profile and manage his workload behind the plate. The plan is for him to split time between the two positions next season.
“There’s different ways to look at him,” Prebynski said. “There’s athleticism. There’s body control. There’s physicality and there’s strength. When he has those foundational things we feel good about where he’s trending.”
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