ANAHEIM — It has been a seven-year journey for Matt Thaiss to find himself where, perhaps, he always should have been. The Angels took the catcher’s gear from Thaiss immediately after ...

Matt Thaiss seeks the swing that made him the Angels’ first-round pick in 2016. Matt Thaiss warms up before a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies in September.

So that leaves Thaiss, 26, on the outside looking in with work to do. “It was a big change when I started last year, and I feel like I’ve progressed a lot,” Thaiss said.

Matt Thaiss was drafted in the first round out of Virginia as a catcher in 2016, moved to first base before his first minor league game, and of his 41 major league appearances in the field in 2018 ...

Matt Thaiss, the 16th overall pick in 2016, has followed the Angels' blueprint for success in changing his stance and position. NFL. NBA. MLB. NHL. WNBA. NCAAF. Tennis. FIFA Club World Cup.

TORONTO — Matt Thaiss reached a milestone in his development as a catcher Friday night. “First big-league start and he catches a shutout,” Angels catching coach Bill Haselman said Saturday.

In the fifth inning Friday night, Virginia catcher Matt Thaiss pulverized a 93 mph fastball, powering it several rows deep into the right-field bleachers, somewhere just below the stratosphere.

Matt Thaiss had three hits, five RBIs and two stolen bases, leading the Los Angeles Angels to a 10-7 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night in Anaheim, Calif.