Trash Pandas Welcome Back Infielder Kyren Paris
SL Rocket City Trash Pandas

Trash Pandas Welcome Back Infielder Kyren Paris

Published on May 1, 2026 under Southern League (SL)
Rocket City Trash Pandas News Release


MADISON, AL - The Angels announced on Friday the addition of infielder Kyren Paris to the Trash Pandas roster prior to tonight's 6:35 pm CT game against the Knoxville Smokies at Toyota Field. With 80 Major League games played under his belt, he becomes the fifth active player with MLB experience. In a corresponding move, OF Elijah Dunham was placed on the Development List. Paris will bat second tonight, and play shortstop.

Paris, 24, joins Rocket City from Triple-A Salt Lake, where he was placed on the Injured List on March 27. Paris returns to Rocket City after appearing in 150 games with the Trash Pandas from 2022-24, batting .239 with 26 doubles, 19 home runs, 60 RBIs, and a .375 on-base percentage. He set the franchise single-season record with 44 stolen bases in 2023, when he also posted a .393 OBP with 14 home runs and 79 runs scored across 113 games. That season also earned him Southern League Postseason All-Star honors and a spot on the 2023 Futures Game roster.

A former second-round pick by the Angels, Paris made his first career MLB Opening Day roster in 2025 and recorded a 1.018 OPS over his first 19 Major League games. Over the last 100 seasons, he became just the seventh player age 23 or younger to post a 1.000+ OPS with at least five stolen bases through his first 19 games, joining Don Baylor (1972), Tony Gwynn (1984), Kal Daniels (1987), Hanley Ramirez (2007), Fernando Tatis Jr. (2020), and Jazz Chisholm Jr. (2021).

Paris also made history early in 2025, becoming the first American League player ever to record at least five home runs and five stolen bases with a 1.400+ OPS through a team's first 14 games. The only National League players to accomplish the feat are Eric Davis (1987) and Larry Walker (1997). He also posted the highest OPS through 12 games by a player age 23 or younger (min. 30 PA) since Jimmie Foxx in 1928 (1.595).

Among his early-season highlights, Paris homered in three consecutive games from April 6-9, including his first career multi-home run game on April 9 at Tampa Bay, and recorded a nine-game on-base streak from March 29-April 9. He became just the third Angels player age 23 or younger to hit four home runs in a three-game span, joining Wally Joyner (1986) and Mike Trout (2015), and one of seven Angels players age 23 or younger to homer in three straight games, alongside Jim Spencer (1969), Joyner (1986), Garret Anderson (1995), Troy Glaus (2000), Trout (2013), and Shohei Ohtani (2018).

Paris began the 2024 season with Rocket City before being recalled by the Angels on May 9. He appeared in 21 Major League games, batting .118 with four runs scored, two doubles, one home run, and five RBIs, including his first career home run on May 22 at Houston off Hunter Brown. He was later optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake on May 26 and finished the season across multiple levels, including 37 games with Salt Lake, where he batted .209 with 20 runs scored, 11 extra-base hits, four home runs, 19 RBIs, and eight stolen bases.

Originally selected to the Major League roster on September 1, 2023, Paris made his MLB debut that night at Oakland. He recorded his first career hit on September 2 and notched his first RBI on September 7 against Cleveland with a game-tying single in the ninth inning, later scoring the winning run.

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Southern League Stories from May 1, 2026


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