Takeaways from the Los Angeles Angels first week

With the first week of LA Angels baseball officially in the books; How have the Halos looked thus far?

Going into the 2017 season, the LA Angels hope to improve from last season in which they finished 74-88.

With numerous acquisitions during the off-season, the new look Angels have performed promising in their first week finishing 5-2, with a few come from behind wins.

However, there has been some concerns that the Angels hope to improve upon in order to make a playoff push come October.

Without further delay, lets dive into some early season takeaways that the Angels have faced.

The Angels’ defense may very well be one of the best in the league.

Whether it be a Kole Calhoun diving catch in right field or a Andrelton “Simba” Simmons turning a double play, the Angels have vastly improved their defense and it is showing.

Going into the 2017 season, Angels’ GM Billy Eppler made it known that he appreciates good defense and that he would bring in players to fit the system.

So far, so good.

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With the acquisitions of Cameron Maybin, Danny Espinoza and Martin Maldonado, they’ve all made plays that recent Angel players couldn’t make.

For example, Maldonado’s arm was on full display last Tuesday night as he threw out Oakland center fielder Rajai Davis on a stolen-base attempt. He also picked off Marcus Semien at first base when Semien was too far off the bag.

Angels’ manager Mike Scioscia deemed Maldonado as a “game-changer” because of his laser arm. In 2016, Maldonado threw out 40 percent of would-be-base stealers making him a threat behind the plate.

Besides Maldonado, Maybin offers an immediate upgrade in left field as the Angels have had a void in that position for years.

Showing his speed, Maybin made a diving catch in left field to rob Mariners’ Kyle Seager of a hit on opening night in Angel Stadium.

It goes to show what good defense can do for the Angels as they have been in some close games. Getting that clutch out by a diving catch can make all the difference of a win becoming a loss.

Angels’ starting pitching is still suspect.

It was almost like a flashback to the 2016 season when starting pitcher Garret Richards left the game early with an injury.

Luckily, Richards suffered only some bicep inflammation and hit the 10-day DL. Most likely missing his next start.

Richards’ injury is not the only scary story to an early season.

So far on the season, no Angel starter has made it past six innings. Putting more strain on the Angels’ bullpen.

Also, Matt Shoemaker has begun the season relatively slow so far in his two starts. His ERA sits at 7.71 with a WHIP of 1.5. In those two starts, Shoemaker has only made it through nine innings.

Hopefully, Shoemaker is just shaking the early season nerves off as he is a very important piece in the Angels starting rotation.

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Tyler Skaggs is another starting pitcher that the Angels should keep an eye on this season.

In his young MLB career, Skaggs has only pitched over 100 innings once and he is also coming back from a Tommy-John injury in 2015.

In his first start this season, he allowed five earned runs and gave up three walks, making his command look a bit inconsistent at times.

With Richards on the DL and Shoemaker/Skaggs performing below-average, the Angels have a lot of unproven talent that they hope to avoid using this early in the season.

Angels’ bullpen making strides

Since no Angels starter has made it past six innings, this has made Scioscia go to the bullpen early and often.

But so far, the Angels bullpen has been up to the task.

As some of you may know, the journeyman, RV living, relief pitcher Blake Parker has made a name for himself on the Angels roster.

With such a successful spring training, Parker has brought his momentum into the regular season and has not missed a beat.

To give some perspective on Parker, he had a streak of 17 consecutive strikeouts and earned only one run in 11 1/3 innings pitched during the spring.

This team doesn’t give up

In one of the most exciting weeks of baseball for the Angels, the Angels came from behind and won two of their games.

Being down 4-6 in the ninth inning against the Athletics, second baseman Danny Espinosa popped a three-run home run to give the Angels a seven to six lead where they went on to win the game.

Only a few days later, the Angels would preform one of the greatest comebacks in MLB history.

Trailing 9-3 in the bottom of the ninth inning, many fans seemingly left the game as the Angels had basically no shot of winning the game.

Then the remarkable happened.

The Angels scored seven runs in the ninth inning with a Cliff Pennington walk-off single to seal the win at 10-9. Scoring five of their seven runs on two outs.

With comebacks like this, the Angels can use these comebacks to their advantage in the future.

Next: Weekly Predictioons by Our Own Vincent Page

Knowing that they’ve come back from behind to win before, Angels’ fans and players alike have learned to never give up on this team which is a great attribute.

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