Halo Hangout » Michael Kohn

Could Michael Kohn Snag A Spot In The Los Angeles Angels Bullpen?

Jason Evans — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 19:22:34 +0000

As Ryan Madson continues on his road back to recovery from Tommy John surgery, another Angel bullpen hurler is doing the same thing in Michael Kohn. While spots in the bullpen may be extremely limited, Kohn is someone who can certainly come into training camp and steal a spot in the bullpen and may even help out when Madson is injured. (more…)

The Forgotten Arm: Michael Kohn

Michael Hllywa — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 16:10:48 +0000

With all of the talk surrounding the Angels and their need for bullpen help, it seems like one arm has been forgotten about. The arm that belongs to Michael Kohn.

June 22, 2011; Miami, FL, USA; Los Angeles Angels relief pitcher Michael Kohn (58) delivers a pitch in the tenth inning against the Florida Marlins at Sun Life Stadium. The Angels defeated the Marlins in extra innings 6-5. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-US PRESSWIRE

Kohn came on in a big way in 2010, even if he did have an atrocious walk rate of 6.8/9 in his 21.1 innings of work. He limited damage though, holding opposing hitter to a .226/.351/.228 slash line with runners in scoring position. And regardless of my hate for relievers who have a WHIP above 1.200 (his was 1.547 in 2010), the end result is to keep runners from scoring. And Kohn’s ERA that year was 2.11. The following season was not so pretty. His WHIP rose to 1.865 and the high walk rate caught up with him as he yielded an ERA of 7.30. Albeit in only 12.1 innings, but still, yikes.

Of course, as 2012 rolled around, Kohn would eventually go under the knife for Tommy John Surgery making it likely that he pitched through 2011 with some sort of pain. And judging by the picture above and his arm angle, him having to have TJS wasn’t all that surprising. But that’s another discussion for another day. What is important to the discussion is how Kohn coming back from injury can be a big lift to our ~~arson squad~~ bullpen.

Michael’s Major League sample size is quite small, so it’s not exactly fair to hold those numbers against him. I can, and I have, but that doesn’t make it fair. His Minor League numbers tell a quite different story about him. One of dominance. One of less runners on base. One of……this isn’t a movie intro. So i’ll just get to it.

Year	Age	Tm	W	L	ERA	G	GF	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	BF	WHIP	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	SO/9	SO/BB
4 Seasons			14	8	2.45	153	99	32	183.1	119	56	50	10	82	268	740	1.096	5.8	0.5	4.0	13.2	3.27

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/12/2012.


Those are some pretty sexy numbers. The walk rate is tick high, but a 13.2 K/9, yes please. By comparison Jordan  Walden, our fireballing former closer turned set up man turned mop up so he can get his head screwed on right reliever had a career minor league WHIP of 1.273. Nick  Maronde's, 1.041. Walden has gotten progressively less reliable since his initial callup. While Maronde, well, he won't answer my calls or accept my candygrams.
July 19, 2011; Anaheim, CA, USA; Los Angeles Angels pitcher Michael Kohn (58) pitches during the eighth inning against the Texas Rangers at Angels Stadium of Anaheim. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-US PRESSWIRE
Neither one of them could touch Kohn's K/9 though. And unless your name is Scott  Downs, being able to strike guys out is muy importante. 
So, what we have here, is a high strikeout guy who's stingy with the hits, even stingier with home runs, but walks guys at a meh rate with a mid 90's fastball and a very good slider. Why are we not talking about him more? This doesn't mean that I am suggesting that he will be our bullpen's savior in 2013. But, I am saying that his power arm being brought in for the middle innings could be huge step toward upgrading our bullpen. And cheaply at that.



Michael Kohn Gets Shut Down
Tyler Brett — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 18:15:06 +0000
The Angels broke spring training with a number of pitchers needing some time on the DL while rehabbing some minor injuries. For one of them, it may turn out to be a longer stint than expected as Michael Kohn has had his throwing program shut down as he gets a second opinion on a forearm injury that kept him out for most of the spring.
Kohn may miss more time than anticipated (Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-US PRESSWIRE)
According to Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register, Kohn experienced discomfort and soreness in his injured forearm during a light catch session. Manager Mike Scioscia said he did fine to begin with but when they went to longer throws, the discomfort returned and he was immediately shut down. This latest setback comes after Kohn was shut down once earlier in the spring when he was diagnosed with a flexor strain in his forearm after undergoing an MRI by Angels medical director Dr. Lewis Yocum. The team kept Kohn from throwing at all for a week before trying to bring him back, but the continued discomfort may point to a more serious issue in his arm. He will seek a second opinion from renowned surgeon Dr. James Andrews, who is known to handle many athletes’ reconstructive surgeries. Teams don’t usually send their players to Andrews unless surgery is most likely necessary, so the prognosis for Kohn in 2012 doesn’t look promising.
The 25-year-old righty has spent the majority of his career in the minors with brief stints in the majors over the last two seasons. Last season in Triple-A Salt Lake, Kohn showed some pretty good stuff, pitching in 46 games, getting 12 saves, striking out 64 batters while walking just 20, with a 4.10 ERA. Over the last two seasons Kohn hasn’t been quite as effective striking batters out during his brief call-ups with the Angels, striking out 29 batters while walking 25 in 33.2 innings pitched. At 25, the Angels are hoping that Kohn would begin to grow into a strong big league reliever this season to shore up the bullpen, but this latest setback won’t help his cause. If he does end up needing surgery, let’s hope he’s able to bounce back in 2013 and continue to grow into a solid contributor out of the bullpen.