1 critical goal for each member of the Angels' starting rotation in 2025

The Angels have re-made their starting rotation ahead of the 2025 season, and now, with the announcement that Jack Kochanowicz has defeated Reid Detmers in the competition for the fifth starter role, the primary cast of characters tasked with taking the rubber each day has come into focus.

In many ways, this is a completely remade group. Gone are disappointing fixtures like Griffin Canning and Patrick Sandoval, and in are Yusei Kikuchi and Kyle Hendricks. The Angels will need drastic improvement from this unit, which ranked 28th in the majors in ERA with a 4.97 mark in 2024.

The Angels want to be a more competitive ball club this season, and whether or not they achieve that objective hinges greatly on the starting rotation. With that said, each starter has a unique goal he must achieve this year, and if they all do, things could look a whole lot better in Anaheim.

Yusei Kikuchi will need to prove he can be the Angels' ace

The casual baseball fan was certainly surprised when the Angels pounced to lock up Yusei Kikuchi to a three-year $63 million deal early on in free agency. On face value, a $21 million average annual value for a pitcher with a 4.57 career ERA over six seasons seems like a real headscratcher.

However, there's a real chance that Kikuchi is not the mid-4 ERA pitcher he's been most of his career, as a tweak in his pitch utilization with the Astros following a mid-season trade led to him posting a 2.70 ERA down the stretch over 60 innings pitched, looking like a true ace in the process.

Kikuchi isn't done tinkering. The veteran lefty has added an impressive-looking sweeper to his arsenal to go alongside the slider that was unlocked last season. If he can replicate the success he saw with the Astros while continuing to build out his repertoire, he could end up looking like a real value for the Halos.

And therein lies the goal for him in 2025: to harness the impressive stuff and utilize it wisely in order to generate ace-level performance for a team that has been devoid of a true ace for as long as anyone can remember. If he continues down this path, the outlook for the Angels' rotation will be greatly improved in 2025 and beyond.

Jose Soriano has to hold up over a full season with a starter's workload

Even if Kikuchi accomplishes his goal of becoming a true ace, a lot of weight rests on the right arm of starter Jose Soriano. The 26-year-old is coming off an impressive if uneven 2024 campaign that unfortunately ended too soon, being shut down with arm fatigue after just 20 starts and 113 innings pitched while posting a 3.42 ERA.

Injuries and durability concerns are nothing new for Soriano, who first made his big league debut as a reliever in 2023 after a circuitous journey to the majors that included two Tommy John surgeries.

His stuff is nasty, featuring both a sinker and four seam fastball that can top 98 miles per hour and pair nicely with a wicked knuckle curve, the potential to improve upon a relatively pedestrian 7.73 K/9 last season is there, paired with an exceptional ability to get outs on the ground with a 59.7% ground ball rate.

None of this truly matters, though, if Soriano cannot stay on the mound or needs to be moved back to the pen should the rigors of starting prove to be too much for him. If he can achieve his goal and prove that he can handle a full-time starting pitcher workload, the Angels might have something special.

If not, a large hole will appear near the top of the rotation, and the Halos will continue their downward trajectory fueled by ineptitude in the rotation.

Tyler Anderson's goal is to be a consistent mid-rotation presence for the Angels

Tyler Anderson, 35, is one of two veteran mentor types present in the Angels rotation. The crafty lefty will be an important piece in determining whether or not the rotation is actually productive this season.

Anderson's career, especially lately, has been full of peaks and valleys. A two-time All-Star who saw those selections come in 2022 and 2024, Anderson posted the best numbers of his career in 2022 with the crosstown rival Dodgers pitching to the tune of a 2.57 ERA over 178.2 innings.

He found a new home in Anaheim in 2023, but could not nearly replicate that performance, posting a 5.43 ERA in 141 innings and putting together one of the worst performances of his career.

Finally, 2024 was a tale of two seasons for Anderson. His stellar first half where he threw 118 innings with a 2.97 ERA is what earned him the All-Star nod, but the bottom fell out in the second half and his ERA ballooned to 5.43 in 61.1 innings down the stretch.

The Angels don't need Anderson to pitch like an ace, something he's done at times, but they also can't afford him to pitch like a guy who doesn't belong in a big-league rotation, which he's also looked like in spurts.

Instead, a consistent reliable performance from the veteran will be crucial, and if he can sustain that until the trade deadline, could also entice the team to move him to a needy contender and bring back some value for him as he's in the last year of his deal.

Kyle Hendricks needs to be an extension of the Angels coaching staff

Nicknamed "The Professor," Kyle Hendricks, 35, has had a long and productive career by mastering the art of pitching despite relying on relatively pedestrian stuff.

In an era where velocity is king, Hendricks' average fastball velocity for his career is just 87.7 miles per hour. Despite that limitation, he led the National League in ERA in 2016 as an integral member of the Chicago Cubs' team that won the World Series, breaking the club's 107-year World Series title drought.

Hendricks has two top-10 Cy Young finishes on his resume and has found success through his outstanding command and ability to set hitters up from one pitch to another.

These days, his capabilities on the mound are more limited, which is why the Angels were able to obtain his services for the paltry sum of $2.5 million over one year. In 2023, Hendricks showed he could still get outs with a 3.74 ERA in 137 innings; however, last year he struggled mightily with a 5.92 ERA in 130.2 frames.

Performance-wise, the Angels will be hoping for something better than his 2024 showing, but the greatest value Hendricks brings will be as a leader and veteran mentor to the youth on the Angels' pitching staff.

He may very well see himself replaced at some point this season in the rotation by a younger arm, and that's fine, as long as he can impart some wisdom along the way.

Jack Kochanowicz must round out his arsenal to take his game to the next level

Finally, the last member of the starting rotation, 24-year-old Jack Kochanowicz, sees a golden opportunity present itself. The sinkerballer's impressive spring built upon a brief, but at times impressive showing in 2024 where he pitched to a 3.99 ERA over 65.1 innings and 11 starts.

Kochanowicz leans on his power-sinker that regularly tops 96 miles per hour to generate groundballs at an impressive clip, posting a 57% ground ball rate last season. Those ground balls paired with an aptitude for limiting walks with just 1.38 BB/9 in 2024, drove his success.

While there's a lot of positives to that kind of performance, his extreme reliance on the sinker at times cost him. He through that pitch 72% of the time last season, making him extremely predictable. As the book grows on him, opponents will adjust and be better able to handle the sinker.

Therefore, he must further develop his repertoire this season and round out his arsenal to keep hitters off balance. The measure of success for him will be in improving his strikeout rate, as his 3.44 K/9 ranked dead last among all starters who threw at least 50 innings last season.

Kochanowicz doesn't need to transform himself into a strikeout artist, but he will need to develop his four-seamer and breaking ball more and generate a few more punch outs to compliment his stellar ground ball rate.

If he's able to do that, he could be come a very solid mid-rotation caliber option. If not, he may find himself replaced by teammate Reid Detmers or another member of the Angels' collection of young arms who are nipping at his heels.

If Kochanowicz along with his rotation mates are all able to achieve these goals, the Halos will find themselves with a rotation that, while lacking star power, could be better than league average in 2025.

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