2 crucial left-handed Angels relievers showing signs of life of late

The Angels' pitching staff has not had too many consistent performers across the one-third mark of the season. Yusei Kikuchi and José Soriano have held down the rotation, while Ryan Zeferjahn and Kenley Jansen have done an admirable job solidifying a shaky (to say the least) bullpen. Baseball constantly rewards some players and punishes others early in the year, but everything always evens out over the course of a full 162-game season. Luckily for the Angels, two key members of that unsteady reliever group are pitching much better of late.

2 crucial left-handed Angels relievers showing signs of life of late

For the season do you want to try and guess which current Angels pitcher (excluding Robert Stephenson) has the best FIP -- the guy who has not needed much help from the (bad) Angels defense behind him by limiting home runs, hit by pitches and walks while striking out batters at solid rates?

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Reid Detmers! The former first rounder's team-leading 3.38 FIP is relatively surprising given his 6.56 ERA and 1.71 WHIP, right? Well, Detmers is sporting an above average 10.41 K/9 and 0.77 HR/9 in his first year as a relief pitcher. The University of Louisville product has been settling into his new role of late after an incredibly rocky beginning. The past two weeks (from May 18th on), Detmers has made five appearances. In those five innings pitched, he has allowed just three hits, posted an 8:2 K:BB and has not allowed a run to score.

Another Angels reliever who came into the year with high expectations is Brock Burke, and he, like Detmers, was also struggling to begin the season. On April 2nd versus the Cardinals, Brock allowed four runs and could not get himself out of an inning. Well, after some adjustments to his delivery and mindset, Burke is looking more-and-more like the elite stopper he turned into last season for the Halos following his DFA from the Rangers.

Also like Detmers, Burke has been pitching admirably the past two weeks. One reason why ERA is not the end-all, be-all of evaluating relievers is because of what happened to Burke against the Dodgers. He plunked Michael Conforto and allowed a single to Shohei Ohtani and was removed in favor of Shaun Anderson. Anderson allowed a home run to cash in Burke's runs. Other than that relatively subpar outing, Burke has not allowed a run in 4.1 innings pitched the past two weeks. He has a 5:0 K:BB and his 1.55 FIP ranks second on the pitching staff in that span.

Things seem doom-and-gloom with the bullpen, but Burke and Detmers' turnarounds do feel sustainable given their natural ability and talent levels. The past two weeks feel indicative of who they are, not how they were faring before.

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