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Angels play musical chairs with bullpen call-up Greg Mahle

By David Rice
Mar 31, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Angels relief pitcher Greg Mahle (71) throws the ball in the ninth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 31, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Angels relief pitcher Greg Mahle (71) throws the ball in the ninth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports /
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Greg Mahle pitched his butt off during Spring Training finishing with a 1.46 ERA in 12.1 innings pitched but he lost out to Cam Bedrosian for the final bullpen spot and was optioned to Salt Lake City.  Not bad for a guy who barely pitched in Double-A over a month last season.

In the first week of the season the Los Angeles Angels used Bedrosian twice in the first couple of games and he was mildly effective, but the Angels decided to make a change sending Bedrosian back to Triple-A Salt Lake City in favor of A.J. Achter.  Achter pitched the final inning of Saturday night’s 4-1 loss to the Texas Rangers striking out one batter in a perfect inning of work.

For whatever reason the Angels decided to send Achter back to Salt Lake City Monday morning. The beneficiary of this move is Mahle, who unlike Bedrosian and Achter has never pitched in the major leagues.  Mahle did not pitch in Monday night’s 4-1 victory over Oakland, but he is hoping to get into a game as soon as the need arises.

“I haven’t thought about it a day in my life,” said Mahle in an interview with MLB.Com’s Alden Gonzalez. “It’s unbelievable, of course. I can’t wait, I can’t wait. Playing in front of the fans, playing the game that you love as a job. Watching the pressure – I can’t wait for that.”

Neither can we Greg, everyone likes a good underdog story and Mahle’s definitely fits the bill and the best thing about this is he is a local boy growing less than 15 minutes from Angel Stadium as he played his high school ball at Westminster High School.  Mahle then pitched at University of California at Santa Barbara, UCSB for short and then was drafted in the 15th round of the 2014 draft. Now he is a major league pitcher.

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