Rule 5 Pickup Deolis Guerra Paid Big Dividends For LA Angels.

LA Angels general manager Billy Eppler knew he had to do something to help bolster some of the Angels biggest weaknesses when he cam onboard last October. Eppler also knew he had a limited budget. So he scouted the minors.

What Eppler found was a plethora of unproven potential major league talent that the LA Angels subsequently took a chance on.  Many of Eppler’s moves did not turn out as he hoped, but he and his staff found a few hidden gems that were either left unprotected or had been released.  Deolis Guerra was plucked off the Pittsburgh Pirates unprotected list during the Rule 5 draft.

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The thing about the Rule 5 draft is that if you pick someone from another club’s roster then you must keep him on your major league roster all season or risk losing him back to his original club. The Angels watched Guerra have a strong Spring, but in the end did add him to the major league roster for opening day.

So Guerra could have been claimed back by the Pirates, but they declined as did all the other 28 teams in major league baseball.  This happened twice during the season and both times the Angels were luckily able to hold onto Guerra.

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Guerra’s first stint with the Angels only last three games in late May and he was then designated for assignment on June 1st.  However as fate would have the Angels had a couple of injuries and Guerra got another chance as he was called back up on June 5th. This time Guerra would not disappoint as he rewarded the Angels patience.

In his next 13 appearances Guerra would only give up two runs in 19 innings which was good for a 0.94 ERA over that span.  Guerra started becoming a regular option for manager Mike Scioscia in both the sixth and seventh inning. What was even more impressive was that in his first 16 appearances for the Angels, Guerra did not walk a single batter. His WHIP was a miniscule 0.74 during that time period.

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Guerra continued to pitch well until the end of August finishing with only three walks in 43.1 innings and an ERA of 2.72. He slipped some in September possibly due to over use and he finished the month with a 5.79 ERA which saw Guerra finish with a still respectable 3.21 ERA.  He ended up with a 1.11 WHIP walking seven batters in 53.2 innings while striking out 36.

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Guerra provided major stability to the Angels bullpen throughout the season and should be a key part of it in 2017. Sometimes it pays to take risks, just ask Billy Eppler.

GRADE: A-