Who’s Hot Who’s Not For On The Mound For The Los Angeles Angels

The Los Angeles Angels started Spring Training on fire winning their 1st 7 games . Since then their record is 4-8. While records in Spring don’t count however individual performances can decide if a player makes the team or not.

With opening day 17 days away the roster is starting to shape up for the Los Angeles Angels.  Let’s take a look at who is hot and who is not so far this Spring for the Halos. There are some surprises for sure and some disappointments on the mound this Spring.  Let’s take a look at the starting rotation with the bullpen, hitters both starters and reserves to follow in the next couple of days.

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Starting Pitchers

For the vacant fifth starter spot the race is pretty much down to a two man race as Jesse Chavez and Alex Meyer taking the lead. Bud Norris has still got an outside chance of winning that spot if he performs well over these last couple of weeks.

Alex Meyer has pitched three times this spring with mixed results.  While Meyer’s ERA is 5.79 and his WHIP is 1.93 his opponents batting average of .188 is very impressive.  The biggest problem Meyer has is his six walks in 4.2 innings while only striking out three batters leaves something to be desired.

Jesse Chavez on the other hand is 1-0 with a 4.32 ERA.  His WHIP of 1.44 and opponents batting average of .343 do not bode well going into the season especially allowing 12 hits in 8.1 innings. Chavez has good control not walking a batter all Spring and striking out nine batters.  However, when Chavez gets hit, he gets hit hard.

The dark horse in this mix Bud Norris has been up and down this Spring as well. Norris has looked very good at times and other times he has looked terrible.  He is 0-1 with a 5.68 ERA pitching in four games going 6.1 innings with two walks and seven strikeouts.  Norris also has a high WHIP of 1.42 and an opponents batting average of .280.

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With this being said my bet is on Alex Meyer as he has the most upside and should be given the first crack as the fifth starter. Then it will be between Chavez and Norris to fill the bullpen long relief role and be ready to fill in if any starter is injured on ineffective.

The other starters have all struggled this Spring and hopefully they will get the bugs out and be ready when the season starts.  Garrett Richards is 0-1 with a 6.48 ERA and a 1.44 WHIP. Richards eight strikeouts and only two walks in 8.1 innings is not bad, but his .303 opponents batting average shows that Richards is not fooling many.

The fact that Richards is able to pitch at all after suffering a UCL tear in his elbow last May is encouraging, but if he is not able to be effective then it really doesn’t matter if he is healthy or not. Now this is Spring Training so it is not time to be alarmed yet, but if Richards can not pitch like the ace that he has been in the past, it will lessen the Angels chances of contending.

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• Why LA Angels’ Qualifying Offer to Raisel Iglesias could become historical
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Matt Shoemaker on the other hand has probably looked the best of all the starters despite a 5.00 ERA.  Shoemaker has a respectable WHIP of 1.22 and a .242 opponents batting average. Shoemaker has 10 strikeouts and only three walks in nine innings of work.  The long ball has been his only issue giving up two homers so far.  So Shoemaker’s performance is encouraging.

Tyler Skaggs after a setback following his first outing that put him out for just over two weeks, came back strong in his last outing pitching two perfect innings on Wednesday. Hopefully this trend will continue for Skaggs and he will be ready to step up and have a strong season.

Finally Ricky Nolasco is the fourth starter and has pitched well enough to solidify his spot going 1-1 with a 4.00 ERA.  Nolasco has six strikeouts while walking only two batters in nine innings. His WHIP of 1.11 and opponents batting average of .235 are also strong indicators of his effectiveness.

Next: Who will be on the mound on Opening Day?

So all in all the starting rotation still has some question marks and the Opening Day starter is still a question mark as profiled in Halo Hangout’s Joshua Lea’s recent story. We will have to see how these last couple weeks of Spring play out.

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