LA Angels pitcher Garrett Richards looks sharp in final Spring outing

Garrett Richards needed some good news to end the Spring and going into the regular season.  Friday night he got just that against the LA Dodgers in the Freeway Series.

For the LA Angels Garrett Richards performance Friday night had to be music to their ears as he was on point most of the night. In four innings of work Richards was sharp allowing only 1 run on two hits, while striking out three batters.  Richards was also very efficient only making 57 pitches, 36 of which were strikes. The only blemish was a fourth inning homer to Justin Turner.

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The Angels have been waiting for this Garrett Richards to show up all Spring.  Truthfully they were very worried as Richards just didn’t seem to have the same command and mound presence he has shown in the past few years, but on Friday he looked like he may be coming around just in time for the season.

Richards, who last pitched in a regular season game on May 1st, 2016 against the Texas Rangers, is trying to come back from a UCL tear in his right elbow that caused him to miss most of last season.  Two other Angels’ pitchers suffered the same injury last season,, Nick Tropeano and Andrew Heaney.  They both opted to undergo Tommy John Surgery which will keep them out of action until at least the beginning of the 2018 season.

Richards, however opted for stem cell platelet injections that helped mend the UCL tear and allowed Richards to pitch in a couple of Arizona Fall League games last October.  The goal has been for Richards to be ready to pitch this Spring and be ready to start the 2017 season.  That is still the plan, but recently with his poor performances some people were questioning whether Richards was ready.

Richards performance against the Dodgers at Angel Stadium has put some of those fears to rest. Richards fastball was clocked between 92 and 97 miles an hour Friday night according to Maria Guardado of MLB.Com, which is on target for what Richards has been throwing when healthy throughout his career.

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Richards pitched a total of 12 innings this Spring in four starts giving up seven earned runs.  Richards ERA going into to last night’s start was an ugly 6.75. The  one good thing this Spring is that he has only walked three batters while striking out 11.  At this moment Richards is likely to make his 2017 debut either Wednesday afternoon in Oakland or in next Friday night’s home opener against Seattle.

With the exception of naming Ricky Nolasco as the opening day starter, the Angels have not set in stone any of the other first four games of the season. If Richards were to pitch on Wednesday it would be on regular rest.  However, if he waits until Friday night to make his debut, he will have a few extra days to prepare.  We will see how this plays out in the upcoming few days.