A Look At the LA Angels Starting Rotation After the First Week

The LA Angels starting rotation had a hard time last season. Three of their starters ended their season early to torn UCL’s. The rest of the starters had a hard time finding a good groove, with some of them not finding a groove at all .

A week has gone by in this new baseball season. The LA Angels starters have all gotten a chance to start a game. Last season the Angels rotation had their issues. This season staying healthy and consistent need to be the top priority for the Angels rotation. If the rotation and the pitching coaches can keep those two things in check, then the rotation will no doubt have a much better year than last.

A lot has happened already with the rotation in the first seven games. We are going to go in depth in the rotations starts and what we may expect from them down the road as the season goes on.

 Ricky Nolasco

Nolasco joined the Angels last season in the Hector Santiago trade. With the Minnesota Twins Nolasco had a rough start where he posted a 5.13 ERA over twenty one starts. With the Angels Nolasco seemed to bounce back and posted a 3.21 ERA in eleven starts. Beginning of this season everyone was hoping he could keep that momentum at the end of last season and carry it over to the 2017 season.

Ricky started the Angels first game of the season last monday at Oakland. While he did end up receiving his first loss of the season, it wasn’t the worst start either. In 5.2 innings he gave up 7 hits, 2 bases on balls, and 3 earned runs. Two of those earned runs came off of Athletic home runs.

We saw Nolasco starting again Saturday night against the Seatle Mariners. He was able to better his stats compared to his first start. He pitched 6.0 innings, giving up four hits, one bases on balls, and two earned runs.

Both of Ricky’s starts were pretty solid for what is expected of him. He is on the lower end of the rotation, so no one is expecting him to be anywhere near an ace. If he can consistently go out and throw 6 innings and only give up between two and four runs, then he could very well be an assett for the Angels going forward.

Matt Shoemaker

Matt Shoemaker’s with the Angels so far has been a crazy one. He had an amazing rookie season. Followed by a very lackluster sophomore season. Last season Shoemaker struggled in the beginning of the season. He was sent down to AAA early on in the season. When he returned to the Angels he began a come back season. The first of June his ERA sat at a 5.50. He was able to bring it down to a 3.88 when he was injured by a line drive that came back at him striking his head.

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Shoemaker took the mound for the Angels in the second game against the Athletics. He ended up going 5.0 innings, giving up 4 hits, 3 bases on balls, and gave up 2 earned runs. Those two earned runs both came off of solo home runs. Home runs have been a problem for Shoemaker in the past, so if he wants to be an ace in a rotation he has to keep those down as the season progresses.

Shoemaker also pitched in the finale against the Seatle Mariners on Sunday. He was able to only give up one home run, but that is the only positive take away. He went 4.1 innings, gave up 5 hits, 2 bases on balls, and gave up 6 earned runs.

It is yet to be seen which Matt Shoemaker we will get throughout the season. What Shoemaker needs to do is find a consistency in his pitching early on. We’ve seen two different starts from him already though, so we’ll see if he can find it sooner than later.

Garrett Richards

Garrett Richards had to end his 2016 season early after tearing his UCL. Instead of having Tommy John surgery though, Richards opted to try stem cell injections into his arm instead. The injections worked, and so Richards was set to be able to pitch at the beginning of the 2017 season. Richards has been an assett to the Angels rotation for a while now. It would have been another huge blow if he were to miss the 2017 season with Andrew Heaney and Nick Tropeano.

Richards started the Angels third game against Oakland. He pitched 4.2 innings, gave up 3 hits, 1 base on balls, and no earned runs. Richards ended up having to exit the game in the fifth. Martin Maldonado noticed Garrett reacting strangely after a pitch, and everyone was called out to the mound. He has since been put on the DL with a right biceps strain. Garrett will be on the 10 day disabled list. The ten days will have begun on Thursday of last week. So chances are we won’t see Richards pitch again this week.

Tyler Skaggs

Tyler Skaggs returned to the Angels last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2014. Skaggs ended up only pitching 49.2 innings in 2016. His starts last season were more to get him back into a groove of pitching in the league though. They were almost a set up to a full comeback in 2017.

Skaggs started the finale in Oakland last thursday. He did have some solid movement on his pitches, and ended up striking five. Skaggs ended up taking a loss though. He pitched 5.1 innings, giving up 5 hits, 3 bases on balls, and 5 earned runs.

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Like many of the other starters, Skaggs just needs to find some sort of consistency early on. If he can keep his strike outs up, and get ahead of the count early on then Skaggs will have a solid season ahead of him.