LA Angels Weekly Predictions: Week Four

After the LA Angels encouraged fans with a solid start to the season, including multiple comebacks and offensive explosions, the Angels have slowed down drastically. The Angels have stumbled throughout April.

The LA Angels have one week left in April and currently sit at 8-12. That is tied for last in the American League West. Over the past two weeks, the pitching has not been bad. They have undoubtedly given the Halo offense chances to win games.

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However, the Angels bats have been asleep for the better part of this poor stretch. The worst game for the Halo offense came against the Kansas City Royals when Tyler Skaggs threw seven innings of shutout ball. His efforts were wasted as the Royals won the game 1-0 on a walk-off single in the ninth.

Despite all the question marks surrounding the starting rotation, they have been doing their job for the most part this season. The bullpen has also been exceptional. It does not matter how great or horrible these pitchers perform if the Angels cannot score any runs.

Player of the Week: Andrelton Simmons

This recognition could go to Mike Trout every week, as he has consistently been the Angels best hitter this season (and every year since he reached The Show). However, there is no fun in that.

This week was close between Andrelton Simmons and Albert Pujols. However, Simmons had a slightly higher batting average and was his usual self in the field- an absolute stud. Simmons hit .321 this past week and drove in five runs. He struck out five times while walking twice. Simmons also went deep twice, one of them being a grand slam in the Halos 5-4 win on Saturday. His grand slam was the first by an Angels shortstop since David Eckstein.

Simmons has already hit three home runs this season, and has been driving the ball much better than years past. He may not hit the 17 big flies he did in 2013, but Simmons has undoubtedly improved the power factor of his game.

In the field, Simmons did have an error on the week, overthrowing a ball to first. However, that is easily outweighed by the handful of jaw-dropping throws and tags this week. His best play came on Saturday, when he barely reached a ball up the middle and flipped it to second with his glove to start a double play.

Simmons has truly become a five-tool ballplayer. He came to the Angels as a defensive specialist (and a great one at that). However, he has changed the step in his swing which has helped him improve his batting average and power. He is making hard contact on 33.9% this season (per Fangraphs) of his batted balls, well above his career average of 25%.

Pitcher of the Week: Matt Shoemaker

Matt Shoemaker did not have a great start to the season. He won the 2016 Nick Adenhart Award as the Angels best pitcher, but had not been able to replicate that success in 2017. He had not been awful, especially when his 2016 brain injury is taken into account. Shoemaker finally had a dominant start this week though. He went seven innings against the Houston Astros, allowing two runs on two solo shots. Besides the two long balls, he allowed only one other hit. He walked two batters as well, but struck out seven batters. Shoemaker has now had two quality starts in a row, and it appears he is finding his groove. Last season, Shoemaker started off horribly and was sent down to the minors before he went on to have a career year. Hopefully this start is a sign of things to come in future starts for Shoemaker.

Tuesday, April 25 vs. A’s

Probables- Jesse Hahn vs. JC Ramirez

The Angels start a three-game series against the Oakland A’s on Tuesday. The A’s come into the series winners of five of their last six games. They split the first series of the season against the A’s. The A’s will look to get the series off with a win when they send Jesse Hahn to the mound. Hahn has had three solid outings this season. He has pitched six innings in all three, allowing two, three, and one earned run in each. He has 14 strikeouts to seven walks and has allowed one big fly. He did not start against the Angels in the first series, which may help him in this start.

Hahn has not pitched against the Angels many times in his career. This gives him somewhat of a edge, as Angels batters will have to figure out his delivery and when he uses each pitch. It would not be surprising to see Hahn go through the Angels lineup once in dominant form.

The Angels will counter the consistency of Hahn with JC Ramirez. Ramirez was handed a spot in the rotation after Garrett Richards was sent to the DL. However, it may not be his for long. Ramirez has made two starts, throwing 10.1 innings and allowing eight earned runs. He has 12 strikeouts with three walks, so his control is not the problem. He just pounds the strike zone and has very hittable pitches. Oakland, as a team, has found a lot of success against Ramirez.

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The team hits .316 (12-38) off of Ramirez. They have three long balls off of him, have walked four times, and struck out only 5 times. Ramirez will have to be more deceptive with his pitches if he hopes to stand a chance against this Oakland lineup.

Prediction- Athletics 5, Angels 3

Wednesday, April 26 vs. A’s

Probables- Sean Manaea vs. Matt Shoemaker

In the second game of the series, the A’s send out southpaw Sean Manaea. Manaea will be making his fifth start of the season. He started off the season poorly, owning a 7.15 ERA after his first two starts. However, he has brought that down to a respectable 4.43 after two solid outings in which he threw a combined 11 innings, allowing three runs (two earned). He allowed no hits in one start while allowing five in the next. He struck out six batters in each game. The Angels (besides Trout, who has four hits in seven at-bats with a homerun, triple, and two RBI’s) have not done well against Manaea in the past. He is not the kind of pitcher they want to face as they try to get back to their winning ways.

The Angels send Matt Shoemaker to the mound in hopes of limiting this hot A’s team. He is coming off his best start of the season. In seven innings against the Astros, he allowed two runs on three hits. However, all three of those hits were for extra bases while two of them were solo shots. Shoemaker has shown signs of becoming the Angels new Jered Weaver.

He’ll give you a solid start most of the time, always allow one or two long balls, and every now and then get rocked for five or six runs. Hopefully, he is able to continue his success on Wednesday against an A’s team that has found scattered success against Shoemaker. He has good numbers against most of their batters, but there are a few who have rocked him in the past.

Prediction- Angels 6, Athletics 3

Thursday, April 27 vs. A’s

Probables- Jharel Cotton vs. Ricky Nolasco

In the rubber match of the series, the A’s will send out Jharel Cotton. Cotton has had a decent season so far, going 2-2 with a 4.76 ERA. However, he had his worst outing of the season against the Angels in the first series between the two teams. Cotton allowed five runs in 4.1 innings pitched. He allowed eight hits while walking two. He has not faced the Angels batters many times, but nearly every starter has a hit against Cotton at one point or another.

The Angels counter the A’s young gun with local boy Ricky Nolasco. Nolasco will coming off decent rest, as his last start was skipped as he worked through some “mechanical issues” according to manager Mike Scioscia. Nolasco has been very susceptible to the long ball this season, giving up seven in his first four starts. The Angels are hoping this extra rest will provide him with time to work out the chinks in his game. While he has found some success against current Athletics hitters, he has given up six big flies to five different players. Nolasco will have to keep the ball in play and allow the elite defense behind him to make plays. If he can’t do that, the Angels will be in trouble.

Prediction- Angels 7, Athletics 6 in extras

Friday, April 28 @ Rangers

Probables- Nick Martinez vs. Tyler Skaggs

The Angels begin a road trip by heading to the Lone Star State to take on the Texas Rangers. The Rangers beat the Angels 2-1 in their series earlier this season, winning two in a row after losing Game 1 on a walk-off bunt by Carlos Perez. The Rangers will look to avoid that by sending out Nick Martinez in the first game of this series. Martinez made his first appearance last week. He started against the Kansas City Royals and threw seven innings. He allowed one run on four hits one walk while striking out three. He has dominated much of the Angels lineup throughout his career, but two batters have done quite well against Martinez. Kole Calhoun is 8-14 with a homerun, two doubles, and three RBI’s against Martinez while C.J Cron is 6-12, hitting two long balls, one double, and two RBI’s.

The Angels will send out Tyler Skaggs to shut down this Rangers lineup. After getting roughed up in his first two starts of the season, it seems Skaggs has found his groove. He has thrown seven innings in each of his last two starts, giving up zero runs against the Royals and two against the Blue Jays. He has 13 strikeouts and four walks over these two starts, and is looking to build on these numbers against Texas. However, that might be a problem for Skaggs as he was hit hard by the Rangers earlier this season. He gave up five runs on eight hits (two home runs) in five innings. Hopefully, Skaggs performs as well as he has been in the last two starts than in his first two.

Prediction- Angels 6, Rangers 2

Saturday, April 29 @ Rangers

Probables- Yu Darvish vs. Jesse Chavez

In the second game of the series, the Angels get an unfavorable matchup in Yu Darvish. Darvish absolutely great this season. He is 2-2 with a 3.03 ERA through his first five starts. In a start against the Angels earlier this season, he threw seven shutout innings in which he struck out ten batters while allowing five hits. His matchups with Mike Trout will be the deciding factor of this game. In 39 battles between the two, Trout has 12 hits, four of which were home runs, and has driven in 6 runs while walking seven times for an on-base percentage of .500.

However, Darvish has gotten the better of Trout more than a few times, striking out the two-time MVP 13 times in his career. It will be interesting to see which of the two win come this weekend.

The Angels send out Jesse Chavez for his second outing of the week on only five days of rest. It will be his third start of the variety, and should be interesting (and nerve-wracking) to see how the 33-year old handles the lack of extra days off. He came out of the bullpen in 2016, so seeing so many innings may turn out to be a problem for Chavez. In a start against Texas earlier this season, Chavez only lasted 4.1 innings, giving up five runs on five hits, two of which left the ballpark. If Chavez can turn in five innings of work allowing less than three runs, the Angels could stand a chance in this game.

Prediction- Rangers 3, Angels 2

Sunday, April 30 @ Rangers

Probables- Martin Perez vs. JC Ramirez

The Angels will go for the series win on Sunday, but will have their work cut out for them. They will be going against Nick Martinez, who owns a solid 3.60 ERA on the year. He was roughed up in his last start however. Martinez gave up four runs in 3.2 innings pitched against Oakland. He allowed seven hits and two walks. He will be looking to rebound against an Angels team who has found success against him previously. As a team, they hit .279 against Martinez with 15 walks. He has only allowed one home run to the Angels (Jefry Marte) and send them down on strikes 15 times. Martinez is performing better this season than any season before, so Sunday should be an interesting matchup between him and the Halo offense.

The Angels will likely send out JC Ramirez. However, depending on how his start goes earlier in the week, they could pursue other options. One name that is a possibility is Daniel Wright. Wright pitched on Saturday for the Halos. He performed admirably, going five innings and allowing no runs. He only gave up three hits and a walk while striking out three.

Next: Angels Ace Garrett Richards Out Until June

No matter who starts for the Angels, they will have a tough task slowing down this Rangers offense that averaged seven runs per game in the two team’s first series.

Prediction- Rangers 6, Angels 3