Los Angeles Angels Jaime Barria showing he belongs

The Los Angeles Angels have again had a tough year with injuries to starting pitchers with 3 expected starters going on the shelf early in the season. Thankfully for the Angels Jaime Barria has stepped up.

When the Los Angeles Angels lost Matt Shoemaker and J.C. Ramirez in the season’s first week Barria who went from Single-A Inland Empire last season to Triple-A Salt Lake before last season ended, was called upon to fill a rotation spot.  Barria has done just that and more.

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Barria won his first start on April 11th against Texas throwing five innings of one-hit baseball and hasn’t stopped winning since.  Barria is 5-1 with a 2.48 ERA in seven starts including another gem Friday night against the Rangers, shutting them out for six innings on four hits with six strikeouts.

Barria has come out of nowhere it seems.  When 2017 started Barria pitched 11 games with Class A Inland Empire going 4-2 with a 2.48 ERA. He was promoted to Double-A Mobile going 1-6 in 12 starts with a 3.21 ERA.  Barria was named to both the Single-A All-Star team and was a Southern League All-Star and got to compete in the Futures Game.

The last three weeks of the season Barria was promoted to Triple-A Salt Lake City where he went 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA in three starts. During Spring Training Barria competed for a spot in the starting rotation, but never really had a chance with eight guys with major league experience ahead of him.

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This did not stop Barria who continued to pitch well in Triple-A.When he was called up on April 11th, Barria started what has been a very solid 2018 season in the Angels rotation.  His best outing thus far was a seven inning one run effort against the first place Houston Astros where he got a no-decision despite limiting the Astros to four hits.

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Barria has been sent down multiple times in 2018 so that the Angels could bring up and extra-reliever when the team dosn’t need a sixth starter.  If Barria continues to pitch well he will earn himself a permanent spot in the Angels rotation.  Barria definitely has helped solidify the back end of the Angels starting rotation.