Who are these guys? LA Angels new roster additions Lamb & Jewell

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The LA Angels have had so many injuries this season they have had to dig deeper and deeper into their farm system to fill the voids left on the roster, especially the starting rotation.

With the news that the LA Angels lost two more starting pitchers to injury the Angels were forced to rely on their Triple-A affiliate, the Salt Lake City Bees to fill the void. Both Garrett Richards and Nick Tropeano were placed on the disabled list Friday morning. Richards has a hamstring injury that will hopefully not keep him out for much longer than two weeks, but you never know with him. Tropeano’s injury is a little more alarming since it is dealing with his right shoulder.

Tropeano may only need a few weeks rest and be able to bounce back, or it could be a sign of something more serious. With Tropeano coming off Tommy John surgery it makes his injury even more concerning. The Angels also lost versatile reliever Jim Johnson who has been a middle reliever, set-up man, and even closed a few games this season.

So with a club-record 15 players currently on the disabled list the Angels made a 9-1-1 call to Salt Lake City telling Bees manager Keith Johnson ‘We need back-up, Stat’ !!! The Bees sent reliever Akeel Morris, converted starter Jake Jewell, starter John Lamb, and converted reliever Felix Pena, to the Angels rescue.

Many Angel fans are probably wondering, ‘Who the hell are these guys?’ Well I will give you a little background on the new Angels.

TEMPE, AZ – FEBRUARY 22: John Lamb #49 of the Los Angeles Angels poses during Los Angeles Angels Photo Day at Tempe Diablo Stadium on February 22, 2018 in Tempe, Arizona. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

John Lamb – career MLB stats – 2-12 ERA 6.17, 1.60 WHIP, 116 K’s in 119 IP

John Lamb has pitched in the majors before logging two years for the Cincinnati Reds in 2015 and 2016 with not much success. In Spring Training for the Angels Lamb showed some promise early although he ended up with a 1-3 record and a 5.28 ERA this Spring. The one good thing is Lamb has shown decent control even in his two major league seasons with 50 walks in 119 innings.

Lamb’s biggest issue is a high WHIP of 1.60 and his opposing players batting average of .300 is scary. He also is prone to giving up the long ball with 22 homers in those same 119 innings. So far in Triple-A this season Lamb is 1-0 in 13 starts with a 3.44 ERA with 54 strikeouts in 49 innings and a 1.29 WHIP. We will see how he does today against the A’s.

ANAHEIM, CA – APRIL 08: Martin Maldonado #12 shakess hands with Felix Pena #64 of the Los Angeles Angels after defeating the Oakland Athletics at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on April 8, 2018 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /

Felix Pena – career MLB stats 1-0 ERA 5.28, 1.43 WHIP, 52 K’s in 46 IP

Felix Pena was the player the Angels got when they traded away Joe Smith at the 2016 trade deadline and he has shown some promise. Pena possesses a mid-to-high 90’s fastball. He was called up earlier this season for the Angels and pitched 2.2 innings in two outings posting a 10.13 ERA and a 1.88 WHIP, but this was a small sample size.

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Pena has been stretched out over the past eight weeks in preparation for him to become a starter like J.C. Ramirez was. Coincidentally the Angels started to look at Pena as a starter when Ramirez went down with a UCL tear in his elbow in mid-April.

Pena has actually looked pretty good in nine starts for Salt Lake going 1-2 with a 3.51 ERA in 33.1 innings of work. Pena struck out 38 batters and walked 16 batters with a 1.38 WHIP. His last start was his longest and his best as Pena went six innings allowing no runs on four hits with three strikeouts and two walks. Up until this start Pena had not lasted more than 4.2 innings.

Will the Angels use Pena as a starter or a reliever this time is anyone’s guess, but since the Angels lost two starters Pena could get a spot start this time around, possibly on Monday or Tuesday against the Diamondbacks.

SALT LAKE CITY, UT – JULY 08: Salt Lake Bees catcher John Hester talks with baseball legend Dale Murphy in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Fred Hayes/Getty Images for Mobil Super) /

Jake Jewell – Minor League Stats – 18-38, ERA 4.93, WHIP 1.51, 377 K’s, 467.1 IP

Jake Jewell will make his major league debut the first time steps on the mound for the Angels. He has slowly came up through the minor league system since being drafted in the 6th round of the 2014 Amateur Draft. Jewell has been rated in the top 20 among Angel Prospects each year until falling to 25th at the beginning of 2018.

Jewell has had trouble being consistent throughout his minor league career. He has a mid-90’s fastball, but does not always spot it well and it gets hit hard when this happens. In 2016 Jewell went 2-15 with a 6.31 for Single-A Inland Empire. He did bounce back somewhat the next year going 7-9 with a 4.54 ERA in 2017 while pitching for Inland Empire and Double-A Mobile.

So the Angels decided to make a change and turn Jewell into a reliever much like they did with current Angels set-up man Justin Anderson. Anderson was struggling as a starter and also had a mid-90’s fastball, but when converted to a reliever in 2017 his fastball jumped to 97-99 mph and now he is having some success for the Angels.

Jewell is doing better in 2018 as a reliever going 2-4, but lowering his ERA to 3.28 in 24 appearances. His WHIP is still higher than you would like at 1.57, but he does have 32 strikeouts in 35.2 innings pitched for Mobile and Triple-A Salt Lake City. Jewell has also converted five of six save opportunities as well. We will have to see if he can carry this success with him to Anaheim.

ANAHEIM, CA – APRIL 07: Pitcher Akeel Morris #58 of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim throws to first from the infield during the third inning of the MLB game against the Oakland Athletics at Angel Stadium on April 7, 2018 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Victor Decolongon/Getty Images) /

Akeel Morris – MLB Stats- 0-0, 6.75 ERA, WHIP 2.02, 17.1 IP with 14 K’s and 13 BB.

Akeel Morris has been up with the Angels multiple times this season, four to be exact. This may be his last opportunity to prove he is worthy of keeping for the Angels. Morris has pitched in six games for the Angels all in relief and he went 0-0 with a 6.75 ERA. Morris has pitched 9.1 innings with 5 strikeouts and 6 walks. He has a 2.04 WHIP and opponents are hitting .342 off of him.

Morris was acquired from the Atlanta Braves in a trade in early April with the Braves for a player to be named later. Morris has pitched only 15 games in the majors with the Mets, Braves, and now the Angels.

For most of his career Morris has bounced around the minor leagues after being drafted in the 10th round by the Mets in 2010. Morris’ minor league numbers are pretty impressive going 19-21 with a 2.97 ERA and a WHIP of 1.18. He has held opponents to a .181 batting average in 415 innings of work and he has struck out 542 batters with only 222 walks. Morris also has 46 saves in 57 opportunities in the minors.

Next: Angels lose four more players to injury.

Hopefully these four pitchers will the Angels stay in contention until they get some of their injured players back healthy.

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The LA Angels have had so many injuries this season they have had to dig deeper and deeper into their farm system to fill the voids left on the roster, especially the starting rotation.

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