The LA Angels bullpen is earning its stripes in 2019

Last season many things went wrong for the LA Angels. One of the biggest issues was their bullpen which many times seemed to be throwing gasoline on the fire rather than putting out the flames.

This off-season LA Angels general manager Billy Eppler made a point to fill the holes in the Angels roster and one of his top priorities was bolstering the Angels bullpen.  Eppler traded Jose Alvarez to Philadelphia for hard-throwing Luis Garcia.  They also signed Cody Allen to fill the closer role the Angels have been missing the past couple of seasons.

Couple this with the emergence of Justin Anderson in 2018 along with the acquisition of Ty Buttrey from Boston in a trade deadline deal.  The Angels also claimed Hansen Robles off the waiver wire mid-season and now the Angels have a very formidable weapon in their bullpen.

So far this season through nine games the Angels bullpen has given up just six runs in 30.1 innings of work which equates to a 1.78 ERA and even more importantly a 0.95 WHIP.  The Angels bullpen has recorded 36 strikeouts with only 10 walks.  Have only given up runs in three games this season.  A far cry from last season when it seemed that the bullpen gave up at least one run almost daily when called upon.

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The stars of the Angels bullpen so far have been Ty Buttrey, Justin Anderson, Cody Allen, and Noe Ramirez who have not given up a run in 14.2 innings of work.  Allen earned his first save on Friday night with a scoreless ninth inning.  Buttrey and Anderson have been called upon numerous times to get Angel starters out of James and they have delivered each time.

Ramirez has done a great job when called upon as well and so has Luke Bard who struck out the side in the 9th on Saturday’s 5-1 victory over Texas.  Robles has been dominating other than his one blemish allowing a two-run homer to Seattle’s Jay Bruce on Monday.  Robles has allowed only one hit and walked only one batter (both in that game against the Mariners). Robles has struck out nine batters in the 4.2 inning he has worked this season.

If the Angels bullpen can continue to be as effective as they have been early this season it will go a long way in helping the Angels improve this season.  The key will be that Angels manager Brad Ausmus uses the bullpen without wearing them out from overuse.

All is not as bad as it seems for the Angels and if they can hang in the race until getting Ohtani and Upton back from injury as well as Andrew Heaney.  Let’s see what the next week holds for the Angels and their bullpen.