LA Angels pitching prospect Patrick Sandoval is on his way to Cincinnati to start Monday for Angels. Pena likely out for awhile.

As was first reported by Halo Hangout’s Ryan Falla, LA Angels prospect Patrick Sandoval is on his way to meet the team in Cincinnati where he will make his MLB debut against the Reds on Monday.

When the LA Angels traded catcher Martin Maldonado to the Houston Astros a year ago they sent back a talented, but unproven left-handed pitcher Patrick Sandoval to the Angels in return.  Sandoval pitched very in 2018 going 11-1 with a 2.06 ERA in both the Astros and Angels minor league system.  Sandoval struck out 145 batters in 122 innings and only walked 29, which is a 5 to 1 strikeouts to walks ratio.

This season in Double-A and Triple A for the Angels Sandoval has not been quite as impressive, but still has shown enough promise to get the call-up to the majors.  In 20 games this season Sandoval is 4-7 with a 5.71 ERA and a 1.74 WHIP striking out 98 batters in 80 innings of work.  His 42 walks is concerning but it is still more than a 2 to 1 strikeouts to walks ratio in the hitter friendly Pacific Coast League.

The Angels most likely option Dillon Peters to Triple-A or place pitcher Felix Pena on the injured list due to what has been diagnosed as a sprained right knee which he suffered while covering first base in the second inning of Saturday’s game with Cleveland.  Pena is scheduled to have an MRI to see the extent of the damage, but the fact that he wasn’t able to put any pressure on it is not a good sign.

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The play looked eerily familiar to Garrett Richards ACL tear on a similar play in Boston almost five years ago. Pena stepped on the first base bag and came down awkwardly and started hopping around before going to ground.  If Pena is lost for the season it is another in a series of major blows to the Angels starting rotation.  The Angels have already lost Tyler Skaggs and Andrew Heaney in the past month, and Pena will most likely be added to that list.  Coupled with the release of Matt Harvey and Chris Stratton and the demotion of Trevor Cahill to the bullpen, there is no one left from the original starting five that began the season in the end of March. This unfortunately has become the norm rather than the exception for the Angel starters over the past couple of seasons.

With Sandoval coming up to the majors Monday, the Angels have now called up their top three pitching prospects this season in Griffin Canning, Jose Suarez, and Patrick Sandoval.  Canning and Suarez have shown promise in some starts, but have failed to be consistent.  Hopefully for Sandoval and the Angels he will find the setting up in the bigs to his liking.The Angels should also call up some the hitting prospects as well.

We will just have to wait and see on Monday in Cincinnati as to how Patrick Sandoval will fair against the Reds.  We will be following this story on Halo Hangout live in New York.