LA Angels: Who is the greatest starting pitcher in franchise history?

2) Jered Weaver

Modern day Angel fans still miss the easy consistency of Jered Weaver, who was the team’s Opening Day starter for eleven consecutive seasons between 2006 and 2016.

Weaver finished his Angels career second in franchise wins (150), but also second in winning percentage (.617). If advanced metrics are your thing, the long-haired starter is the club’s third all-time leader in career wins above replacement (36.1).

A first round pick out of Long Beach State in 2004, Weaver had his best season in 2012, leading the American League in wins as he finished the year 20-5 with a 2.81 ERA. He finished third in Cy Young voting that year, after finishing second in Cy Young voting the season before, when he went 18-8 with a 2.41 ERA. Over those two seasons, Weaver had the fourth best ERA in all of baseball, behind Clayton Kershaw, Justin Verlander, and Johnny Cueto, a pretty impressive list.

What stood out about Weaver was his ability to rack up strikeouts while keeping his command consistent, his career strikeout to base on balls ratio third best in Angels history.

Weaver led the league in wins for the second time in 2014. He went 18-9 with a 3.59 ERA, striking out more than seven batters per nine innings. Every single year that you look at Weaver’s numbers, you see the same roughly seven K’s per 9 and only two BB’s per 9.

In the games that mattered most, the right-hander was also pretty good. He pitched in 27.2 postseason innings, and allowed only eight earned runs. His best performance coming in Game 2 of the 2009 ALDS against the Red Sox where he pitched into the eighth inning, allowing only one run, two hits, and striking out that consistent number, 7, while walking only two.