Angels First Pitch: Ohtani’s final tune-up, Heaney hurting

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The Los Angeles Angels are on the home stretch of the long trip to Opening Day and are finalizing the roster, rotation, and more.

It took us forever to get here, but the 2020 MLB season is finally upon us and Opening Day is just around the corner. The Los Angeles Angels have a few days remaining of their pseudo-spring training to get everything in place for their opener on Friday in Oakland.

Before we get to that point, the Angels will get their first taste of real baseball before games start to count. After weeks of intrasquad games, the Halos will play the first of their three exhibition games on Monday night when they travel to take on the San Diego Padres at Petco Park.

Angels Exhibition Schedule and Live Stream Info

Opponent: San Diego Padres
Date: Monday, July 20th
Start time: 6:10 p.m. PDT
Location: San Diego, CA
Stadium: Petco Park
TV Info: Fox Sports West
Live Stream: Fubo.TV. Sign up for a free seven-day trial here.

Opponent: Los Angeles Dodgers
Date: Tuesday, July 21st
Start time: 6:40 p.m. PDT
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Stadium: Dodgers Stadium
TV Info: Fox Sports West
Live Stream: Fubo.TV. Sign up for a free seven-day trial here.

Opponent: San Diego Padres
Date: Wednesday, July 22nd
Start time: 6:40 p.m. PDT
Location: Anaheim, CA
Stadium: Angels Stadium
TV Info: Fox Sports West
Live Stream: Fubo.TV. Sign up for a free seven-day trial here.

While the intrasquad games have been fun to watch, providing some lighthearted baseball for fans to digest. However, it will be good to get to see the Angels in some real game situations against other MLB competition.

These three games will be a good tune-up for when the actual season gets underway on Friday in Oakland. For the fourth consecutive season, the Angels will kick off their season at the Coliseum against the A’s.

But before we get there, the Halos have a few more days to work things out. Those include some injuries, some rotation adjustments, and more.

Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Angels (Photo by Masterpress/Getty Images) /

Angels’ Shohei Ohtani throws his final tune-up before his first start since 2018

Speaking of coming a long way, the wait until the 2020 MLB season hasn’t been the only thing that will be highly anticipated this coming weekend. There is also the highly anticipated return of Shohei Ohtani to an MLB mound.

Ohtani last threw in a major league game on September 2, 2018. After undergoing Tommy John surgery and spending the 2019 season limited to being a designated hitter, the two-way star is ready to resume his pitching career in 2020.

Ohtani has appeared in three intrasquad games thus far this spring (err…summer), and the right-hander has shown steady improvement over each start. That continued on Sunday when he threw five simulated innings, allowing one run on five hits and four walks, striking out six of his 22 batters faced.

Contol appears to remain an issue for Ohtani, who walked eight batters during his first spring outing and has issued four free passes in each of his two subsequent starts. However, velocity has been ticking up and he’ll likely be less focused on mixing his pitches versus execution during live games.

The start on Sunday was also significant as it seemed to indicate the Angels’ plan for Ohtani moving forward. With the team adamant on giving him just one pitching appearance per week, Sunday would seem to be the obvious choice for when to work him on the mound. The pitcher himself noted that when speaking with the press on Sunday night.

“It looks like going on Sundays is the best option,” Ohtani said. “We have the most off-days on Monday. I’m not going to hit the following day, so it gives me a chance to rest up.” (via Rhett Bolinger, MLB.com)

That plan would see Ohtani take the ball in the season’s third game, with off days to rest on Saturday and Monday.

Angels’ Opening Day starter Andrew Heaney skips a start

For the second consecutive season, Andrew Heaney has been tabbed as the opening day starter for the Angels. However, as we all know, he failed to make that start in 2019 and missed the first several months of the season.

With the season opener for the Angels on Friday in Oakland, Heaney gave the Angels a bit of a scare on Saturday when he missed his final intrasquad start. However, the decision to skip the start appears to be entirely precautionary.

In talking with the media on Sunday, Heaney noted that he woke up with some back stiffness and voted to err on the side of caution.

“I just felt like, as quick as our build-up was gonna be in this Spring Training, and then with the season being as short as it is, it was just smart to be cautious. I feel ready after 85 pitches my last time out. Felt good with all of my stuff. I’m ready to go. I feel fine.”

With Heaney’s history of injuries, the team wants to see him not only make it to his first start but also stay as healthy as possible for the shortened season. There is a sense of ease knowing that Saturday’s scratch was due to some stiffness and not an arm injury.

After going 4-6 with a 4.91 ERA, a 4.63 FIP, and an 11.1 K/9 in 2019, Heaney is looking to regain the form he showed during a breakout campaign in 2018. In career-best 30 starts and 180 innings two seasons ago, Heaney went 9-10 with a 4.15 ERA, a 3.99 FIP, a 4.00 K/BB ratio.

He’ll make his first career opening day start on Friday against the Athletics.

More Angels notes ahead of Opening Day

With Andrew Heaney skipping his start on Saturday, the Angels were forced to make alternative plans should he be unable to start on Friday in Oakland. Right-hander Dylan Bundy moved his scheduled start from Monday to Sunday night in the off-chance that he’ll need to take the ball instead of Heaney on Friday. However, the Angels are convinced that Heaney should be ready to go and this was simply a precautionary move.

As discussed on Saturday, Julio Teheran has joined the team in camp for the first time since play resumed. While he missed the three weeks of camp to this point, Teheran told the media on Sunday that he feels he is only a week behind in his throwing program and will be ready to join the Angels’ rotation shortly after the beginning of the season.

Another Angel on the mend if third baseman Anthony Rendon. The third baseman was scratched on Friday due to oblique tightness and has not yet returned to intrasquad games since. However, he told Joe Maddon that he will be ready to play on Friday and shouldn’t miss anything more than a few intrasquad games.

3 potential obstacles for 2020 Angels. Next

If Rendon is unable to go on Friday, the Angels could turn to a familiar face in David Fletcher to handle the hot corner. We took a look last week on whether Fletcher can continue to exceed his metrics or if he can improve on those marks in 2020.

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