LA Angels: 3 key takeaways from the Opening Series

The Angels Opening Day record is 0-7 since 2014. That was until the Angels put together an impressive team win in Thursday’s opener against the White Sox led by the Angels 3-4-5 hitters who reached base safely a combined seven times. The Halos followed that performance up, winning three of the first four games of their Opening Series.

The same 2014 season is also the last year in which the Halos reached the postseason, marking a six-year playoff drought in which the Halos have been watching October baseball instead of playing October baseball.

The team came into the 2021 season needing a “feel good” start to the season, as new General Manager Perry Minasian and his “win now” attitude has Angels and baseball fans hopeful that the team has their best shot at a playoff birth in quite some time.

Angels Opening Series: Exciting things are happening in Anaheim.

The Halos welcome in an undefeated Houston Astros (4-0) squad on Monday, on the heels of their 3-1 start to the season with a whole handful of positives up and down the roster.

Here are three key takeaways from the Opening Series that should give Angels fans a lot of promise with 158 games remaining this season.

Angels Opening Series: Jared Walsh is ready to supplant Albert Pujols full-time.

A 39th round pick in the 2015 MLB Draft, few people outside of Jared Walsh‘s close family and friends expected him to be an everyday MLB player.

Going that deep in the draft, front offices are hoping for a late-bloomer that might be able to contribute as a multi-role utility guy, or a long reliever providing some versatility to their bullpen. Walsh, however, consistently hit across every minor league level, forcing the front office’s hand to keep moving him up through the farm system. Walsh earned a call-up in 2019, although he’d go on to scuffle hitting .203 with one home run in 34 games. The Angels stuck with him – giving him another call up on August 28, 2020, despite him having a career .180/.247/.292 slash line with one home run in 97 MLB plate appearances.

In September, Walsh slashed .337/.368/.744 with nine bombs, giving him Rookie of Month honors, and a giving the Angels a glimmer of hope into what could be their first base future.

Given the small sample size of success, many wondered if Walsh could stick as an everyday first baseman. A lousy spring in which Walsh hit .205 with only one extra base hit in 52 plate appearances left Maddon and the Angels with more questions than answers as to who Jared Walsh ultimately is.

Well, two starts at first base later during the Opening Series, and Walsh has four hits in eight ABs, including a triple and two home runs, one of which sent the Angels home with a series win on Sunday Night Baseball:

With Albert Pujols continually on the decline and in the last year of his far too lengthy ten-year, $240M contract signed in 2012, the Angels should have confidence giving Walsh the nod at first base permanently moving forward.

Angels Opening Series: The revamped bullpen is very formidable, and could be elite.

For years, the Angels have lacked the pitching, both out of bullpen and in the rotation, to compete at a high level. In the past two seasons, the Angels ranked 18th in the MLB in bullpen ERA  (4.64), and 29th in starting rotation ERA (5.61). More specifically, the bullpen ranked 21st in the MLB in strikeouts per nine innings (9.09), consistently failing to get swings and misses in big win or lose moments.

Over the weekend during the Opening Series, Maddon put a completely overhauled bullpen on display, featuring new comers Raisel Iglesias, Aaron Slegers, Steve Cishek, Tony Watson, Junior Guerra, and Chris Rodriguez.

New closer Raisel Iglesias looked filthy closing out the White Sox on Opening Day, featuring a mid-to-high 80s slider, low-90s changeup, and mid-to-high 90s fastball. This sequence to Luis Robert put his wipeout slider on full display:

Highly-regarded youngster Chris Rodriguez dazzled in his debut, featuring a high-90s fastball upper-80s to low-90s cutter, and mid-80s curveball. His athleticism, mechanics, and confidence gives him all the looks of a future back end of the bullpen stud, if he sticks to a relief role as opposed to starting. In his debut on Friday, he struck out Yoan Moncada on a 97 MPH fastball with dramatic running action, and made Adam Eaton look silly on a breaking ball:

In addition to the newcomers, Mike Mayers performed exceptionally well in the setup roll, getting the win on Opening Day and coming back to throw 1.2 shutout innings the next day, pitching both days in high-leverage scenarios.

If everyone stays healthy, this bullpen has every piece necessary to put them in a bunch of top-five bullpen categories.

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From the lineup production to the pitching success, the Angels have a lot of positives and a 3-1 record to take out of the opening series. The red hot Astros will put the Angels staff and bullpen to the test and show if they truly do have the arms needed  to compete against a winning ball club.