LA Angels: Young arms set to lead Halos’ 2022 rotation

Speaking of getting a preview of the big leagues as a reliever, that’s exactly what the team did with Chris Rodriguez (22) earlier this year.

A surprise member of the Opening Day bullpen, Chris Rodriguez established himself as one of the team’s best.

Armed with a high-90s fastball and an almost unhittable curveball, he started his career by firing two scoreless innings in his April 2 debut. He’s since settled into his role as the long man out of the pen, later throwing 3.1 scoreless innings against Texas on April 28.

Overall, he owns a 3.66 ERA this season.

While he may not be the strikeout threat that Detmers is, ‘CRod’ still has the potential to be above average in this regard. With 20 K’s in 19.2 innings, the stuff is clearly there for him to take things to the next level in the coming years.

That said, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing for Rodriguez so far. Like Detmers, walks have been the enemy for much of his career. This year hasn’t been any different as he’s already walked 11 batters.

Furthermore, a bout with right shoulder soreness wiped out most of his May. Though he returned just fine in June, his time on the IL was unfortunate, nonetheless.

Some fans might be a little upset at the Halos’ decision to send Rodriguez back down to Double-A, presumably for the rest of the season, but this is the right call. For one thing, this will definitely help him to develop more and hammer out some of his control issues.

More importantly, though, is that this move shows a clear willingness from the organization to have Rodriguez remain a starter rather than a reliever. Sure, this move doesn’t bode well for the team’s hopes regarding the rest of this season, but it does show a clear desire to improve things for next year.