LA Angels: 3 pleasant surprises in the 2021 season

The LA Angels have had a plenty disappointing season this year, but it hasn’t been all bad.

The Angels still feature many talented ballplayers, and have found ways to surprise in this league even without Mike Trout.

This team has a lot of fight in them, and still hasn’t given up on playing for Joe Maddon, or themselves.

No. 3 pleasant surprise for the 2021 LA Angels: Raisel Iglesias’ career year

Raisel Iglesias was a big addition for us this past offseason. We knew that, and expected him to perform.

We didn’t, however, expect him to pitch at the level he did. Iglesias was lights out on the mound this year, and had his best season ever.

He has a 2.63 ERA (all stats in this article are as of September 21st), which is just a little over his career-best 2.38. To have a 2.63 in the American League is a huge deal. He also has the highest K/9 rate of his career at 13.3, and it’s not even close to the 12.1 that used to be his best.

He also has the lowest BB/9 rate of his career at 1.7. He’s on pace to breaking his own saves record, only needing two more to tie (he’s currently at 32). Finding ways to perform at this level in his first season in the AL, where it’s harder for closers to pitch, is very impressive.

I mean, he’s perfected his fastball to the point where his peers rank it second in the AL behind only the great Aroldis Chapman’s iconic fastball.

No. 1 pleasant surprise for the 2021 LA Angels: Shohei Ohtani emerging as MVP favorite and Ace

Many LA Angels fans did see Shohei Ohtani having a big year this season, but very few expected this.

Ohtani is having arguably the greatest season in Major League Baseball history. His 7.2 fWAR has him as the AL MVP favorite.

He’s hitting .255/.357/.588 (.945 OPS) with 44 home runs, 94 RBI, and 93 runs scored. It got him the nod to start the All-Star Game as the DH.

He’s also posted a 9-2 record as the Angels Ace, with a 3.28 ERA and a 10.65 K/9 rate. It got him the nod to also start the All-Star Game as the starting pitcher.

He even played seven games in the outfield. He truly can do it all, and not only fulfilled his potential in this league, but surpassed it.

He’s going to earn himself a huge payday maybe as early as even this offseason. Nobody has done what Ohtani has done on both sides of the ball in this game for over a century.

He’s drawn plenty of Base Ruth comparisons, and rightfully so.

This team disappointed this year, but Ohtani, as well as the other two, kept this season fun to watch.