3 overreactions after 1 week of Angels baseball

The Angels make a brief visit home this weekend, arriving with a 4-2 record after a wild first week. Bookended by two bad losses, they’ve already won two extra innings games, two one-run nailbiters and both of their opening series. Perhaps surprisingly, 4-2 is the exact same record the Halos had at this point in four of their last five seasons, so taking that into account, and acknowledging that “fair and reasonable takes” makes for a boring headline, here are three totally oversimplified observations going into the home opener.

The Pitching is Good!

The Angels got 5 quality starts out of their rotation in the first 6 games, with only Tyler Anderson failing to go the required 6 innings. The starters only issued 4 walks in their first 5 games, and pitched very efficiently overall. Jose Soriano had by far the most impressive outing; 7 scoreless, two-hit innings against the White Sox in game 2.  In fact, that game provided a dream blueprint for the Angel’s pitching staff - 7 innings from the starter, followed by one each from Ben Joyce and Kenley Jansen to shut the door.

The rest of the bullpen were impressive too, until the final game in St Louis. Ryan Johnson had quite the week, notching his debut professional inning, first save and first win in just three appearances. Garrett McDaniels made his Major League debut, Jansen got two saves closer to the Hall of Fame and the ‘pen even pitched around wild weather in Chicago.

The biggest concern is around long relief, particularly after burning through multiple pitchers in those extra innings games. Reid Detmers showed why Jack Kochaniwicz beat him out for the final rotation spot – he consistently cruises to 0-2 but then struggles to finish hitters off. Ian Anderson and Brock Burke joined forces to badly blow the final game in St Louis, giving up 8 runs between them. It’s unrealistic to expect a run of 6+ innings from the starters to continue, so at some point this bullpen is going to have to find a way to go long.

The Offense is Bad!

One thing that would really help the pitching staff out is run support. Through the first six games, the offense managed only 24 runs – and 8 of those came in extra innings. Even from a team that historically takes a while to heat up, that’s just not enough to inspire any confidence.

There are signs of life, though. Mike Trout has 5 RBI so far, and hit his first homer of the year in the final road game, alongside a Logan O’Hoppe grand slam. Jorge Soler has been hitting the ball hard, and his results should come in time. And Kyren Paris has been nothing short of a one-man highlights reel.

Paris was the surprise of Spring training, after working with Aaron Judge’s hitting coach over the winter, and it looks like the highly touted prospect may finally be having his breakout. He has been the Angels best hitter by a long way, coming up with huge clutch moments in three consecutive games, and seeming to ignite the game every time he gets anywhere near the ball. The fact that he hasn’t played every day leads us to the biggest overreaction of the season so far.

Ron Washington’s clock is ticking

At the start of 2024, it seemed obvious to most that Mickey Moniak and Jo Adell were going to be given a real chance to show if they had what it takes to stick in the Major Leagues. However, for the first month, the bulk of their potential playing time went to Aaron Hicks in right field and Miguel Sano at DH. It felt that Ron Washington was giving veteran players the advantage over his youngsters, regardless of their lack of meaningful production.

Now Moniak has gone, and Adell is a veteran, at least compared to Kyren Paris, but the same thing seems to be happening. When Adell was briefly sidelined with hip tightness, Paris got his chance, and grabbed it, yet he didn’t start in the last two games, and wasn’t even brought in to pinch hit in the finale. It’s understandable that a manager would want to balance playing time early in a season, see what he has on the bench and try to avoid overexerting players too soon, but Paris isn’t just showing potential, he’s proving himself with every at bat. He came up as an infielder, so even if you prefer Adell in centre field, leaving Paris off the lineup card in favour of Tim Anderson or Nicky Lopez smacks of unnecessary deference to veterans, again.  

Washington’s bullpen management has been equally hard to fathom. Bringing Ryan Johnson back in for a second inning on opening day, after a superb debut, and not only with his entire bullpen available but a pending off-day, was simply unexplainable. Leaving both Ian Anderson and Brock Burke alone as they haemorrhaged runs in the other loss of the road trip was almost certainly down to having exhausted the rest of the ‘pen over the two previous nights, but it still grates.

There’s still a lot to love about Washington. His mound visits to young pitchers have a visible effect, he gives great media and he clearly has the respect of his players. But until his lineup solidifies, and the overall offense heats up, questions will inevitably be asked about his future.

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