3 surprising players who are off to strong starts for the Angels

Ryan Zeferjahn

Of all MLB relievers to make five or more appearances this season, Zeferjahn's 47.4 K% ranks fourth. He only trails ATH's Mason Miller, SDP's Yuki Matsui, and LAD's Kirby Yates.

Before the regular season, many pundits hated the Angels' roster but pointed to the bullpen as a strong unit. Well, fast forward to mid-April and the lineup is one of the best in the league and the starters and relievers have been terrible (for the most part, apologies to José Soriano and Kenley Jansen specifically). Ben Joyce unsurprisingly went down with injury, and the bullpen's depth has been exposed as relatively non-existent outside of Jansen and Zeferjahn. Brock Burke, Garrett McDaniels, and Ryan Johnson have been streaky.

In terms of the average statistics of Angels relievers, Zeferjahn is way above the mean in every category. It's been awesome to watch this guy come over as the third piece in the Luis García trade (behind Matthew Lugo and Niko Kavadas), and turn into the most important and effective non-closer the team has going for them right now. Keep spinning those cutters, sweepers, and four-seams, Ryan!