Angels call up prized pitching prospect in role he should've filled a month ago

The rollercoaster ride of emotions Angels fans have been riding the whole season pertaining to starting pitching prospects being called up as relievers appears to be coming to an end. Between Caden Dana, Ryan Johnson, Víctor Mederos and Sam Aldegheri, the Angels have shown no fear in messing up the development of their key pitching prospects by using them in an unfamiliar roles at the big league level. Well, of late, the Angels promoted Mederos as a starter and they just brought Dana up for his first MLB start in almost a calendar year.

Angels call up prized pitching prospect in role he should've filled a month ago

In a move that has yet to spawn a corresponding transaction, Dana was somewhat surprisingly promoted to start the Angels' second game of a series against the Kansas City Royals. It was surprising for a few reasons...

1. The promotion came a day after the rosters expanded from 26 to 28. When the Angels signed José Ureña and brought up Mitch Farris, it seemed the organization was prioritizing the workload of guys like Dana, Johnson, Tyler Bremner (who never made it to an affiliate this season) and Aldegheri. Dana was given over a month off during his season with Triple-A Salt Lake, and nobody would have faulted the Angels for keeping their No. 5 prospect in the chamber.

2. The Angels seemingly had filled out their five-man rotation already with Yusei Kikuchi, José Soriano, Kyle Hendricks, Farris and Ureña. The corresponding roster move will dictate whether the Angels might role with a six-man rotation to protect Kikuchi, Soriano and Dana's potential arm fatigue late in the season, or if they just prefer having Dana than Farris (fans would be mad if the Angels do option him down) or Ureña (who has not even pitched yet).

3. Most importantly, if the Angels wanted Dana to start at some point during the 2025 season...why did they wait until September? The team's usage of Dana this season has been hard to understand -- they promoted him twice this season to eat innings out of the bullpen (on April 4th and May 24th). When they brought up Dana a little over a week into the regular season, one would surmise that he was going to factor heavily into the team's plans this season. Turns out Perry Minasian preferred to give Tyler Anderson and Jack Kochanowicz the longest possible leashes to round out the rotation despite their downright terrible production.

Dana being promoted for a start is exciting, but just another reminder that the Angels are shooting from the hip with roster moves. Why Dana was not brought up a month ago after his mini-vacation in Salt Lake to replace Anderson or Kochanowicz is beyond belief. Having a fresh Dana over those two well-below average starters at the beginning of August might have helped prevent the team's free fall.

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