Angels hit new low as they run a promising pitcher into the ground against Rangers

The Los Angeles Angels spent much of the season over-performing and playing better than many expected them to. Taylor Ward and Jo Adell are having historic seasons, Zach Neto is turning himself into a superstar in front of everybody's eyes, Kenley Jansen has largely been spotless and Yusei Kikuchi and José Soriano are turning in solid campaigns. It would be unfair to say the Angels' dreadful month of August is undoing all the good will they have accrued, but their series finale against the Texas Rangers was the worst job by the players, coaches and front office fans have seen in a while.

Angels hit new low as they run a promising pitcher into the ground against Rangers

For reasons that are somewhat unclear, the Angels promoted Jack Kochanowicz for a spot start in place of Tyler Anderson who's on paternity leave. The Angels' organization ranks near the bottom of the league in terms of pitching depth, but bringing back an already beaten-down Kochanowicz was a ridiculous idea. He's having a terrible season (to put it mildly), and running him back out against the Rangers was setting the youngster up for failure.

On April 19th, Kochanowicz lasted 3.1 innings against Texas, and served up eight hits and four runs with a 1:1 K:BB. Kochanowicz’s next start vs. Texas on 07/10 was one of the worst of any pitcher this season — this was the game that got him sent to Triple-A the first time after 19 straight MLB starts. That start was one of nine this season where a starter pitched at most 2.2 innings, and allowed at least eight hits and eight earned runs.

The Angels promoted Kochanowicz back to the MLB roster for his third start against their division rivals, and he went 4.2 innings with a 3:6 K:BB. After two more lackluster starts, he was demoted for the second and seemingly final time.

Clearly the Angels were not willing to use any minor league starter for this spot start, so Kochanowicz was promoted yet again to take on Texas. The Angels and he turned in one of the worst games of baseball in 2025. Kochanowicz allowed seven runs in the first two innings of the game before going 1-2-3 in the third. He got the leadoff man out in the fourth inning, then proceeded to go BB-HR-2B-1B-1B before being lifted for Andrew Chafin. The southpaw cashed in one of his runs, which made Kochanowicz's final line: 3.1 innings, 9 hits, 11 runs, 10 earned, 3 walks, 1 strikeout, 3 home runs. In four starts against Texas this season, he now has a 12.91 ERA.

The game was equal parts the Rangers embarrassing the Angels and the Angels embarrassing themselves. A young pitcher's ego, pride and confidence are fragile, and the 24-year-old Kochanowicz looks more broken than ever before thanks to Perry Minasian and Ray Montgomery. The Rangers wound up having three players record five RBIs, mostly because Oswald Peraza and Niko Kavadas covered the last two innings of the blowout. The Rangers' 20-3 victory was reminiscent of their 30-3 drubbing of the Baltimore Orioles back in 2007.

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