Angels News: Pitcher acquired in trade leaves for Nats; starter sizzles in bullpen

Texas Rangers v Los Angeles Angels
Texas Rangers v Los Angeles Angels | Katelyn Mulcahy/GettyImages

When Perry Minasian took the reins as the new general manager of the Los Angeles Angels, he made some solid acquisitions and some not-so-solid ones. In what looked to be an absolute haul at the 2021 trade deadline, Minasian traded a 36-year-old reliever in Tony Watson for three San Francisco Giants pitchers. Two of the pitchers were in their early-mid 20s with gigantic arms and upside, and their names were José Marte and Ivan Armstrong. Well, fast forward to 2025 and they are both officially gone, with Marte electing free agency after getting designated for assignment a few months ago and Armstrong signing a minor league contract with the Washington Nationals the other day.

Armstrong and Marte both threw bowling-ball two-seamers that sat in the upper-90s, and even touched 100mph -- outstanding fliers taken by Minasian in exchange for a thumbing, left-handed reliever in Watson. Standing at 6'5 and weighing in the 250 pound range, Armstrong is a unit who flashed major potential as an intimidating, power pitching, back-end reliever. While Armstrong struggled with his weight and fielding his position, his arm did not waver much. He actually turned in a solid 2024 campaign with the AA Rocket City Trash Pandas results-wise, as the now 24-year-old struck out 60 batters in 58 innings. Many within the organization viewed Armstrong as a viable closer down-the-road, but he never could quite break through. What was once a priority pitcher in the Angels pipeline is now a casted off after-thought, a tale as old as time in professional baseball.

Jack Kochanowicz is shaping up for what hopefully is his breakout season

While he may be on the outside-looking-in, Jack Kochanowicz is exemplifying why die-hard Angels fans have been so all-in on him for a while now. Off-season bullpens are mostly "eye-wash" as folks in the industry say, but this assuredly feels different. Given his age and lack of big league experience, Kochanowicz is firing bullets in a recent bullpen of his caught on video and posted to social media. Rarely do you see pitchers with time in the big leagues showcasing their velocity in January, as they are still building/ramping up for spring training. Not this guy, though!

Much like Boston's Brayan Bello showed in 2024, hitters can catch up to pitchers if they solely throw 95+mph two-seamers. Kochanowicz refining his four-seam is a welcome sight, as an elevated four-seam in two-strike counts could be highly effective for a pitcher who struggled at punching batters out (his 9.4% K% was one of the lowest marks in the big leagues last season). The sinker-balller sprinkled in his four-seam merely 6% of the time in his 65.1 Angels innings, as it possesses below-average metrics for its classification. Kochanowicz really did turn in impressive results as a starter who only utilized two pitches with any regularity, so any off-season refinements will be a welcome sight come spring training.

Last thought-- keeping Kyle Hendricks and his 85mph four-seam in the rotation over Kochanowicz's 100mph sinker would be roster-building malpractice. Absolutely cannot happen.

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