Angels sign intriguing former Cardinals and Rockies pitcher to MiLB deal

On the surface, this signing is a laughable move. When you dig deep, you can see the rationale. The Angels just reinforced their pitching depth after reportedly signing Dakota Hudson to a minor league contract. Yes, he was 2-12 last season with a 6.17 ERA with Colorado. 157 pitchers threw at least 80 innings last season, and Hudson's 4.96 K/9 and 5.06 BB/9 were the worst marks of that group.

The optics of this deal are odd. It's another pitcher, alongside Tyler Anderson and Kyle Hendricks, who throws slowly. His fastball velocity was in the 6th percentile of MLB pitchers last season. In fact, his average exit velocity was just about even to his fastball velo. That's...not great. He also was unable to get hitters to whiff or chase. The nice thing about signing Rockies pitchers is the built-in excuse though! Check out the road splits!

Well, let's try and find some positives in Hudson's resume. He was pretty solid pitching outside of Denver last year! Granted, he will be pitching mostly in Salt Lake City next year so that might not be great for him. However, if the Angels are forced to promote Hudson he has shown he can pitch reasonably well not at altitude. Change of scenery candidate? Perhaps!

The Dakota Hudson signing is confounding but still checks out

Much like José Soriano, Jack Kochanowicz, andH Hendricks, Hudson is a ground ball pitcher. He pitches to contact and has shown a pension for keeping batted balls on the ground and not in the air...out of altitude. Overall, Hudson had a ground ball% in the 89th percentile of MLB pitchers. In 46 road innings pitched last season, his 0.59 HR/9 ranked 21st out of 159 pitchers. The Angels are actively working on revamping their infield defense. That's something!

The Angels love their former Cardinals. This move is reminiscent of the Daniel Ponce de Leon signing from a few years back, where the Angels bring in a veteran, former Cardinals pitcher just because they like that organization's former players. Well, maybe Hudson still has something left in the tank unlike Ponce de Leon. He is still only 30-years-old and should be slotted ahead of Davis Daniel and behind Kochanowicz in terms of the Angels' emergency spot starters who will begin the season in AAA. If nothing else, it's more signs that the front office is attacking the organization's lack of depth.