Early Angels spring training roster cuts bring pitching competition into focus

The Los Angeles Angels having real questions with their pitching staff is a tale as old as time. With an owner that does not seem to believe in spending on arms and who has to basically be put in a headlock to do the bare minimum when it comes to pitching development infrastructure, LA's attempts to build a competent pitching staff have faced endless obstacles and led to little in the way of success.

So, when spring training opened this year, the Angels once again found themselves in need of piecing together a staff that could at least give them a chance. After bringing in a bunch of arms into camp to see who could fill out the last spots in the rotation and bullpen, the Angels' first round of roster cuts has made their pitching competition in camp this year a bit clearer.

Angels cut 7 players from big league camp as roster battles come to a head

Looking at the list of players in this round of cuts, you won't find any huge surprises, and a few of the names are ones that fans probably didn't even know existed. With Logan O'Hoppe and Travis d'Arnaud around, playing time at catcher for the Angels outside of those two guys is going to be sparse, so sending Juan Flores and Marlon Quintero back to minor league camp was inevitable.

On the pitching side, a host of fringe candidates are officially out of the running. The most surprising cut is probably Chase Shores, who has electric stuff and was drafted out of college in 2025, so it is a bit out of character for the Angels to not give him a longer look in camp as a starter than they ended up giving him. After that, Chris Cortez, Jose Gonzalez, Joel Hurtado, and Nate Snead were all either too inexperienced or simply not good enough to make the Opening Day roster.

With that, the Angels no longer have to give innings to arms that never had much of a chance of making the team, and they can focus on the realistic candidates. The bullpen battle is heating up, and it feels like the Angels' rotation picture is a bit clearer. The easy cuts are out of the way now, and it is time to start making the tough choices.