It sure seems like the Angels will not use their 5 best options in the 2025 rotation

When it comes to roster building, Perry Minasian values a player's makeup over his talent so as to not create a toxic work environment within the clubhouse. Kyle Hendricks' makeup is far superior to his talent at this point in his career, but he is all but guaranteed a role in the starting rotation after camp breaks. If the Angels were to begin their season tomorrow, their rotation would be comprised of Yusei Kikuchi, José Soriano, Tyler Anderson, Reid Detmers, and Hendricks. Jack Kochanowicz will likely begin the season in AAA Salt Lake, and should have a legitimate gripe given what he showed with the big league team last season.

“He's definitely going to start for us and we did identify some things with his delivery that we felt like were a little different than when he was successful,” Minasian said about Hendricks. “When we get him in Spring Training, we'll talk about. But this is somebody that's gonna really, really help this group.”

Kochanowicz has a nasty arsenal that should only be getting better. He slings upper-90s sinkers from a low 3/4 arm slot to great effect. The sinker-baller generates an absurd amount of ground balls and misses barrels at a high rate. His hard hit rate is high, but that is misleading. Ground balls' exit velocities skew that stat. Hard hit percentages can be on the higher side if a pitcher generates a lot of grounders, as the majority of ground balls are classified as hard hits despite the suboptimal launch angles. Furthermore, Kochanowicz's 3.8% BB% was in the 98th percentile of MLB pitchers last season, and Angels' pitchers 9.8% BB% as a unit ranked 29th last season. Sticking Kochanowicz in the rotation really helps address a key element of run prevention -- not walking the world, as Angels pitcher did last season.

Kochanowicz starting over Hendricks would put the Angels in a better spot to win more baseball games next season

Kochanowicz is 24-years-old and got his legs under him after a few rough starts to begin his MLB career. After his first two starts, his ERA sat at 14.14 and his FIP at 7.59. By the end of the season, he pitched so well that his ERA dropped down to 3.99 and his FIP 4.62. Hendricks, on the other hand, is just at a different stage of his career now. His fastball is the slowest in the sport and he gave up home runs and hard contact at high rates in his last season with Chicago. He actually was deployed as a long reliever by the Cubs last season, and did pitch effectively in that role.

As it seems, the optimal rotation and bullpen would look like this to begin the 2025 campaign:

1. Kikuchi
2. Soriano
3. Anderson
4. Detmers
5. Kochanowicz
‘pen: 
CL: Joyce
SU/MR: Burke, Zeferjahn, Quijada
Swing: Silseth, Bachman 
Long: Suarez, Hendricks

Even though Hendricks is a veteran who will assuredly begin the season in the rotation, it appears that might put the team at a competitive disadvantage. Hendricks was brought in for his veteran presence more so than his on-field output. The Angels gave him a one-year deal for $2.5 million whereas Kochanowicz, in theory, will be a staple of the rotation moving forward. If Minasian sat him down and explained to him that he was going to be in the bullpen, Hendricks likely will not make a fuss about it since he is an upstanding teammate and was just moved to that role. The Angels have some hard roster decisions to make moving forward, but this one seems relatively straightforward if they are truly looking to compete next season.

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