Overlooked Angels reliever is finally rewarding team's patience in a huge way

The Los Angeles Angels' bullpen has been one of the league's most brutal units this season. The revolving door that has been the relief corps has seen 18 different pitchers rotate through and make at least one appearance as the unit has posted a 29th-ranked 5.32 ERA. Throughout all the muck and the mire, one hurler who has stood out has been Sam Bachman.

The right-hander has logged a team-high 26 innings over 19 appearances, posting a 2.42 ERA in the process. His last 13 appearances heading into May 27 have been even more supercharged, spanning 18 2/3 innings with a 1.45 ERA and 18 strikeouts against just three walks.

It's been a long time coming for Bachman. The 26-year-old was the first pick of the infamous 2021 "All Pitcher Draft." That class, Perry Minasian's first as Angels general manager, is noteworthy for more than the fact that he selected 20 pitchers with his 20 picks. In fact, the greatest issue wasn't what he selected but who he picked.

Bachman has been the hardest to evaluate thanks to persistent injuries. The 26-year-old dealt with persistent right shoulder injuries from 2022 through 2024, before being diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome during last year's spring training, eventually making his way back by converting to a relief role.

Sam Bachman's emergence should teach the Angels a lesson in patience

Bachman made his pro debut shortly after the draft back in 2021, and Los Angeles was already thinking about fast-tracking the then-starter to the bigs as a reliever. In all likelihood, that would have happened should the shoulder issues not derailed his progress.

The injuries had many folks ready to write Bachman off. Those cries got louder after he posted a 6.20 ERA last year in his 20 1/3 big league innings. The thing is, despite his age, with so much missed time, Bachman was not a fully formed product.

Now he might be. He's striking out more batters than ever before, with a career-best 26.2% strikeout rate to date. This is the first time in his big league stints that he's topped the 20% threshold, and he is pairing that elevated K-rate with a 53.1% ground ball rate that has always been a strength thanks to his heavy sinker.

That sinker is hitting velocities that Bachman has never seen before. The righty is averaging 98.6 miles per hour with his heater and has begun topping triple digits on occasion.

The underlying data shows that this likely isn't a fluke. Bachman's average exit velocity of 85.9 miles per hour, which is a 92nd percentile mark. That's helped him post a minuscule 29.7% hard-hit rate. In addition to managing contact, he's generating whiffs 33.9% percent of the time, placing him in the 94th percentile.

Bachman's FIP of 3.38 is a bit higher than his ERA, so while it's still a good mark, there's some chance for regression. On the other hand, FIP doesn't consider quality of contact, so the weak ground balls he's generating aren't something that the metric takes into account, despite their strong correlation to run suppression.

Had Bachman not had the injury woes, he likely would've been logging big league innings almost right away, which, as we've seen with a litany of other Angels' hurlers, has killed their development. In a weird way, his injury woes might have saved his career, and the way things have played out should teach the Angels a lesson in patience. The question is, are they listening?

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