4 Angels who proved their spring training was a fluke

Spring Training is a time for everyone to overreact about players on their favorite teams in both positive and negative ways. Fans of the Los Angeles Angels should know all too well that wins and losses in Spring Training mean absolutely nothing when looking at the regular season.

For the second consecutive year, the Halos won the Cactus League. We a player like Mickey Moniak have a monster spring and to see it translate to the regular season has been awesome. Unfortunately, that can't be said for everyone.

While Moniak is an example of a player who performed well in both Spring Training and the regular season, there're plenty of Angels who performed admirably in the spring and have struggled in the regular season or the other way around. That's why it's important to not put much stock into Spring Training statistics.

1) LA Angels reliever Carlos Estevez went from a pitcher who could not throw a strike to one of the best closers in baseball

The Angels signed Carlos Estevez to a two-year deal to take over as the team's primary closer. Estevez pitched well for the Rockies, particularly away from Coors Field, but had never been a primary closer before.

Seeing Estevez struggle as mightily as he did in Spring Training raised red flags for everyone. The right-hander allowed nine runs in 7.2 innings of work. The most alarming thing that came with Estevez's performance was the walks. He issued 10 free passes, an astonishingly high number for a guy who never had horrific control.

The Angels were working with him to throw the ball up in the zone more so he was experimenting, but the results were not what anyone was hoping for.

Clearly Estevez has shown that these struggles were a fluke, as he's been dominant as the closer for the Angels this season. Estevez has a 1.74 ERA in 32 appearances and he's converted each of his 19 save opportunities thus far.

Estevez not only has proven to be a reliable reliever, he has a serious case at an all-star spot. He's been that good.