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4 Angels players who need to have a better month in May

By Zachary Rotman |
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Oakland Athletics v Los Angeles Angels / Meg Oliphant/GettyImages
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The Los Angeles Angels have wrapped up the first month of the season with a 15-14 record. It's hard to complain about a record above .500 considering the fact that the Angels haven't finished with a winning record since 2015, but they really should be better than they are right now.

The Angels have already thrown many games away and continue to struggle to both win close games and win games against formidable opponents. Both of these things will have to change for this team to get back to the postseason for the first time since 2014.

The Angels have gotten some nice starts out of plenty of players. Hunter Renfroe is tied for the team lead in home runs, and is the leader in RBI. Logan O'Hoppe looked like a Rookie of the Year candidate before his injury and Zach Neto has started to really take off. Carlos Estevez and Matt Moore look like great signings for the bullpen.

While that's all great, there're also plenty of players who need to be better. While it'd be nice to see guys like Aaron Loup and Jose Suarez become all-stars, that's unrealistic. Improvements from players the Angels expected to be great is what needs to happen. As the Angels prepare to face much stiffer competition in the month of May, the whole team needs to be better. These four players need to be better in particular.

1) LA Angels player who must be better in May: Reid Detmers

Reid Detmers continues to be incredibly inconsistent for the Angels. There're times when it feels like he's got great stuff and is mowing down the competition, and there're other times when it feels like he has nothing.

Nothing shows this more than his start against the Blue Jays earlier this season. Detmers was cruising through five innings. He had not allowed a run and struck out five while walking just one. All of a sudden, walk, single, hit-by-pitch, Grand Slam, single, and he's out of the game. The Angels had a 6-0 lead and by the end of that inning, that lead was gone.

Struggles as games progress have become a trend for Detmers. Opponents are hitting .180 the first time they see him, .238 the second time, and .429 the third time. This is why Detmers has completed six innings just once in his five starts and has an ERA approaching 5.00.

The strength of this Angels team was supposed to be its starting pitching, particularly with the top four. Detmers needs to take the step many people were expecting him to take.

2) LA Angels player who must be better in May: Anthony Rendon

At least he's healthy? We all know how awful injuries have been to Anthony Rendon since he arrived in Anaheim. He hasn't played more than 58 games in any season as an Angel and played just 47 last season. He's already played 20 in April and that's including the suspension and regular days off. He's been healthy, that's a good thing.

Another good thing is Rendon has been walking a ton. His 14.9% walk rate is the second-highest mark of his career thus far and is in the 91st percentile this season according to baseball savant. Another good thing is Rendon is putting the ball in play. His 12.6% K-rate is a career-best and is in the 94th percentile. Rendon is not chasing and is not whiffing. The problem is, the contact he has made has not been quality.

Rendon's .368 OBP is good, but his .246 average is low, and his .290 slugging is putrid. Rendon is the cleanup hitter and he has a total of three extra-base hits. All three of them are doubles. He did not hit a single home run in the month of April.

For obvious reasons, if Rendon remains the cleanup hitter, that just has to change. It's as simple as that. He's done a fine job driving runners in from third with less than two outs but has not been anything close to the hitter the Angels need him to be.

On the defensive side, Rendon has had his share of issues as well. He's committed four errors already and is on pace to shatter his career-high of 15 in that department. He's made some nice plays as well, but he's cost the Angels a couple of games with some poor throws. The game in Boston still haunts me when he threw two balls away.

3) LA Angels player who must be better in May: Taylor Ward

Taylor Ward has gone from a player who broke out last season to a player who's disappeared this season. In my opinion, he's been the most disappointing Angel this season. I expected an even better performance with Ward being fully healthy and hitting in front of a healthy Trout and Ohtani every day. This has not happened.

In fact, Ward has been so bad to the point where Zach Neto has been moved to the leadoff spot (and deservingly so!) In the two games Neto has hit from that spot since taking over, he's gotten on base four times.

After a great Spring Training and a hot start to the regular season, Ward has been in a massive slump for almost a month now. He's batting .208/.320/.311 with three home runs and 10 RBI. He looks lost at the plate.

Fortunately for the Angels, Ward has been an A+ defender in left field. Who can forget the Grand Slam robbery? While that's great, the Angels need his bat badly.

This offense should be so much better than it is. Trout and Ohtani haven't hit their peaks while Rendon and Ward have been awful. Those were supposed to be the four best bats this team has to offer. May is the time for them to turn it around.

4) LA Angels player who must be better in May: Tyler Anderson

Can the last start be a good jumping-off point for Tyler Anderson? Boy, I hope so. Anderson was the free agent the Angels committed the most years and dollars for after a terrific season across town with the Dodgers.

Through his first five starts, the southpaw has a 5.74 ERA in his 26.1 innings pitched. Not great. Fortunately, that ERA was at 7.20 entering his last start and Anderson pitched well against a really good Brewers team.

The issues with Anderson have been very clear. He's walking too many and allowing too many home runs for a guy we know won't strike many hitters out.

Anderson is supposed to thrive on inducing soft contact. He hasn't done enough of that early on. He's given up six home runs in his five starts while walking 11. He allowed 14 home runs and 34 walks in 178.2 innings pitched all of last season. For him to improve, he must be better in those areas.

Location has always been the name of the game with this left-hander. He had it in Milwaukee when he allowed one run in 6.2 innings pitched. His next start will come against the first-place Rangers. They need him to continue his improvement in that start.

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