5 Angels players who took an unfortunate step back in 2023

5) LA Angels pitcher Reid Detmers took an unfortunate step back in 2023

Reid Detmers was yet another Angels player who really impressed in the second half of 2022 and was expected to take another leap this season. The now 24-year-old had some great moments last season highlighted of course by his no-hitter, and looked like a potential future frontline starter for the Angels. Now, as his 2023 season has come to an end, it's hard to tell what he is.

The stuff is good. Detmers struck out 168 batters in 148.2 innings of work and put up a 26.1 K%. That number increased from his 2022 mark of 22.6%. Unfortunately, his walk rate and home run rate also rose a bit.

The southpaw had a nice finish to his season, posting a 2.20 ERA in his final five starts to lower his season ERA to 4.48. His ERA sat over 5.00 as we entered the month of September. Simply put, for a guy who was counted on to play a big role in the rotation, that's not close to good enough.

We saw plenty of good from Detmers this season, like when he carried a no-hit bid into the eighth inning in Texas in August. We also saw a ton of bad like when he allowed seven runs in two innings in Houston just one week prior. Detmers has a high celing, but he also has a very low floor. You never truly know what you're going to get from him going into a start, which is a bad feeling to have.

Detmers was another Angels victim of some bad luck as he had a 4.13 FIP, but even that mark was lower than last season's 3.79 FIP. He was able to stay healthy and take the ball when asked, which for this team was very good to see, but I just didn't see improvement from last season.

Hopefully, like with Sandoval, he can find some consistency in 2024 and become the frontline starter we all know he's capable of being.