Angels’ group roast method seems like it's finally starting to pay dividends

There appears to be a method to Ron Washington's madness when it comes to fixing the Angels' mistakes.

Eric Cole

St. Louis Cardinals v Los Angeles Angels / Ronald Martinez/GettyImages

With as many young players that the Los Angeles Angels have, silly fundamental mistakes were bound to happen this season. That has certainly tracked with what fans have seen on the field as baserunning and fielding blunders have proven to be costly to the Angels time and time again. However, manager Ron Washington has decided to employ an interesting strategy to limit and learn from those mistakes.

Instead of dealing with players one-on-one when something goes awry, the Angels instead are having regular team classroom meetings where mistakes are put on blast and have to explain themsevles. While it could seem like such a practice could breed toxicity and resentment, LA's roster seems to be fully buying into it and it seems to be working.

Ron Washington is preaching accountability with the Angels in his first year with team

Washington has been blunt in his assessment of this Angels team by basically saying that they are not good enough to win while messing up on the fundamentals. He knows that his players are young and haven't learned how to win yet, so he is taking the extreme route of pointing out miscues (as well as the good things) in front of the whole team to help everyone learn while holding players accountable.

There was a lot of risk with this approach. Some guys don't like getting put on blast in front of a crowd and it could've caused friction. However, all indications are that the players are embracing it and looking for any ways they can improve. From the rookies to the seasoned vets, there's been a clear constructive response.

This is exactly why the Angels hired Ron Washington in the first place. In addition to his track record when he managed previously, Washington is known for being an excellent coach of the fundamentals and a terrific motivator. It could have been easy for him to just manage the games in front of him and point to the lack of experience on the Angels' roster while they got destroyed.

However, that isn't how Washington views his role at all. While there are going to be speed bumps, the Angels' recent success seems to show that there is a method to his madness.

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Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.