Angels optioning Reid Detmers really shows there's no end in sight for team's woes

Eric Cole

Los Angeles Angels v Houston Astros / Logan Riely/GettyImages

Through the first month of the 2024 season or so, Los Angeles Angels starter Reid Detmers looked like he could potentially make a push for Cy Young consideration. Through the end of April, he had posted a 3.12 ERA in six starts with 37 strikeouts in 34.2 innings of work. During what was a really tough stretch for the Angels, he was one of the lone bright spots.

Unfortunately, that is where the good times ended. The month of May saw Detmers get torched with a 9.49 ERA. He still struck out guys at a healthy clip, but his walk rate jumped and issues with giving up homers proved to be costly. When you are giving the opposing team more baserunners and giving up more home runs, that generally isn't a recipe for success.

After Detmers' latest dud of a start against the division-rival Mariners, the Angels had enough and optioned Detmers back to the minors in what is just the latest setback for a franchise that has been loaded with them.

Angels' Detmers demotion adds to long line of pitching blunders

There is obviously still hope for Detmers as he did look good to start the season and he is young enough to get his career back on track. However, sending him back to the minors is a reminder that the Angels' complete inability to develop pitchers has been a thorn in the franchise's side for a long time.

Going back to the 2010 MLB Draft, here are the pitchers that the Angels have taken with first round picks.

Kaleb Cowart (2010)
Cam Bedrosian (2010)
Sean Newcomb (2014)
Reid Detmers (2020)
Sam Bachman (2021)

Aside from the fact that it is no wonder the Angels' pitching has been bad for a long time given that they have only picked five arms in the first round over the last 14 drafts, they also haven't made the most of those selections. Cowart ended up playing in the field with little to no success before the Mariners claimed him off waivers and tried unsuccessfully to turn him back into a pitcher. Bedrosian put together one good season as a reliever for the Angels back in 2016, but was middling at best after that.

Newcomb ended up getting traded to the Braves and looks like he is now hanging on for dear life as a reliever with Oakland after needing knee surgery. Bachman struggled last season at Double-A before requiring shoulder surgery that he is still rehabbing from.

Obviously the Angels' woes don't end with their pitching development. Mike Trout is hurt ... again. Anthony Rendon is unsurprisingly hurt ... again. Their bullpen might be the worst unit in baseball which, again, points to their deficiencies at developing any kind of arms. At some point, one has to wonder if anything is going to start going the Angels' way.

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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.