Angels’ Reid Detmers is making the most of his last chance as a big league starter

Coming into the 2024 season, LA Angels' southpaw Reid Detmers was projected to be an every day starter with some faith that he would be one of the stronger arms in the AL West. He was putting together an impressive resumé through his age-23 season, logging 53 starts over the last two years. The Halos were relying on Detmers to be a part of the youth movement, until everything came crashing down.

Detmers fell apart at the end of April, which bled into a nightmare May, and just one start in June before spending three months in Triple-A. Keeping him down there for so long made it seem as though the Angels were done with Detmers, and many conjectured that Perry Minasian was going to deal him at the trade deadline. However, since his recent promotion, he is making the most of the opportunity given.

LA Angels' Reid Detmers gets another chance in MLB

In his two starts since returning to Los Angeles, Detmers has spun two quality starts, going for 12 combined innings and 18 strikeouts. He went down to Salt Lake in June with a 6.14 ERA, a number he had to wear while remaining stuck in the minors. In just two appearances in September, he's lowered his earned run average to 5.64. It still isn't pretty, but Detmers has clearly rediscovered himself after showing some stardom in his first four starts of the season (22.2 IP, 1.19 ERA, 30 K).

“I took a lot of time thinking about what I was doing the first month of the year and I’m trying to get back to that,” Detmers told MLB.com. “And obviously the second month of the year was really hard. And so I had a lot of time to think when I was down there and I’m just trying to get back to my old self.”

Detmers' status as a Major League starter was oozing with uncertainty. The organization, mercifully, gave him another shot at redemption, and he has come out with a dominant mixture of fastball-slider-curveball sequences against the Dodgers and Twins. Detmers is using his old slider again, a pitch-grip he's comfortable with and it's spinning more than before.

Does Detmers deserve another deal with the Angels? This club is looking to remain young with guys like Zach Neto, Logan O'Hoppe, Caden Dana, Ben Joyce and Mickey Moniak. Reid Detmers fits right in with this crowd and perhaps his worst days on the mound are behind him.