Angels scapegoats: 1 to fire, 1 to put on the hot seat, 1 to be patient with

LA Angels pitching coach Matt Wise should be on the hot seat

Matt Wise is another member of the Angels staff that fans want to go and it's easy to see why. The reason he should be on the hot seat is because of the fact that seemingly every Angels pitcher this season outside of Matt Moore, Carlos Estevez, Jaime Barria and Chris Devenski has regressed.

Even in what ended up being a lost season, the Angels were one of the better pitching teams in baseball in 2022. Their starting rotation was a young one and it felt like it was going to ascend in 2023. They added Tyler Anderson coming off of a great year.

The bullpen has over achieved in my eyes thanks to newcomers like Estevez, Moore, and Devenski, but the rotation has taken a massive step in the wrong direction.

Shohei Ohtani got off to an incredibly fast start this season but has struggled mightily of late, particularly with the home run ball. Ohtani keeps getting beaten by the same pitch, his sweeper, against left-handed hitters and Wise doesn't seem to be any help there.

Patrick Sandoval still has his issues getting deep into games consistently and has seen his strikeout rate plummet. Reid Detmers looks lights out for the first three or four innings before constantly getting blown up in the middle innings. Tyler Anderson looks like a shell of the pitcher he was last season and even in 2021. Jose Suarez had an ERA approaching 10.00 before landing on the Injured List.

A rotation that finished sixth in all of baseball in ERA last season is now 19th in 2023 and only trending downwards. Of course it's not all on Wise, but seeing pitchers struggle with the same things over and over again is incredibly frustrating.

His job should be a bit more secure than Nevin because he's had some success, but he should be on very thin ice. If things don't improve, I'd expect him gone as well.