LA Angels' top prospect Reid Detmers reverses course on disappointing rookie season

Reid Detmers began the season on a sour note for the LA Angels, surrendering seven earned runs in 7.1 innings pitched for his first two starts. He was allowing a .300 batting average, which was a tough look considering that his two outings also equated to an 8.59 ERA and 6.09 FIP.

He had a chance to turn it around against an Orioles lineup--one that finally wasn't a strong offensive group of nine players like he had to face against the Astros and Rangers. He ended up taking the loss, but it takes a little bit more digging to truly evaluate how good he really looked on Friday.

Detmers went five innings (70 pitches) and only gave up two runs. That's already a huge improvement over where he was in his first two games, and he also threw a lot of strikes in the process. Only walking one batter all day, he only threw a total of 11 balls in the outing.

Reid Detmers has already shown improvement so far for the LA Angels.

In Reid Detmers' first start of the season for the LA Angels, he allowed two home runs. Since, however, he's kept it in the ballpark, and it's certainly paid off. It's contributed to his FIP being at 4.46 despite his ERA being at 6.57. Sure, these numbers are still a bit high, but they're much lower than his 7.40 ERA and 6.36 FIP from 2021.

He's striking out more hitters, posting an 8.8 K/9 rate compared to his 8.3 K/9 rate from last year. He's also walking FAR less batters this season. Last year, he walked 4.8 per nine and this year he's walked just 2.9 hitters per nine frames. His 1.297 WHIP is another stat that Detmers has improved upon from last season (1.790).

His trend of not allowing homers is important, as he gave up far too many last year. In 20.2 innings last season, he gave up 5 bombs. That's 2.2 jacks per nine innings. He's cut that down to 1.5 this year. Detmers isn't perfect at all right now, but he's walking less hitters, allowing less home runs, and striking more hitters out. He's made a clear improvement from where he was last season, and in his last start in particular looked like more of the Detmers that Angel fans had been hoping for all offseason.