Max Stassi appears ecstatic to be back with LA Angels

After being down on the injury list for some time, Max Stassi made a couple of rehab starts with the Inland Empire 66ers before getting back with the LA Angels on Tuesday.

He caught one game on Saturday and hit a home run, on Sunday he was the designated hitter and went 1 for 4 at the plate before being taken out early.

He was gracious enough to sign some autographs for people and quickly answer a few questions on the team before Sunday's game.

Few words from LA Angels' Catcher Max Stassi meant a lot.

"All of them" was the answer from Max Stassi when asked about who he loves catching within the LA Angels pitching staff. Stassi can't pick favorites when it comes to his battery mates as all of them have had huge contributions to the team so far in Noah Syndergaard, Patrick Sandoval, Michael Lorenzen, Reid Detmers, and of course Shohei Ohtani as Stassi has all caught them consistently.

"Incredible, he's amazing" were the adjectives Stassi used to describe catching Ohtani as he kept all of his answers short and sweet. Ohtani has a 2.82 ERA and part of this is contributions to what Stassi can do behind the plate-- according to Baseballsavant.com, Stassi is generating a 47.7% strike rate covering all of the strike zone. He's generated most called strikes on the left side of the strike zone with 63.4% and lower part of the zone with 57.3%--which shows that he's framed a lot of strikes that aren't always in the zone, which has helped Ohtani.

LA Angels' C Max Stassi gives a shout out to the IE.

"I love it, amazing," said Max Stassi as he was going back to the dugout in response to how he liked rehabbing at Inland Empire, the LA Angels minor league affiliate. It only made sense for him to get his rehab work done there as he could quickly go to Anaheim after the game.

He got to see some of the top prospects that were there in Arol Vera, Werner Blakely, Edgar Quero, and Alexander Ramirez at Inland Empire as they showed off what they could do during the weekend as the team ended up winning both games. Him taking the time to answer some of these questions show his willingness to make time for fans, and it sounds like he's looking forward to helping out the pitching staff once again with his amazing pitch-framing skills.