Is Michael Lorenzen not who the LA Angels thought he was?

Michel Lorenzen had some ups and downs when he began his LA Angels career. In his first five starts, he had three outings where he looked untouchable: 6 IP//1 ER, 6 IP//0 ER, 8.1 IP//3 ER. He also had two where he looked like a completely different pitcher, though: 3.1 IP//4 ER, 4.2 IP//5 ER.

He seemed to answer all the questions in his next three starts, however, lowering his ERA from 4.13 to 3.19, and lowering his FIP from 4.65 to 3.98. In his next three games on the bump, though, he's regressed in his performance.

In his latest start against the Seattle Mariners, he allowed seven earned runs in five innings, and it was eerily similar to his third most recent start. He gave up five earned in 5.2 IP. He's given up 18 hits in his last three starts (17 innings). That's too much, and his season numbers aren't looking impressive right now.

Michael Lorenzen now has a 4.15 ERA for the LA Angels and a 95 ERA+.

Michael Lorenzen still has a 6-4 record for the LA Angels, but he has a 4.44 SIERA at this point in a year where offense is down across the game.

It's important to remember that Lorenzen has bounced back from inconsistencies before this season, though. In fact, just two starts ago, he only allowed one earned run in 6.1 innings pitched and only walked one. He gave up six hits, but that was still overall a very nice outing.

He's had too many impressive starts this season to count him out. Is he what the Angels were hoping he was? Well, not on a consistent basis just yet. Is it worth writing him off due to a couple recent bad starts, however? Absolutely not. Trust the fact that he'll get back to where he was. He's been in this position before.