The next LA Angels pitching prospect to make their MLB debut will be...

#1 LA Angels pitching prospect who may debut in 2022: Brett Kerry

Rounding out this list is 23-year-old Brett Kerry, who you may recall as the other pitcher besides Silseth I promoted in my breakout LA Angels prospects article.

In case you need a refresher, Kerry has absolutely dominated Double-A this year. Even after his May 17 blowup (five ER) he still has a 3.41 ERA (was 2.48 before), 1.02 WHIP, 48 strikeouts, 12.58 K/9, 1.57 BB/9, and a whopping 87.8% left on base percentage in 34.1 innings (seven starts). For context, those last four stats all rank in the top-15 in Double-A, with his ERA and WHIP still slotting into the top 25.

With Silseth now in the majors for at least another week, Kerry is by default the best remaining pitcher in the entire Angels farm system. Like Silseth, he’s also the only Angels pitching prospect this year to win Pitcher of the Week honors at any level after striking out 20 batters and allowing only one run in his first two starts of the season. 

No one could have expected this from the USC product after he was drafted in the fifth round last year and just barely cracked the Angels’ top prospect list at #29. After all, the biggest knock against him by scouts was his middling pitching repertoire that lacked a true out pitch.

However, by utilizing near perfect command over all his pitches, Kerry is able to efficiently paint the zone and place every pitch exactly where it needs to be.

At this point, there really isn’t anything left for Kerry to prove. Like Silseth, there’s not much reason to send him to Triple-A, especially since the hitter-friendly PCL wouldn’t do much for his overall development.

While there are still a few pitchers ahead of him on the depth chart, Angels fans should know better than most just how much havoc injuries can wreak on a starting rotation over the course of a season. For Kerry, it may no longer be a matter of if he pitches in the majors this year, but when.