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Perry Minasian hit the jackpot with these three minor league free agent signings

By Zachary Rotman |
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The Los Angeles Angels made it a priority to add as much organizational depth as possible around Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout. They improved the MLB team by adding players like Carlos Estevez, Matt Moore, Hunter Renfroe, Gio Urshela, and Brandon Drury just to name a few, but also made it a point to add more depth.

Minor league signings can be extremely impactful, but most of them make very little difference. The ones that do have an impact always stick out.

Perry Minasian made a slew of minor league signings this past offseason and even made one this week. Three of the players he brought in have made a huge difference and have helped the Angels win games even with their recent poor injury luck.

1) LA Angels pitcher Chris Devenski is a vital piece of the bullpen

The Angels brought Chris Devenski in this offseason to add some much-needed reliever depth. He finished fourth in the AL Rookie of the Year balloting in 2016 and was an all-star in 2017 for the Astros but in his five seasons after that all-star appearance he had a 5.45 ERA in 130 appearances for Houston, Arizona, and Philadelphia.

Devenski pitched pretty well in Spring Training but did not make the Opening Day roster as expected. With some injuries to relievers the Angels made the decision to promote this veteran right-hander in late-April and boy, did they make the right decision.

Devenski has made 19 appearances for the Angels and has a 1.85 ERA in 24.1 innings of work. He's allowed runs in only two of his appearances and has been lights out in virtually any situation he's been put in.

The 32-year-old has been successful with a clean inning but he's been even more dominant when inheriting runners. Devenski has stranded 18 of the 22 runners he's inherited, including multiple instances stranding the bases loaded.

In his last 11 appearances the right-hander has not allowed a run in his 13 innings of work. He's been a key component of a much-improved bullpen and will continue to be that for the remainder of the season. You just never know what a minor league signing will get you.

2) LA Angels catcher Chad Wallach has held down the fort with Logan O'Hoppe hurt

When Logan O'Hoppe went down with an injury it was fair to assume the Angels catching situation would be a mess. Max Stassi was out and remains out with personal reasons, and Matt Thaiss was beyond unproven at the big league level, especially as a catcher.

We all know the season Thaiss is having, but Chad Wallach deserves just as much credit for being a productive offensive player.

The Angels brought Wallach back after he appeared in just 12 games for the Angels last season and only 90 in the first six years of his MLB career. Wallach is a prototypical third catcher who can play the position but didn't hit enough to stay in the bigs.

He opened the season as the starting catcher for the Bees and swung the bat well, but most players swing the bat well in the PCL. He entered this season slashing .198/.265/.296 with four home runs and 24 RBI in 243 at-bats. The glove has always been good, but the bat had never been good. Until this season.

Since being promoted in late-April, Wallach has settled in beautifully as the Angels catcher against lefties and when Shohei Ohtani is pitching.

He's slashed .280/.341/.547 this season in a career-high 30 games played. Remember how he only had four home runs entering this season? Wallach has six already to go along with 11 RBI. It took him 243 at-bats to hit his first four MLB home runs and it's taken him 75 at-bats this season to hit six.

The Angels have not missed Logan O'Hoppe nearly as much as we expected, and Wallach is a huge reason why.

3) LA Angels pitcher Jacob Webb is recording huge outs in the bullpen

Jacob Webb had connections with Perry Minasian from their days in Atlanta, so Minasian brought his guy to Anaheim this offseason. Webb had MLB success from 2019-2021 but was coming off of a rough 2022 in which he didn't even reach the majors.

Webb pitched extremely well in Spring Training but did not make the Opening Day roster. His numbers in AAA (6.75 ERA in 19 appearances) were not good, but again, it's the PCL. He's proving in his MLB time that those numbers mean nothing.

Webb has played a huge role in solidifying this bullpen that badly needed guys capable of throwing zeroes. He can pitch in any situation whether it's early or late in a game, and his change-up allows him to be effective against both righties and lefties, much like Devenski.

The right-hander was brought up in late-May and has remained here ever since. In his 11 appearances, Webb has a 2.03 ERA in 13.1 innings of work. That'll work!

Nine of his 11 appearances have been scoreless appearances. He's allowed just one run in his last 10.1 innings of work, and his success has allowed him to pitch in higher-leverage spots of late.

Webb appeared in three of the four games in Texas and played a huge role in all three games. He pitched a scoreless eighth to keep the game tied in the opener, recorded four big outs in the second game, and his save in the series finale gave the Angels a series victory.

He's become yet another arm Phil Nevin can go to late in the game and expect big outs from. Again, from a minor league signing, pretty unbelievable.

Perry Minasian hasn't been perfect, but these three guys he found on bargain minor league deals are all making a huge impact for the big league team and it's awesome to see.

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