Ranking the 5 best players who played for the Angels and Dodgers

4) Fernando Valenzuela

Now that we acknowledged a player who was special for the Angels and barely played for the Dodgers, it's time to do the same but in reverse. Fernando Valenzuela is known for his time with the Dodgers, but had a brief cameo with the Angels as well in the middle of his terrific career.

Valenzuela spent the first 11 years of his career with the Dodgers and established himself as one of the best pitchers in the history of their franchise and one of the more underrated southpaws of all-time. Somehow he's not in the Hall of Fame, but he certainly had an excellent peak.

Valenzela's first full season in the majors saw him not only win the Rookie of the Year Award, but he was the NL Cy Young winner. Yes, a rookie took home the Cy Young. He led the league in starts (25) innings pitched (192.1) and strikeouts (180) in the 1981 season, helping the Dodgers eventually win the World Series. Valenzuela's rookie season is certainly one of the best in MLB history.

By the time Valenzuela joined the Angels, he was far from the pitcher who had that insane rookie year. He was five years removed from his last all-star appearance, and was nothing more than a mid-rotation arm at that point. Still, with the Angels needing starting pitching help, they called on the veteran to see if he could do anything for them. Unfortunately the answer was no, as he made just two starts, got shelled, and then wound up dealing with a heart issue which eventually ended his Angels career.

All the Halos got out of him was two starts and a 12.15 ERA in 6.2 innings pitched. What Valenzuela did for the Dodgers makes him one of the best players to play for both teams, but the fact that he did virtually nothing with the Angels lowers him down on the list.