Reid Detmers' 2024 ending in worst possible manner creates big dilemma for Angels

Reid Detmers is limping to the finish line, and Angels Nation is succumbing to a harsh reality surrounding the young starter.

In his penultimate start of the 2024 season, Detmers' velocity was down across the board. His 4-seam, slider, curveball, and changeup were all slower than their yearly averages. His spin rates on his fastball, slider, and curveball were down, and his changeup's spin rate was up (pitchers want to kill spin on changeups). He only lasted 2 innings, had a 3:3 K:BB ratio, let up 9 hits, and allowed 7 earned runs to the Astros. His 3rd to last start consisted of 7 hits, 7 runs, and a loss to the historically bad White Sox. The White Sox lost their next 5 games after teeing off Detmers.

“It looked like he was fighting himself,” Ron Washington said to the press after the 8-4 loss to Chicago, "you can see the body language out there. He didn’t have the feel for the things he wanted to do. And when it didn’t happen, he didn’t stay focused and try to make it happen. Looked like he just gave in to it. That’s the type of thing that he’s got to fight. We all know what his ability is, but the mental side of it is where he has to fight.”

The Angels need to work quickly to both rehabilitate Detmers' confidence and harness his elite pitching arsenal. Detmers has the pitchability to mow down any team's lineup, but he clearly is getting in his own way. Detmers' body language of late is flat-out bad, and people are noticing.

Reid Detmers' Angels career is declining far too rapidly

Detmers, a former 1st round pick, was sent down to AAA Salt Lake this season for 3 months. In a vacuum, Angels staffers know that keeping Detmers at the big league level benefits both the 24-year-old starter and the future of the Angels. Even if he endures some growing pains, he can build up a rapport with the first year pitching coach, Barry Enright, the rest of the coaching staff, pitching staff, and team as a whole.

When a pitcher of Detmers' stature is sent down for that long, it is not solely because of performance. As Washington alluded to in his quotes following the White Sox loss, Detmers has body language and resilience issues that are hurting his mental. Maybe even hurting the team's mental. Furthering the issue, being sent to AAA is a big hit to players' mental, especially when the player is a pitcher who is sent to a hitter's paradise like Salt Lake City, UT. Perhaps the Angels demoted Detmers because they were done watching him "fight himself" and believe he lacks the intangibles needed to unlock the best version of himself who can carry a pitching staff.

Detmers looks like he is headed to a terrifying territory for Angels fans: a pitcher who will thrive once he leaves the Los Angeles Angels. Detmers is under team control for the foreseeable future, but if the situation is truly unsalvagable than the Angels might consider moving off of him. In recent memory, Jacob Webb, Reynaldo López and Elvis Peguero were pitchers who left the Angels and subsequently turned their careers around.

Detmers' lack of confidence and vulnerability in the face of adversity these days do not bode well for his future standing with the team. If the Angels end up cutting ties with Detmers (Perry Minasian could fetch a solid haul in return for the promising starter, even if his trade value diminished some this season) he could immediately cure what ails him elsewhere. If his issues are mostly mental, those will improve dramatically if he leaves the Angels.

There are many instances of a player and team not meshing, and other teams' coaching infrastructure being better fits. Is Reid Detmers a change of scenery guy? Detmers does appear to be a player with big potential that is being held back for one reason or another in the Big A.