Reid Detmers' ranking on MLB's 2022 Top 10 LHP prospects list is major win for Angels

The LA Angels farm system (other than Reid Detmers) has received some bad press for a long while now. And no, I'm not going to act like I haven't contributed to it. However you slice it, the reality is that the Halos have a bottom third farm system. But a recent prospect ranking shows that there IS a diamond in the rough to be proud of.

MLB released their 'Top 10 LHP prospects for 2022' list this past weekend, and Detmers topped the ranking. Detmers is the one prospect everyone always points to, even when evaluating the rest of the poor farm that the Halos currently have. Nobody ever forgets to point out Anaheim's strongest prospect, and it's for good reason.

As Angels fans know, MLB said in the article they wrote about it that Detmers has the best curveball out of the bunch. They rated it a 65 on the 20-to-80 scale. They included some eye-popping stats that prove Detmers needs to keep using the breaking ball if he wants to begin the year in the rotation:

"He averaged 73.5 mph on the breaker in the big leagues, and it drops significantly off the table, making hitters look foolish if they swing and miss or watch it plop in for a strike. Major Leaguers whiffed on it 33.3 percent of the time and only batted .150 against it in a small early sample."

- Sam Dykstra, MLB.com

MLB says that Reid Detmers of the LA Angels has the highest floor out of all the 2022 LHP prospects.

That evaluation of LA Angels' No. 1 prospect Reid Detmers is 100% accurate. Detmers already has established a dominant curveball, he's got good command on his fastball, and we saw him work on his slider up in the big leagues last year. We already know he's going to be at least an above-average mid-rotation starter in this league.

Now with Griffin Canning injured, an opportunity to start the year in the Big League rotation is even greater for Detmers. He'll likely only have one pitcher in contention with him for the last spot in the rotation this spring; Jaime Barria. Sure enough, MLB also listed him as the only Rookie of the Year candidate on their list.

Dykstra said "that he’s likely to get a full season (or close to a full season) in Anaheim," which shows that the No. 1 prospect we've been waiting for is likely ready to hopefully save this pitching rotation. That won't be the expectation, as that's far too much responsibility to put on him. He's so talented, however, that him turning into one of the best pitchers on this team is not outside the realm of possibility for 2022.