The Angels need more out of Reid Detmers

There wasn't a pitcher not named Shohei Ohtani that I was more excited to watch heading into the season than Reid Detmers. The Los Angeles Angels' southpaw showed an increase in velocity in Spring Training and looked primed to take a big leap in 2023.

So far, his 2023 looks very similar to his start to last season. The Angels need more from their entire rotation, but Detmers is at the forefront of that.

Detmers was a guy I felt could be a dark horse AL all-star candidate. Outside of a couple of decent starts, it's been more bad than good for Detmers. He simply has to be better.

The LA Angels need more length and quality out of Reid Detmers

The Angels rotation has not been as advertised. They have given virtually no length, and have forced the bullpen to eat up many innings on most nights. While the bullpen looks great now, it's been overworked.

Going into the season, the Angels had four guys I expected to get length from. Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Anderson, Patrick Sandoval, and Reid Detmers were all supposed to give length most of the time, especially with the back of the rotation being a massivee question. Of those four, Ohtani is the only one who's been consistent in that regard, and even he has struggled of late.

Detmers has completed six innings once. He allowed two runs in 6.1 innings pitched in a tough 2-1 loss at Fenway Park. That was his best start of the season by far, and he gave the Angels a great chance to win. Other than that, things haven't been great.

After allowing three runs in four innings of work last night, Detmers now has an ERA of 5.10. His FIP of 4.06 and xERA of 4.24 suggest he's been a bit unlucky, but Detmers still has not been as advertised.

The young left-hander has failed to give five innings in three of his six starts. That's unacceptable. He's consistently getting off to great starts only to have a huge inning against him in the middle innings that help knock the Angels out of a game. The Halos are 2-4 in Detmers starts this season.

Through the first three innings last night, Detmers looked awesome. He had six strikeouts, four of them looking. He had three scoreless innings, but allowed four singles, a walk, and a wild pitch in the fourth which eventually led to three Texas runs. After a leadoff walk in the fifth, Detmers was done.

Unfortunately, this is nothing new for Detmers. His last time out in Milwaukee Detmers struck out five of the first six batters he faced before giving up a three-run third and a four-run fifth. Three of the seven runs he allowed were unearned, but he gave no length and the Angels lost 7-5.

When hitters see Detmers for the first time, they're slashing .188/.278/.292 with just one home run in 54 plate appearances. Second time through, that jumps up to .280/.333/.400. Third time, .435/.536/.696. He looks great at first, but gets worse and worse as the games progress.

In innings 1-3 Detmers has an ERA of 3.00. In innings 4-6, Detmers has an ERA of 8.49. I have no idea if he's just running out of gas or what's causing this, but it's something that has to be improved on. He has to give length, and he has to avoid the big inning. He did neither in his last start, and has really done neither in five of his six starts this season.