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Who are the last 5 Angels pitchers to have 15 wins in a single season?

Hopefully we'll see more wins from Shohei Ohtani in an Angels uniform

By Zachary Rotman |
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San Francisco Giants v Los Angeles Angels / Jayne Kamin-Oncea/GettyImages
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In the Los Angeles Angels near decade-long stretch of missing the postseason, pitching has been an issue. This franchise which once had great pitching with guys like Chuck Finley, Nolan Ryan, and Frank Tanana just to name a few, and has really struggled to put good rotations together for most of the last ten years.

This season was supposed to be a great one for this rotation. The Angels were sixth in rotation ERA last season, had young arms they hoped would be better, and added Tyler Anderson. As we know, it's been a disaster.

Pitching wins aren't as valued as they used to be, nor should they be, but they still tell you two things about the starting pitcher. One, they went long enough to get a win. Two, most of the time they pitch well enough to keep your team in the game. No Angels pitcher will get to 15 wins especially with Shohei Ohtani not pitching anymore. That says a lot about this pitching staff. With that in mind, who are the last five to get to 15 wins in a single season?

1) Last five LA Angels players with 15 wins: Shohei Ohtani, 2022 (15)

Forget the hitting for a second. Over the last three seasons, Shohei Ohtani has taken a spot as one of the league's best pitchers. If you focus on only the pitching statistics he absolutely is among the game's very best which is absurd because of how lethal he is offensively.

Despite having the disadvantages of pitching every sixth day and for bad Angels teams, Ohtani did manage to get to 15 wins once, and that came in 2022. He only won nine games in his MVP year, but the 2022 season was his best on the mound and it showed in the win column as well.

Ohtani went 15-9 with a 2.33 ERA in 28 starts and 166 innings pitched. Ohtani led the league with 11.9 K/9, and he held opposing hitting to a measly .203 average. He was the MVP runner-up and finished fourth in the AL Cy Young voting.

Something the voters should've taken into consideration more when discussing Ohtani's Cy Young candidacy was the fact that the team went 16-12 in his starts. The 2022 Angels were 16 games under .500 as a team, yet they were four games above .500 in his starts. They went from an above-average team in his starts to an awful one in games he did not pitch. Just some food for thought.

2) Last five LA Angels players with 15 wins: Garrett Richards, 2015 (15)

Yes, you have to go back seven years to find the next 15-game winner. The years in between were simply not great for Angels pitching. Only five pitchers even reached double digits in that seven-year stretch. Just not what you want.

The last pitcher to win 15 games in a season in an Angels uniform before Ohtani was Garrett Richards. The right-hander broke into the rotation full-time in 2014 and looked like he was the future ace of this staff as he posted a 2.61 ERA in 26 starts. Unfortunately, he fell just short of winning 15 games that year as he won 13 on the mound.

The following season was when Richards reached the 15-win plateau. The Angels as a team weren't quite as good and Richards himself had a down year compared to his 2014 season, but he did do enough to win 15 ball games.

Richards went 15-12 with a 3.65 ERA in 32 starts and 207.1 innings pitched. It was his only season in which he remained healthy enough to make 30+ starts, and he wound up pitching really well. Unfortunately, injuries really caught up to him in the subsequent years.

3) Last five LA Angels players with 15 wins: Jered Weaver, 2014 (18), 2012 (20), 2011 (18), 2009 (16)

You knew he'd be here. One of the best pitchers in Angels history and one of the best pitchers in baseball during his prime would of course find his way onto this list, and he just so happened to have reached the 15-win mark four separate times throughout his Angels career.

Weaver's first time reaching 15 wins came in 2009 when he won 16 games for the Angels. He went 16-8 with a 3.75 ERA in 33 starts and 211 innings pitched. This was Weaver's first time crossing the 200 inning mark as he was in the process of establishing himself as a frontline starter. The following year was really when he broke out. Weaver made the all-star team and finished top-five in the AL Cy Young balloting, but he somehow failed to reach 15 wins as he was incredibly unlucky.

Weaver got back in the 15-win column in 2011 as he set a career-high with 18 wins. The 2011 season was Weaver's best, as he went 18-8 with a 2.41 ERA in 235.2 innings pitched. He was an all-star and was the runner-up for the AL Cy Young award. This was his best overall season on the bump, but not his best in terms of wins.

The 2012 season takes the cake when looking at wins as Weaver won 20 games to lead the American League. He went 20-5 with a 2.81 ERA in 30 starts and 188.2 innings pitched. He led the league in WHIP and H/9 while finishing as a Cy Young finalist once again, this time placing third on the balloting.

Weaver's last time reaching 15 wins came two seasons later as his 18 wins led the American League. He wasn't quite as effective, posting a 3.54 ERA in his 34 starts and 213.1 innings pitched, but the right-hander gave the Angels chances to win just about every time out there, and with that 2014 Angels team being as good as they were, Weaver was bound to win a lot of games.

4) Last five LA Angels players with 15 wins: Matt Shoemaker, 2014 (16)

The Angels haven't had much pitching over the last decade, but Matt Shoemaker had an underratedly good stretch for some solid Angels teams. Shoemaker was good for a 3-4 year stretch, but he was never better than he was in his rookie season.

Shoemaker began the year pitching out of the bullpen and didn't make his first start until May. He didn't remain a fixture in the rotation until July. Still, despite making only 20 starts, Shoemaker was a 16-game winner.

The right-hander went 16-4 with a 3.04 ERA in 27 appearances (20 starts) and 136 innings pitched. He had a 3.26 FIP, became an intregral piece to a playoff team, and finished as the AL Rookie of the Year runner-up.

Shoemaker being a 15-game winner is the most impressive out of anyone on this list. Sure, he had a good team play behind him, but he went 14-3 in his 20 starts. Getting the win in 14 of the 20 starts had some level of luck for sure, but it also doesn't happen completely by accident. Shoemaker was really impressive all year.

5) Last five LA Angels players with 15 wins: C.J. Wilson, 2013 (17)

C.J. Wilson is remembered more for the bad times than good. He signed in the same offseason as Albert Pujols to join the Angels, and just like Pujols, he didn't perform up to par. Wilson was one of the best pitchers in the American League, finishing sixth in the AL Cy Young balloting before leaving to join the Angels, and was never that same guy.

Wilson wasn't quite as bad as Pujols and some others who have signed massive deals to come to Anaheim, but not meeting expectations is what fans remember. While he wasn't a star, Wilson was solid and in his second year with the Angels he pitched really well.

Wilson went 17-7 with a 3.39 ERA in 33 starts and 212.1 innings pitched. He wasn't an all-star and didn't win any individual awards, but the 2013 season was Wilson's best in an Angels uniform and he was pretty darn good.

The southpaw came close to winning 15 in a season a couple of other times as he won 13 in 2012 and 2014, but the 2013 season was the only time he was able to reach 15.

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