Why Barry Enright needs to bring change for the Angels

The Los Angeles Angels recently announced Barry Enright as the team's new pitching coach and he hopes to bring change and turn the pitching staff into a positive next season. We have previously discussed the team's overall poor performance on the pitching side of things but this goes even deeper.

This seemingly new shift to a more old-school approach for the Angels stems from the miscommunication between its front office and on-field staff. From Joe Maddon to Phil Nevin, Angels general manager Perry Minasian has not gotten his way. A cohesive plan is needed with both front office and on-field staff in agreement on what to do and the Angels haven't had that.

It's been known that known that relations between general manager and manager have not been great and we will have to wait and see if things change for Ron Washington. In the meantime, bringing on Barry Enright signals a change in philosophy was needed and he hopes the ensure that.

In an interview with The Athletic (subscription required), Enright explained "I think the biggest thing is the timing of when to give (players) the nuggets and what they can and can't handle. I talked to Perry and Wash and the other two about relationships. The relationships with each player and an individual."

A blend between the numbers and feel for a player and their ability is crucial to a team's success and it sounds like Enright is hoping to instill that within the Angels' pitching system. He is going to have to improve the pitching overall with the team's combined below-average 97 ERA+ and bullpen ranked 25th overall in the league.

LA Angels need to trust the new regime

Obviously, trust is going to be a huge factor in how the team is being run and Barry Enright seems to already be building it. He's talked immensely about relationships between players and just getting them the right data in order to implement it well, there is a lot to like from this former Brent Strom apprentice.

Strom is the current Diamondbacks pitching coach and is highly praised throughout the league for his talent in developing pitchers. Enright worked under him when he was with the Diamondbacks, now he'll be in the driver's seat.

When talking about his mentor, Enright states "It's almost like sometimes you have to slow him down because he has so much knowledge. I realized who he was in those first few months because I got an email from him at 3:03 in the morning about Madison Bumgarner.

In terms of what he's working with, Enright spoke highly about every starting pitcher on the team already and that every one of them has value. It'll be up to him to unlock the potential he sees in them as we have seen flashes of success in every one of them.