Reid Detmers' deployment in Angels' spring training game could foreshadow 2025 role

The open competition for the Angels' last spot in the starting rotation is heating up in a major way. While the team is saying the right things to the media in terms of Reid Detmers being used as a long reliever in the Angels' spring training game against the Rockies, the showing is much louder than the telling. Did the team just want Chase Silseth to start a game? Perhaps, but you won't see Yusei Kikuchi, José Soriano, Tyler Anderson, or Kyle Hendricks come out of the 'pen anytime soon in order to get someone else to start. Jack Kochanowicz has started in each of his three appearances so far as well.

Ron Washington told reporters that the evaluators already know who will round out their rotation, but are unwilling to tell anybody outside the organization yet. On the surface, Kochanowicz, Detmers, and Silseth are the three candidates for the rotation. More realistically, it's Kochanowicz vs. Detmers and it sure seems like Kochanowicz has the upper hand if they are getting Detmers experience coming out of the bullpen. The Angels' first round pick from 2020 has never come out of the bullpen once in both his major and minor league career.

Reid Detmers' deployment in Angels' spring training game could foreshadow 2025 role

Detmers looked phenomenal, even though he was facing a Rockies team that only trotted one one projected stalwart in their lineup. He threw four scoreless innings, struck out four, walked nobody, allowed four hits, and flashed all of his pitches in the process. Both of these things can be true: Detmers can have a bounce-back season and he should not be in the rotation to begin the season.

Is this reading into a random spring training game too much? Potentially, but it's hard to ignore good Kochanowicz's results both from this spring and last season. Kochanowicz was so efficient in a start against the Reds that he needed to throw an extra inning in the bullpen to hit his pitch count. It's also hard to ignore Detmers' ineffective 2024 season. His body language got so bad last season, and he might need a kick in the behind to wake him up. A move to the bullpen could give him a reality check, but not completely shatter his confidence like another option to Triple-A potentially would.

Detmers is a stalwart of the Angels' rotation but it might finally be time for him to take José Suarez's role as the team's long reliever. That seems to be the best move for Detmers and the Angels.

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