The Angels’ rotation is much improved, but one flaw is really holding them back

Against all odds, the Los Angeles Angels' rotation has actually been pretty good to start the 2026 season. Jose Soriano has been a revelation thus far, and as a whole, LA's rotation ranks sixth in all of MLB by fWAR with 2.4. Considering how the Angels have historically shunned building a workable pitching staff, the start of this season has been quite a pleasant surprise.

Most of what we have seen from Angels' starters has also not looked flukey. Their ERA is a reasonable 3.72, which includes rough appearances from Ryan Johnson and George Klassen. Opposing hitters' BABIP sitting at .269 isn't overly lucky or unlucky. The old adage that good things happen when you miss bats has proven correct here as the Angels' 9.71 K/9 ranks only behind the Rangers, Phillies, Astros, Blue Jays, and Guardians thus far.

Not all of the news is good, though. If the Angels can't cut down on the walks, fans should not expect to see the Angels’ starters sustain this hot start.

Angels have made strides to fix their walk problem, but more work is needed

Now, this is not a problem that is isolated only to the Angels' rotation. The LA bullpen is actually worse with a 5.42 BB/9, and resolving that is its own can of worms. However, the Angels' 4.78 walks per nine innings is the third-worst in MLB so far, with only the collapsing Astros and Athletics being worse. Apparently, teaching pitchers to throw strikes in the AL West doesn't really happen outside of Seattle.

The good news is that the worst offenders (Klassen and Johnson) aren't in the equation at the moment, so there should be improvement just due to the law of averages as the rest of the rotation gets more innings at a (hopefully) lower walk rate. However, Jack Kochanowicz (5.79) and Yusei Kikuchi (4.13) are still walking too many guys. With Soriano not being a renowned strike-thrower, either, free passes are a challenge that will cost the Angels games if not reined in.

As to why the Angels specifically are having these walk issues, that is more difficult to discern. The Angels' reluctance to use ABS challenges probably doesn't help matters when the home plate umpire is having an off day. LA also just has some guys with "effectively wild" stuff, where walks just come with the territory. However, if the Angels can't at least get to the middle of the pack in terms of walk rate, the odds that we see them ranked highly against the rest of the rotations in baseball are going to plummet.

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