Why this Angels bullpen option is poised for a surprise breakout

The Angels were banking heavily on a few of their inexperienced pitchers to pop in a bullpen role early in the season. Whether it was Ryan Zeferjahn, Ben Joyce, Ryan Johnson, Garrett McDaniels, Ian Anderson, Reid Detmers, Víctor Mederos, Caden Dana, Michael Darrell-Hicks, José Fermin or even Jake Eder...the Angels went with a youth movement in the majors early in the season and relegated their veterans to Triple-A. Well, outside of Zeferjahn and a few Detmers moments, the youth severely let the Angels down and the team's bullpen is the worst in the league thus far.

Now, the Angels are rostering wily vets like Kenley Jansen, Héctor Neris, Hunter Strickland and Connor Brogdon who have been there and done that. However, they have another reliever who they also signed to a minor league deal that is still evolving as a pitcher, and has shown that he can help stabilize the reliever group moving forward.

Why this Angels bullpen option is poised for a surprise breakout

Shaun Anderson made waves in spring training by showing up out of nowhere and because the Angels brought in another player with the last name Anderson. Not many Angels fans paid Anderson much thought when he popped up in Tempe, AZ, as he is a 30-year-old journeyman who flamed out as a starting pitcher and was posting subpar (to put it mildly) stats as a reliever. From 2019-2024 when Anderson pitched for the Giants, Padres, Orioles, Twins, Blue Jays, Marlins and Rangers, he sported a 6.10 ERA, a 1.70 WHIP, a 4.97 FIP and a whopping 195 hits in 152 innings pitched. Long story short, Anderson looked cooked as a major leaguer and even spent time in the KBO.

Well, Anderson is actually a pioneer of a pitch that is sweeping the baseball nation -- the kick change. As you might have seen, Anderson can throw the heck out of his slider and sweeper and even his fastball will cut at times. As Eno Harris of The Athletic puts it: "Anderson...is a supinator, meaning he’s more comfortable with the mechanics behind throwing a slider, and isn’t great at pulling down on the ball towards his thumb (pronation)." Big league hitters were able to key in on his stuff as Anderson was not able to keep them honest with a depthy pitch.

Enter the kick-change, and now his changeup usage has ballooned from 11% in 2024 to 22% this year with the Angels. His optimized pitch types have made him a key swing-man out of the bullpen, as he's averaging 2.1 innings in his four outings so far. While he has let up a couple home runs in his games to LAD's Will Smith and ATH's Nick Kurtz, he has largely been effective in his role and is not going anywhere anytime soon. Of Angels relievers this year who are not on the injured list or not named Hunter Strickland (since he's made one appearance), Anderson has the best WHIP, his K% ranks third, his BB% ranks second and the wOBA against him ranks second.

Anderson is showing that you can teach old dogs new tricks, and his new arsenal has been weaponized and is operational.

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