The Angels secured their pitching reinforcements immediately this offseason, signing each Kikuchi and Hendricks in November to headline and bookend their rotation, respectively. After the commerce deadline, Houston had Kikuchi amp up his slider utilization 20 factors to 37%, which fueled a 10-start surge that noticed him publish a 2.70 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, and 25.9% Ok-BB in 60 innings. That made the Angels snug giving the 33-year-old southpaw a three-year deal price $64 million. Was the slider utilization behind the 99-point drop in Kikuchi’s BABIP from Toronto to Houston, or was it some deserved regression setting in that occurred to coincide with the arsenal change? Guess we’ll discover out quickly sufficient!
Even at his greatest, Hendricks appeared to reside on a tightrope, as he thrived with a command-and-control profile that’s misplaced in at the moment’s velo- and spin-heavy setting. Regardless of possessing a fastball that will wrestle to interrupt a pane of glass, Hendricks constantly beat the percentages from 2015-20, finessing his solution to the ninth-lowest ERA (3.17) and Eleventh-best WAR (19.3) within the league (min. 500 IP). Cracks started to point out in 2021 (in his recreation — the glass pane remained intact), as his strikeout fee plummeted and his house run fee surged. Since then, he has the fourth-highest ERA in baseball at 4.80, with extra of the identical projected in 2025.
After an enormous 2022 with the crosstown rival Dodgers, Anderson fully cratered in his first yr as an Angel, however he was in a position to rebound final season, dropping his ERA 1.62 runs to three.81 to associate with a 20-point dip in WHIP (to a extra palatable 1.29) in 179.1 innings. Projections are basically splitting the distinction between the 2 seasons, making him extra of a traditional innings-eater than an influence arm this yr.
The upside of this group is primarily discovered within the arm of Soriano, with a glint of hope nonetheless lingering round Detmers. Soriano loved a breakout season in 2024, unleashing 100-mph sinkers on the league en path to a 1.7-WAR season in 113 innings. Arm fatigue slowed him within the second half, limiting him to simply 5 begins, so including quantity and taking 30 turns within the rotation will likely be simply as vital as enhancing his efficiency in 2025. Detmers’ slider has a stranglehold on me; I simply can’t give up this dude. His 6.70 ERA is deceptively excessive once we have a look at his 18.2% Ok-BB fee and three.77 SIERA. Content material warning, however I have to deliver up his vomit-inducing 1.9 HR/9, which was the second highest in baseball (min. 80 innings). Throw in a league-worst .357 BABIP and the ERA begins to make sense. The projections acknowledge the tangible upside if he can get the remainder of his arsenal again in line. He’ll should showcase his stuff in shorter stints out of the bullpen and earn his means again into the rotation. In truth, he might be an prompt hit within the ‘pen and keep there all yr if issues go properly.
Freshly named fifth starter Kochanowicz pulled off fairly the magic trick final yr, netting a 9.4% strikeout fee in 65.1 innings work, the bottom such fee in at the very least that many innings since Scott Diamond ripped off a 9% mark in 131 innings in 2013. His 96-mph sinker doesn’t miss bats, but it surely does maintain the ball down (57% groundball fee), so so long as the protection is popping the grounders into outs constantly, he can string some success collectively in waves. The invoice will finally come due on permitting that a lot contact, although; it all the time does. Extra of the identical groundball goodness in spring was sufficient to safe Kochanowicz a rotation spot in an upset over Detmers.
Silseth has proven the occasional flash, although his incapability to maintain the ball within the park with any consistency has restricted his upside. Eric’s center reliever tag for him on the 2023 Angels prospect record is trying extra prescient by the day. Dana, the crew’s high prospect, will get some extra seasoning within the excessive minors after debuting instantly from Double-A final yr and must be the primary man up if a long-term alternative opens up within the rotation.
