The Angels will activate right-hander Julio Teheran from the injured list Wednesday, tweets Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. The team has yet to formally announce the move, but Fletcher notes that manager Joe Maddon indicated as much on a pre-game radio appearance last night. It’ll be Teheran’s 2020 debut and mark his first start as an Angel. The longtime Braves righty inked a one-year, $9MM contract as a free agent this past offseason.
Teheran, 29, opened the season on the injured list after receiving a positive Covid-19 test just before he was slated to report to Summer Camp. Teheran told the L.A. Times’ Mike DiGiovanna that he was symptomatic in late June and early July, but he was eventually able to join Angels summer camp about three weeks ago. He’s previously stated that he only believed himself to be about a week behind schedule, and Teheran reportedly tossed a three-inning simulated game with about 55 pitches thrown last week. He may not be fully stretched out just yet, but he should be able to up his pitch count from that level in tonight’s debut against the Mariners.
An early return from Teheran is a welcome sight for the Angels, who have already been dealt a brutal blow in the rotation after Shohei Ohtani suffered a strained flexor mass. He’s not expected to pitch again this year, leaving the Angels with a rotation mix of Teheran, Andrew Heaney, Dylan Bundy, Griffin Canning and a slew of fifth starter candidates. The Angels have enjoyed strong starts to the season from Bundy, Canning and Heaney, creating some hope that the staff will be able to withstand the loss of Ohtani. Lefty Patrick Sandoval and right-hander Matt Andriese have each started a game apiece as well.
Teheran once rated not only as one of the best pitching prospects in baseball but as one of the top five overall prospects in the game according to each of Baseball America, MLB.com and Baseball Prospectus. He posted a terrific 3.03 ERA in his first two full seasons back in 2013-14 but ultimately settled in as a durable mid-rotation workhorse. Over the past seven seasons in Atlanta, Teheran has averaged 32 starts and 190 2/3 innings per season, logging a cumulative 3.64 ERA with 7.9 K/9, 3.0 BB/9, 1.16 HR/9 and a 38.3 percent ground-ball rate.
Get ready for 5 innings pitched, 4 earned.
Still an improvement over Ohtani.
I don’t understand all the Teherán hate. He has to be one of the most underrated pitchers in baseball.
because like the Braves organization has been doing for 20+ years… our pitchers get way over hyped in our farm system as the next Maddux, Gavin, or Smoltz as we preciously hold on to prospects whilst never spending big on legit Aces….ultimately they never live up to that hype thus creating the hate smh
Not too many teams can afford legit aces, and if you go for a legit ace, and you miss, you have payroll problems for a half dozen years or more.
I totally agree…but the same can be said for depending on ‘prospects’…can set you back years everytime it doesn’t work out. We should know, been going thru it for 20 years! lol…Although Soroka looks like the real deal, and even the it proves the Braves can’t have nice things smh
Not if you supplement them off the open market wisely. Building through your farm system is always the best approach.
@ Halo – You have payroll problems for a half dozen years when you sign Pujols and Upton as well
Has Arte brainwashed you that much?
What pitchers are busts at 23 and 31 mill per year?
Lets see Stras and Ryu or Upton and Pujols……. what set makes the Angels a playoff team?
Yes and no.
Lets go with Pujols. Immediately after signing Pujols the Angels signed a 3 billion dollar TV deal. I don’t put him in the same boat.
Upton was acquired in a trade and the Angels extended him one year at a lower AAV. When that final year hits, Pujols will be gone.
still better numbers than the bullpen
let’s be honest Braves fans here….could really use an outing like that every 4th or 5th game right about now! lol
Nah, I’d rather put Wright, Touki, and Newcomb out there to get them more experience so they can continue to progress. 5/4 isn’t much difference between what those three have been doing, so get them experience and innings, that’s the only way they’ll be able to start getting through the lineup three times.
Wright i will absolutely agree on….I was always routing for Newcomb but I think he is what he is at this point, same with Touki. …But i get it, let the young guys get their work in this short season
with so many injuries/opt-out, the braves seriously regrets buying out his contract.
The Braves are 8-4 and in first place despite dealing with early season struggles of their 1-2 hitters, losing their top two catchers for the first couple of series, and huge struggles with 3/5 of their rotation. Teheran hasn’t pitched an inning for a 4-7 team. The Braves don’t regret at all not bringing him back.
There’s no way anyone could have predicted the coronavirus decimating the league, Hamels getting hurt, Folty completely falling off, Hernandez opting out, and Soroka getting hurt for the year. I guess it took all that to question not bringing back Teheran.
Covid has decimated the league? You have two teams affected and it looks like both teams broke protocols.
The protocols are working, providing players follow them.
What’s your density level bro? Do I even need to go into detail how much the game has changed since March? Jeez…
I guess it depends on how you look at life.
Covid is a huge problem in this country. Yes. Duh. Covid has changed the game… Yes… Duh…
After is was decided that baseball should resume, we have two teams that broke protocols, however, they didn’t pass the spread to other teams and the protocols seem to be working. So in the context of baseball, and since this is a baseball board, NO… I’m optimistic that players now understand they should not break protocols.
Also every player who has caught the virus, in spring camp and beyond, has not had any lingering effects. E-Rod likely caught the virus before spring camp which had nothing to do with resuming play.
How dense are you not to see that?
Dude, I don’t know why you’re talking about any of this, it has nothing to do with my first post.
All I was saying is no one, back when Teheran was let go, could have predicted the huge changes to the league due to the coronavirus that would have made the Braves consider bringing him back. They couldn’t have predicated Hamels getting hurt along with Hernandez leaving. Folty completely losing it, and Soroka also getting hurt.
I understand what you are saying. I missed your point, and I should not have, but there is no reason to call me dense.
I agree with you.
When Teheran was let go, no one could have foreseen everything that has taken place. Including Hamels and Soroka.
I’m not second guessing the Braves.
Finally, if we are going back to March. I wish Covid had only decimated the game. Then the season would have been only shortened by 16 or 17 games and not 102.
The advanced metrics don’t do him any favors but he has a better ERA than two-thirds of starters over the past seven seasons.
The advanced metrics don’t work on him because of his pitch mix. He’s very unpredictable which makes him harder to square up.
Have you ever seen him pitch? He doesn’t mix it up like you’re saying he does. He’s a fastball/slider guy whose stuff has continue to decline. About 85% of his pitches were either a fastball or slider last season, not really hard to figure him out.
First link is to his pitch breakdown, a second is from Spring Training a couple years ago detailing exactly what I just said. He’s using his change up about 1-2% more since 2017 and his numbers are basically the same, but yea, I guess he mixes his stuff up well.
fangraphs.com/players/julio-teheran/6797/stats?pos…
google.com/amp/s/www.cbssports.com/fantasy/basebal…
I have seen him pitch and I used fangraphs as a source. They wrote an article about him that opened my eyes to why his ERA is lower than expected.
Since you gave a fangraphs link. You may want to try to find it.
I’m sure I’ll find this “article” that you don’t want to post to support your “argument”.
Don’t believe me. Believe I’m making the whole thing up. I couldn’t care.
Teheran is the luckiest man who ever lived. Believe that instead if you like.
Post the article then, pretty simple. I’ve watched the guy pitch for almost a decade, what about you?
I don’t care if you believe me or not. I watched him for one season when I had him on my fantasy league. I didn’t notice it either.
But a wise person would ask why, which is what fangraphs did. And if you don’t believe me…. fine. You can believe he’s lucky.
Then post the article. I’d love to read it.
Are you going to double dog dare me next… Call me chicken?
You take a stance, mention an article, yet refuse to post it to support your stance.
Very logical, not dense at all, makes sense.
Again, I couldn’t care less if you believe me or not. If you wish to believe Teheran is simply lucky, go right ahead.
Now you can repeat yourself ad nausea and I’ll repeat myself ad nausea. But it’s always going to be the same answer. Don’t believe me. I couldn’t care.
You obviously care.
I found out that you don’t know how to use google.
Well that was a fun pissing match. How about baseball
johnrealtime
I concur, if you want to look at a portion of the fangraphs article, it’s below.
I don’t know about you, but I almost never go to links posted on a message board. That’s just asking for trouble.
What do you want me to Google? There’s multiple articles about Teheran on fangraphs, how would I know which is the one you’re talking about? You don’t give me a title and just vague details about what’s in it. Dense much?
Yea Idk what the heck ur talking about with his pitch mix. He has like 3 pitches. Hes not an amazing pitcher by any means but it’s not like he’s trash. He was a nice pickup for the Angels
I’ll give you the same response. There was a fangraphs column about him. You should try and find it.
It’s a good read.
bravesfan
Go to pitch FX he has five pitches. He uses them in this order, rounding the percentages Four Seem 42%. Sinker 22%. Slider 21% Change 9% Curve 6%
Also, unlike baffle, since you were not a jerk. Here are two paragraphs from the fangraphs article.
“He does bring a couple of factors that may help him out. The first, which has been tested, is that he throws a diverse arsenal of pitchers (two fastballs, slider, curve, and change) each over 8% of the time. He keeps hitters guessing on which pitch is coming next.
This next advantage I have not verified statistically, but many times when I notice a pitcher is generating soft contact (see Johnny Cueto) is a constant pitch mix in every count. It’s even hard for hitters to guess the pitch.’
Hopefully he pitches up to his capabilities. This team needs to get hot quickly to have any chance at clawing into contention.
Braves wishing we kept Julio at this point :/ this
He may be frustrating, but he’s solid. If he’s your #4 or #5, you’ll be fine. Outside of COVID, he’s never been hurt and routinely gives you over 30 starts in a normal year. The advanced stats don’t love him, but there’s value in knowing you’ll get at least five innings and surrender 3-5 runs.
Again, if you need him to win you a game you better look elsewhere (though he does occasionally go on stretches were he’s great). Though it felt like it at times, the truth is he doesn’t lose games for you either. Pretty average, all things considered, but his value comes from his availability. Over the course of 162, you’d be surprised how valuable he is when there’s uncertainty in the rest of your rotation.
Long story short: Don’t expect him to be an ace. It’s okay to appreciate him for the reliable fourth or fifth starter he is. You can do better than Julio Teheran, but you can do a lot worse as well.
I don’t think the Angels want anything more out of him than a #4 or #5 starter.
They want Heaney to be the pitcher his swing and miss peripherals suggest he should be.
They want Canning to be healthy.
They want Bundy to not throw as many four seem fastballs that get crushed, his secondary pitches are far more effective.
They want Teheran to be a back of the rotation starter.
As far as Sandoval, there is a lot to like about a left-handed starter who throws the ball north of 95 MPH.
Couldn’t be a better candidate for a consistent slightly above average pitcher. Unfortunately, that’s not enough to save the Halos.
’18-1.6 war at $8.2 mil. ’19-2.8 war for $11.2 mil. he was worth much more than he was paid at the braves. he should be appreciated by thankless braves fans!
I think Teheran gets a bad wrap as being just ‘mediocre’ when he’s really been quite effective and reliable for all but one of his pro seasons. I mean I understand he didn’t quite live up to the hype as a ‘top 5 overall prospect’ but posting season after season of 3.50 or so ERAs is also really quite impressive. Maybe he’ll wind up taking a step forward in a new environment and start to get a little more respect. Personally I think he’s better than just an ‘innings-eater’ he may not quite be an ‘ace’ either but I do really think he’s one of the better and most consistently solid SPs in the game.
agreed 100%
Terhan would probably be the 11th option for the Dodgers, but he’s a #4 for the Angels.
I can’t speak to the situation in Atlanta, but in LA, Terhan will benefit from great infield defense, great pitch framing and a well respected pitching coach. I believe the Big A favors pitchers, as well.
The Angels would have been thrilled the past several years by Tehran’s ability to answer the bell every 5th day. I don’t know the exact number, but very few Angels pitchers have had 30+ starts for a long, long time.
All the hate for a former 2 time allstar and quality starter. And this is coming from a die hard muts fan.Much respect to the man, most of us would only dream to have a career and success that he has had. I hated when the Mets faced him lol. He will surprise if healthy he will win them 10-15 games a year except this crazy one.
The Muts is what they will be called if one more starting pitcher goes down.