Angels Select Amir Garrett

The Angels announced they’ve selected reliever Amir Garrett onto the MLB roster. They optioned righty Davis Daniel and placed Mike Trout on the 10-day injured list to create active roster space for Garrett and newly-signed outfielder Kevin Pillar. To open space on the 40-man roster, the Halos moved Michael Stefanic and Chase Silseth to the 60-day injured list.

Garrett inked a minor league deal with the Halos not long after Opening Day. The southpaw had been in camp with the Giants but issued seven walks in 6 1/3 Spring Training innings, leading to his release. Garrett has found his form with the Angels’ top affiliate in Salt Lake, where he has fanned 10 in 7 1/3 frames. He has walked four and allowed only two runs in the Pacific Coast League.

That was enough to get the 31-year-old (32 next month) back to the majors for what’ll be his eighth season. Garrett was a quality setup arm for the Reds early in his career. His results have been less consistent over the last couple years, largely because of scattershot control. Garrett walked over 15% of batters faced in each of the last two seasons. A near-18% walk rate led the Royals to release him last summer even though he had a reasonably solid 3.33 ERA in 27 appearances.

Matt Moore stands as the top lefty setup man for skipper Ron Washington. José Suarez has occupied a long relief role, where he has struggled to a 10.13 ERA across 16 frames. Garrett adds a third southpaw to the bullpen mix, where he’ll pitch mostly in single-inning stints.

Silseth has been sidelined since April 8 with inflammation in his throwing elbow. He has been playing catch but hasn’t progressed to mound work. Today’s transfer backdates to Silseth’s original IL placement, so he’ll be out until at least the first week of June. Stefanic, meanwhile, is out until the end of May thanks to a Spring Training quad strain. He hit .290/.380/.355 in 25 big league contests a year ago.