The Angels informed Jack Kochanowicz over the weekend that he won the fifth spot in the rotation, manager Ron Washington told reporters (including Bill Shaikin of The Los Angeles Times). Reid Detmers is going to open the year in the bullpen, though Sam Blum of The Athletic notes that he’ll stay stretched out in a multi-inning role in case he’s needed to return to the rotation midseason.
The Halos signed Yusei Kikuchi and Kyle Hendricks over the offseason. They join Tyler Anderson and José Soriano as the top four starters. Kochanowicz, Detmers and Chase Silseth entered camp as the main candidates for the final spot. Silseth dropped out of the competition quickly, as he allowed 16 runs in 13 innings. The Angels optioned him last week.
Kochanowicz and Detmers have each pitched well in camp. The former has worked 12 1/3 innings of five-run ball (four earned). His 7:4 strikeout-to-walk ratio is middling, but he’s kept the ball on the ground at a 52.4% clip. Detmers has surrendered seven runs (six earned) with 17 punchouts and four walks over 19 1/3 frames. He has gotten grounders at a solid 46.6% rate in his own right.
It seems the job was Kochanowicz’s to lose. The 24-year-old righty made his first 11 MLB appearances last season. He posted a 3.99 earned run average across 65 1/3 innings. He had fantastic control (3.8% walk rate) and got grounders at a massive 57% clip, but his 9.4% strikeout rate was the lowest among all pitchers who reached 50 innings. It’s not easy to find sustained success with that low a strikeout rate. Kochanowicz has a 5.39 ERA with a 19% strikeout rate in four minor league seasons.
Detmers, the 10th overall pick in 2020, has a lot more swing-and-miss upside. He has fanned a quarter of opponents over four MLB seasons, including a career-high 27.9% of batters faced last year. Yet Detmers’ results have been up and down. He allowed an ERA approaching 7.00 over 17 starts last season. A .357 average on balls in play didn’t do him any favors, but he also surrendered nearly two home runs per nine innings. The Angels optioned him to Triple-A. He pitched in the minors between June and September. The homer troubles continued in the Pacific Coast League, where he allowed a 5.54 ERA despite a near-30% strikeout rate.
Since Detmers has two options remaining, the Angels could have sent him back to Triple-A when they settled on Kochanowicz as their fifth starter. The 25-year-old southpaw pitched well enough this spring to ensure he’d stick on the MLB roster. The Angels swapped lefty reliever José Suarez to the Braves for right-hander Ian Anderson over the weekend.
They still need to decide whether to carry out-of-options southpaws José Quijada and Angel Perdomo in the bullpen with Detmers and Brock Burke. They’ll have righties Kenley Jansen, Ben Joyce and Ryan Zeferjahn in the later innings. Ian Anderson is out of options and seems likely to make the team in a long relief role, which would round out the pitching staff unless the Halos cut Quijada or Perdomo.
I like Silent C but figured Detmers would head to AAA. Considering there’s over 4000 feet of elevation difference between those parks, having him work on his craft here makes sense, though.
Kochanowicz low strikeout numbers misrepresent how good he is. Upper 90’s fastball and hard sinker that gets a ton of ground balls. Kid is a stud and will be in the rotation for a long time.
I disagree. He is two-pitch pitcher who’s stuff would play up out of the bullpen. There is so much more upside with Detmers in the rotation. This is another wrong Angel’s move. At this point, they should just take the Constanza approach and do the opposite of what they think is the right move.
But for a couple of short bursts of good pitching, Detmers is not a rotation guy. He’s cold way more often than he is hot. He’s had his chances and can’t find his consistency in the rotation. BP might be what he needs.
I think they are both good. Kochanowicz’s has a lot of things you might think he needs to improve on to even keep his head above water. He needs to fill out more of the strike zone and or develop another pitch, and so on. He should and would probably see a big performance boost. He has lots of paths to improvement and yet, after getting bombed twice his first 2 times and sent down. He was later recalled and pitched to an ERA under 3 his last 9 starts. This shows me he was able to overcome those negatives by excelling in what he does do well. A little development could go a long way.
Hoping McDaniles makes it over Perdomo and Quijada who will both inevitably get rocked this year.
That would make sense. But with the Angels front office you just never know…
McDaniels is almost a certainty. He is a rule 5 guy, so he has to make the team or go back to the Dodgers.
In year past, the Angels were kinda forced into having Quijada. He is a one pitch pitcher and that one pitch isn”t that great. I still think Quijada will still start the season on the team, but the leash will be shorter than it has been. There are better options. I like Johnson. He hasn’t been great, but with some slight adjustments, he can definitely be a good bullpen piece.
@googleme. McDaniels isn’t going anywhere. He looks good just didn’t move up in the dodgers system because its clogged. Probably shopping quijada now if there’s no interest. i think they try to resign him. Someone should pick him up to jump waivers Probably for cash considerations or a player with 4 fingers and a extra toe.
@cybertron. I think they just switched saurez and quijada for Anderson and perdomo. This way we have crouse and Johnson as backups.
Read and Reid are homonyms
I would’ve gone with Detmers over Kochanowicz due to his edge on experience and having slightly out-pitched him during spring training. And would’ve started Kochanowicz at triple-A as the first starting arm to get called up when needed.
I’m not a fan of having Detmers in the pen. Unless they permanently plan to use him as a swingman, but I think he still has too much upside for that at this point of his career.
Whatever happened to Sam Bachman? He’d make more sense to have in the pen over Detmers.
It doesn’t matter much to me. Hendricks hasn’t been good in years. Forty percent of starters go on the IL. Detmers is likely going to start games in April.
Time will tell if it’s the right choice. To me, it’s a coin flip.
@halo11fan wondering if they alternate between Hendricks and detmers. But either it will work itself out. Hendricks is probably going to get torched and become the long reliever or dfa’d. Just seems like they want guys to eat innings to give the younger players time if they look good they become trade chips.
As said in the movie Jurassic Park, and on the CBS fantasy baseball show, life will fin a way.
Would gladly take Detmers to replace Carrasco on the Yankees. A couple of minor leaguers like AAA SP Zach Messinger and someone else not on the Top 30. Or Top 20 prospect 2b/3b Vivas and a lower level prospect.
Yeah, halos will surely trade a former #1 draft pick to the Yankees for pocket change. Keep dreaming.
@Redstitch – A top 30 prospect and another lower level guy are pocket change?
Detmers had a 7.00 ERA last year and has just two seasons of control left. We can’t just look at his draft status as a first rounder. Ian Anderson, who they just acquired was a higher first round draft pick. Detmers has better health than Anderson though.
What do you think is a fair return for Detmers?
He’s a legitimate mlb back end sp. The Yankees farm is not impressive. Given the value of sp – as a non angels fan – I would say a guy in the 8-12 range and a 20-30. A single top 30 guy wouldn’t get the conversation started for almost any sp in mlb. You’re just overly hopeful and very very far off relative to the current market, the Yankees system and the Yankees need.
@danumd87 2 – He couldn’t make the Angels rotation. I’m not sure he’s a “legitimate” back end starting pitcher.
Jesus Luzardo is a legitimate mid-rotation guy with past upside as a #2. He cost the Phillies a #4 and #23 ranked prospects. A “back end” guy like Detmers) that can’t even make the Angels) just isn’t worth two top 30 prospects.
I’d rather pay 2M for a Corbin as a legitimate back end guy than burn two prospects for Detmers. Or even 5M for a Gibson. Those guys will give you innings.
The key is a “former” number one pick. Today? He is what he is.
This move is to transform him into a hybrid “super-reliever” who could dominate high-leverage innings, exploiting his elite strikeout stuff in shorter bursts to mask his home run vulnerability. This move could quietly position the Angels to outmaneuver AL West rivals by redefining how they allocate pitching WAR, all without anyone noticing the bigger play.
Meh. Bullpen. It’s not hard. Tell him Wash!
“… it’s incredibly hard.” -Wash
Hopefully the Angels eventually let another organization take a crack at Detmers, since they clearly don’t know what to do here.
Angels + crack in same sentence. Too soon?
@dumpster. Troll on garth. Or hahaha hahaha beavis.
I don’t really see the point of arguing who should start between Detmers and Kochanowicz because it looks like the Angels’ overall pitching is going to be pretty bad and they will miss the post-season again. Different season, same result.
Winning is getting oxygen. As long as you are getting oxygen, you are winning. In sales, every no is a yes. Believe what you want, however I believe that the zero comment, that the angels will shock a lot of people, is true. Thirty extra wins in 25. Really? Why not. Aren’t they just as good this year as the 02 angels? Around the league, pitchers will be serving meat balls to trout. Why? Trout and the angels will be the 2nd biggest story, after ohtani pitching.
Zeto
@pronklington. It was Kyle Hendricks, but same difference.
Woulda be kinda surprised if they don’t trade Tyler Anderson and slot Detmers back in the rotation at some point this year. I suppose it depends how the first 1/3 of the season goes.