The Angels placed right-hander Sam Bachman on the 15-day injured list today due to thoracic outlet syndrome, per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. The righty himself said he doesn’t need surgery and is hoping to avoid the 60-day IL, per Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com.
Thoracic outlet syndrome is a potentially ominous diagnosis but it’s also one that comes with a wide range of outcomes. In some of the more infamous cases, pitchers like Matt Harvey, Chris Archer and Stephen Strasburg were severely set back by the condition and never able to recover, though each of those pitchers did require surgery.
On the other end of the spectrum, Merrill Kelly underwent surgery towards the end of the 2020 season. He has since gone on to have the best seasons of his MLB career, tossing 609 2/3 innings with a 3.71 earned run average from 2021 to 2024. For those interested in a medical explanation about why the results can be so divergent, Jesse Dougherty of The Washington Post took a look a couple of years ago.
At this point, it can only be guessed what the future holds for Bachman. The fact that he isn’t currently undergoing surgery is perhaps a good sign, though it will be a situation for the Angels and their fans to monitor.
Bachman, now 25, was the ninth overall pick of the 2021 draft. The Halos gave him a $3,847,500 bonus to put pen to paper. Despite some injuries in the minors, he was up in the majors by May of 2023 but hasn’t been able to build much of a track record due to further health troubles. In July of 2023, shortly after his promotion, he landed on the IL due to right shoulder inflammation and stayed on the shelf for the rest of the year. He underwent arthroscopic surgery in the fall and started 2024 on the IL as well. He was reinstated in the summer but sent to the minors.
It’s now been almost four years since Bachman was drafted but he hasn’t been healthy very often since then. He has just 146 minor league innings and only 17 major league innings under his belt to this point. He now has another serious diagnosis to deal with.
Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images
Not good, looking like it was a busted 1st round pick. Not too many players have came back from it. If any.
Wasn’t this basically an immediately bad first round pick? I thought I read he was going to end up being a reliever, but he’s been worse than that.
@kellin. It was a reach, but teams do that so they can spread out the bonus money. Ward was a projected 3rd round pick maybe 4th. Took awhile but it worked. The first round usually sucks unless you get the top 5.
That might be the only injury that’s worse than Tommy John. I’ve seen way less guys come back from that than TJ. Of course it’s less common, But more career derailing I think. Sorry to hear it. Come back OK young fella.
Ward is nothing special and still isn’t worthy of that first round pick.
The Angels just got pounded by the White Sox so not a very impressive start. At least the Sox won’t be 0-162.
@darrendreifort. Never said he was. Just explaining the slot bonus most of the first round are busts, because teams spread the money around. Glad you chimed in.
The Angels won the series so that didn’t age well..ha..
On their way to 60 wins. Congrats.
the only one I know if is Merrill Kelly as they mention. I can’t think of anyone else who has had that kind of success
@bag. Yeah its depending on if the surgery is successful. It’s from repetitive arm movement, so you would think it’s normal. Could’ve renamed it. Causes extreme migraines, dizziness, and insomnia, it breaks down the body so you won’t be a full team player and at that point your on a minor league deal and can barely play so teams just go for the younger option.
It looked like a busted 1st round pick about five seconds after the pick.
When I saw his motion I couldn’t believe the Angels selected him.
The synergy between the Angels scouting staff, farm system, front office, and medical staff is simply awe inspiring. Thank you, Arte, for orchestrating this beautiful symphony.
Arte is blamed for everything, which I don’t think is fair, but he absolutely deserves blame for taking shortcuts with this farm system.
As I keep saying, this entire organization needs an overhaul.
Unfair? How? Arte is the only constant here. He bought a successful big market franchise with a rabid fan base, and put in his “business model” that has transformed the organization into one of the worst in baseball, while maximizing his profits.
Moreno has no incentive to change a thing because his net worth has skyrocketed. He is the OC version of Frank McCourt and it’s terrible for Angel fans and MLB in general.
Arte was the only constant to the greatest run in Angel history.
Arte brought in Vlad and Colon.
Arte is part of the highest payrolls in Angel history. Arte is part of extending Trout and bringing in Ohtani.
He’s not the only problem,
Well, let’s look at your comments:
Halo11Fan: “Arte was the only constant in the greatest run in Angels history”.
Me: Well, they won the world series in 2002, the year before he purchased the team. The Angels hold the current title of longest consecutive losing seasons (at nine) and seasons without a playoff win They also have gone 10 years without a playoff appearance (also leading in that category). And no playoff wins since 2009. Not what I would call a great run.
Haloshill11: “Arte is part of the highest payrolls in Angel history. Arte is part of extending Trout and bringing in Ohtani.”
Me: The big market Angels have the 15th ranked payroll out of 30 teams. So, yeah. Also, Moreno has always been willing to spend big for players who might sell tickets. He just cuts corners everywhere else like depth, scouting and player development. He also won’t get rid of big contracts that are busts. That’s his “business model.” It makes him lots of money, but has left the organization in shambles.
Moreno is the only constant here. And he’s happy with things being a dumpster fire because his profits are great. He has no sense of responsibility to the community or the league. It’s bad for baseball.
And what did they do the next year? He took over a etc place team and they became a power house. Who were the foundational pieces of that 2002 team?
I remember someone saying you could close Disneyland down in weeks if you replaced their employees by DM. Employees.
Arte could turn around the Angels tomorrow if he fired everyone and brought in Tampa Bay’s employees.
It’s not all his fault.
Wow, a couple of typos. DMV employees and 3rd place team. Yes, the Angels had a good year in 2002, but that was the only year in a decade they were good.
They didn’t have a strong core, or a strong minor league system, Yet they became the powerhouse of the West, and Arte had a lot to do with that.
Ok, I’m not even sure what you’re going on about now. Denial is not just a river in Egypt, halofan11. It is all his fault.
Easy, the best players of the Angels teams that won divisions were brought in under the Arte regime.
That’s not remotely deniable. Not remotely.
Halo11fan usually I like your takes, especially the ones for the hate of Perry. This one though, awful. You can’t believe what you’re saying. Arte is the head of the snake. He is definitely the problem. And your claim of oh he brought in the best players. He refused to spend on quality pitching.
You can’t win the way he was trying to build. And that’s not remotely deniable. Not remotely.
Remember why Weaver dropped in the draft? He dropped because of his signing demands.
Arte said “screw that” and gave him the biggest signing bonus of the draft.
He was drafted 12th and still got the biggest bonus.
Higher than the number two pick, Verlander.
Arte is the head of the snake. He hires horrible people. He is a huge problem, but replacing him alone is meaningless.
This problem is not going to be resolved until a complete overhaul is performed.
He’s never going to hire good people. If we had good people, this would be a good team.
So yes, Arte inability to hire competent people is the problem. But he was also a big part of the Angels winning. Competent people were in place and he wasn’t afraid to write checks.
Lol see now I can’t tell if youre being serious……so please help me along this journey to get into your brain.
The sole owner of the team, that is the ONLY person that can literally fire everyone in said overhaul. He isn’t completely at fault in your mind?
You seem to acknowledge you in fact do believe Arte is at fault but in the very next breath combat your own takes.
Buddy, as I said I used to like your takes but I feel like I’m watching the decline of Halo11fan and it’s reminding me of watching Patrick Ewing play for the sonics.
Oh my.
Well, the Angels did just win a WS the year before Moreno bought the team. He also inherited GM Bill Stoneman. But Arte gets all the credit for the five AL West titles between 2003 and 2009?
Does Moreno get blamed for only two playoff series wins (both first round) in 22 years? No playoff wins in the last 15 years? The longest losing seasons streak in the MLB? One of the worst farm systems in the MLB in spite of all the losing seasons? Hamstringing GM’s to save money? Forcing stupid signings and then refusing to eat the contracts? The highest GM turnover rate in the MLB?
He is the only constant. He is the team owner who micromanages his GM’s. It is all on him.
Arte is the problem because he hires horrible people.
Everything can be placed on Arte’s head, because he hires horrible people.
He could easily fix this by hiring a good team President and write checks. That team President would fire everyone.
Arte only needs to do one smart thing. He’s not irredeemable, as many owners are.
We could win with Arte if he did that one smart. One good hire.
Everyone is the problem, simply replacing Arte without a complete overhaul would accomplish nothing.
Hey hey hey let’s be easy on Halo11fan when you pass your prime decline isn’t a easy thing to come to terms with!!!! I know it’s definitely not easy for me seeing my favorites decline.
He inherited good people, and wrote checks.
And if he hires ONE good team President, who then cleaned house, this would be a good team again.
There are a lot of teams that won’t spend money.
We can win with Arte If he does one smart thing. We can’t win with all the terrible people he has hired.
What else can I say?
Stop saying that halo11fan. You’re delusional to think whoever bought this franchise would take a look at the finances and people and say oh yeah I’ll keep everyone in place.
Any new owner would clean house!! I need you to imagine for just a minute. Imagine your jon taffer and a bar reached out to you to save their bar. You do your recon and quickly realize this is a people problem!!! So you tell the owner fire everyone they can’t do their job. You refuse so your bar continues to suck. Guess what it’s YOUR fault…
See where I’m going?
Hey… I could take that the wrong way.
You misunderstand. I absolutely want Moreno to sell this team.
Sorry you’re. I hate that i let myself make that elementary mistake!!!
Halofan11 “We can win with Arte If he does one smart thing. We can’t win with all the terrible people he has hired.”
A baseball operation is huge with many, many moving parts. Look how long it took the Dodgers to turn things around after McCourt. They were smart about it. They had very deep pockets. They were willing to make risky big signings and eat the contracts when they didnt’ work out. They held on to their draft picks and invested massively in thier farm system, spring training, and minors facilities. And it still took them years to get the team where it is today.
Just firing everyone and replacing them is, well, silly. You are assuming that there are a full organization’s worth of qualified personal that are just waiting to come work for the Angels. Fixing this team (post Moreno) is going to be a long and costly process.
You are also assuming Moreno cares about winning. He’s told everyone several times over the years that “It’s a business” to him. He’s had huge increases in his income despite lacking any responsibility to put together a winning organization. The league really needs to do a lot more to prevent this dynamic, especially for big market teams. It is bad for baseball.
Hallofan11, I’m losing optimism that you are openminded on this topic. So,you can have the last words. Goodnight!
I might not be open minded,
Arte did not draft Bachaman with the hope he could be a starting pitcher.
Arte did not draft Neto with the hope he could teach him how to play shortstop at major league level.
Arte did not draft Schanuel with the hope he could totally revamp his swing, including increasing his bat speed, while playing Major League Baseball.
Arte did not draft Moore hoping he could play second base.
Those people, and whoever hired those people, have to go. It’s one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen a team do.
So that’s where I put my attention, to those nameless idiots. Your attention goes towards the guy who is the face of the team.
We probably are both right.
Actually just to play devils advocate sealbeachcomber, cleaning house actually happens quite frequently in sports atleast in the front office. Sure, in a sport like baseball there’s alot more depth. You’re not giving any value to the billionaires that are looking to buy a team. They’re gonna have connects so yeah people will want to come work for that organization again.
Artie inherited a world series championship team pretty stocked with foundational pieces. Garrett Anderson, Darin Erstad, Tim Salmon, Benji molina and Troy Glaus. Plus Lackey, Percival, and k-rod. Artie is all flash and no substance. Classic grifter telling us all to look at his left while his right is picking our pockets.
Of course its his fault. Old saying is crap rolls downhill and he is at top of Angels hill.
He refused to spend money on scouting, player development, minor and major league facilities, analytics staff and the front office on the baseball operations side so when he does it is almost invariably poorly spent.
The Angels are a consistent losing team because of the way Moreno runs the organization and because of the limitations he puts on the people he hires. Who could ever think limiting the number of years for starting pitcher contracts to 3 years would help the team win games. All it does is limit risk while eliminating any chance of ever signing great starting pitching.
Billy Eppler draft pick
@johnny. You were a cartoon.
Does anyone else know of any other examples where it worked out for the player? A UCL injury followed by TJS now seems like something that’s not that bad compared to TOS
@lafleur. Just merrill Kelly, must be something like carpal tunnel. It’s has something to with the tiny nerves that are pinched i believed. The symptoms are extreme migraines, dizziness, insomnia, body fatigue. Not saying it’s carpal tunnel but I guess because that’s repetitive wrist movement. Tos is repetitive arm movement. It’s probably a needle in a haystack to find the culprit. The symptoms are enough to derail a career because you being able to play enough to warrant a roster spot.
Has anyone ever come back from this injury to pitch well?
Merrill Kelly
@pads fan. Didn’t think so, but I saw merrill Kelly did. It’s something with the surgery, but probably not a good chance it works.
Yes.
Long time subscriber here. Every year price goes up while quality of the service goes down.
Dear Skeptical. I am now officially on Team Skeptical. I hear ya.
This sounds about right
@tom. No it’s working maybe try a vpn.
It was down for me as well. How could they screw that up?
He should probably shift to a low-volume, high-velocity reliever role—think 1-2 innings, 50+ appearances, max effort.
That’s basically what he’s been relegated to, anyway.
@kellin
I’m saying make it a plan, not an accident. His condition might sap stamina but not power—his fastball’s still 96-98 mph, top-tier for relievers. Short bursts could even push him past 100 mph if trained right, something starters can’t do.
@old york. You can’t sleep because of extreme migraines, and dizziness. I believe the body breaks down. That’s why players don’t recover because teams move on. Strasburg pitched 40 innings on his big deal, and never came back. I’m sure the nationals were pushing for his return. Maybe it has levels of severity, don’t know just seems like it hasn’t been figured out
Billy Apple took Sam Bachman in the first round sports analyst were saying his delivery wasn’t fluent . he had a violent delivery and probably be a relief pitcher but the Angels tried to make him a starter picture.
@OldYork That’s what the scouting report said when he was drafted. But Angels thought they knew better.
Yes. I have been on the phone with TMobile multiple times today. TMobile has pointed the finger directly at MLB. “Known issue”.
MLB.TV is a free gift for T-Mobile subscribers…
When it works.
Which is basically never for us Angels fans in LA. Always blacked out.
@kellin you just need a VPN, and pick a city where it’s not blacked out. It’s like 5 bucks a month.
MLBF – I had no idea T-Mobile had a free MLB.tv promo. I just activated it thanks to your comment. I feel like I owe you something but you’ll have to settle for a thanks. THANKS!
We’re now even.
@prov356. Locked on angels were talking about fanduel having a free month. I believe you have til today or tomorrow
I’ll check it out!
Sam (won’t be Bach)man.
Sigh. 3-0 White Sox. Angels gonna Angel…
Bachman Thoracic Overdrive???
That’s a shame cuz I was hoping he’d be traded to the Phillies so he could reunite with Turner and get things into Overdrive.
I’d say he’s done at this point. Very few come back from this diagnosis.
This is a, “We don’t actually know what’s wrong with you. So we are just going to start cutting parts out of you and hope it works surgery”.
Angels burn through pitching prospects like it’s a competition.
How do you figure what news sports station are you from?
Is it too soon to start chanting Arte sell the team Arte Sell the Team ARTE SELL THE TEAM!
ARTE SELL THE TEAM!!
Nope.
Bad news. No pitcher comes back from that one and is effective.
Not a pitcher, but Jared Walsh had the same issue.
Big decline in 2022, had surgery in September of that year, and has never been the same.
Walsh’s neurological issues in 2023, which included headaches, insomnia, and other symptoms (feeling hungover every day), are believed to be related to his thoracic outlet syndrome surgery and the subsequent nerve compression.
Regardless of Bachman’s draft pedigree, this is terrible news for the guy.
This is unfortunate news. I hope that he is able to recover.
Quite a bit of discussion about where he drafted and that he’s a first round bust. I am fairly certain that there are more first round busts than there are successes so I won’t spend much time trying to understand how a 1st round draft didn’t translate to the most elite level of the sport. That just seems silly to me. Besides having the skill set or raw talent to be considered a 1st rounder, you still have to navigate injuries to not just have a shot but to have a long lasting career. It’s a physical sport that requires an athlete to be at his very best all the time just to have a chance to stick. It’s extremely difficult to do as we as fans have seen repeatedly over the years.
As far as Arte is concerned. He hasn’t been cheap and there are other MLB fans that would be greatful for his willingness to dish out the dough. He spends and has shown a desire to win. Have those decisions to spend worked out… not necessarily, but to suggest that they were all guaranteed misses would be wrong. I wasn’t happy with the Wells,Cozart or Mathews signings for sure but I was excited over the Rendon signing and if he had stayed healthy and played anywhere close to his track record, and Trout stayed healthy, and Walsh had stayed healthy, the team would have played for a spot in the play offs.
Some things just happen and it sucks. Owners and managers can’t control it all.
I see steps being taken to improve the team, and to improve the organization. It can’t turn on a dime though and it takes time. Huge financial commitment to players that haven’t performed has caught up to this organization and that’s why so many of us want to point fingers. Give the organization credit for not running out and spending 100s of millions in Long term commitments this past off season just to try to compete or be relevant or put more butts in the seats. Things are moving in the right direction…
Oldhalo: “As far as Arte is concerned. He hasn’t been cheap and there are other MLB fans that would be greatful for his willingness to dish out the dough.”
Lot’s to unpack here:
1) The big market team payroll is middle of the road for MLB teams, and about half (52%) of the Dodgers payroll.
2) The reason the payroll is even ranked that high is because of stupid marketing signing for players like Rendon. Moreno loves to overpay for past performances as long as he thinks there is enough name recognition to sell tickets. What he won’t do is eat these contracts when they go bad, which they do more often than not.
3) Moreno cuts corners everywhere else. And this business model works great for him. His net worth has skyrocketed as the organization has declined into one of the worst in baseball. This is bad for Angels fans, but also bad for the MLB in general
So, I guess I’m not in touch with my feeling of gratitude for Mr. Moreno. I’m not sure how anyone outside of his PR department could be suggesting such a thing.
Oldhalo: “Things are moving in the right direction…”
A big market team with the longest steak of losing seasons in the MLB. . The longest post season drought in the MLB. 14 seasons without a playoff game win. Despite all the losing, the farm system is consistently ranked last or near last in the MLB. You and I have a different idea about what constitutes “the right direction.”
@ Sealbeach We all look through different lenses and I can see your points too.
On a side note, many years ago I would skim board the South Side of the Seal Beach pier at high tide 4-5 times a week and every Friday afternoon was fishingwith my dad on that pier. I have some great memories there.