The Angels placed right-hander Ben Joyce on the 15-day injured list Friday, prior to the club’s 14-3 loss to the Astros. Joyce is dealing with inflammation in his throwing shoulder, and the IL placement is retroactive to April 9. Righty Michael Darrell-Hicks was called up from Triple-A to take Joyce’s spot on the active roster.
Shoulder inflammation brought Joyce’s 2024 season to a premature end, as the reliever didn’t pitch after September 3. Joyce posted a 2.08 ERA, 23.2% strikeout rate, 58.9% grounder rate, and 9.9% walk rate over 34 2/3 innings in between his June call-up and that September 3 date, establishing himself as a force out of the Angels’ bullpen. While Joyce had the high grounder rate and modest strikeout total of a pitch-to-contact type of hurler, he is best known for being one of the baseball’s hardest throwers, as Joyce averaged an absurd 102.1mph on his fastball last season.
Joyce has such extreme velocity that it registered as unusual when his fastball was humming at “only” 99.3mph during his last outing, but something seemed amiss when he allowed three runs on four hits over just a third of an inning on Tuesday against the Rays. Joyce told MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger and other reporters that his shoulder was feeling fine during the game, and that he only started feeling sore while playing catch on Wednesday.
There isn’t yet any timeline for when the reliever might be able to return to action, though Joyce indicated that the IL placement was somewhat precautionary in nature. He said initially, he “just kind of thought it was normal soreness, and ended up getting reevaluated and just a little more inflamed than we wanted it to be. So [we’re] just trying to get ahead of it.”
The three-run meltdown against Tampa boosted Joyce’s ERA to 6.23 over 4 1/3 total innings this season, though he hadn’t allowed any earned runs in his four prior appearances. The Angels have been using Joyce as a high-leverage fireman in front of closer Kenley Jansen, and so Joyce’s absence will essentially mean that everyone else in the Los Angeles bullpen might have to take a step up the depth chart. Ryan Zeferjahn might be the favorite for the role out of default, as Zeferjahn is one of the few pitchers that has gotten off to a decent start within a tough couple of weeks for the Halos relief corps.
Well I, for one, am shocked.
I stuck a fork in the electrical outlet and got shocked incase you were wondering
Same
Shocking!
It’s just a matter of time that when you throw that hard, damage on your arm/shoulder is going to occur.
-@teamspirit. Hopefully it’s just precautionary. His fastball was topping at 99 so it’s not a good sign.
The loss of Joyce and that loss last night against the Astros rattled the team. They won’t be able to recover. Below .500 incoming in a week.
@unhappy. Washington should’ve kept Kochanowicz in. He’s a groundball pitcher.
Going into yesterday, the Astros had one hit off a left handed batter all year.
Since that was the game, Washington brought in the wrong LH pitcher. It seems like we only have one.
@halofan11fan. Yeah probably Burke, but I would’ve brought in detmers before McDaniels. I would ease the rookies in. I like him, but I would let him build up confidence because it’s either boom or send back to the dodgers.
Kochanowicz was out of gas.
@teamspirit. Probably correct I’m just thinking he would’ve got a grounder to get out of the inning. Worse case scenario two runs coming in. It definitely took the wind out of the sails and it was over after the grand slam.
Dude, you gotta stop posting
Based on past performance, your prediction is reasonable but too negative for a “halo hopeful.” This team has shown some grit and with the strong veteran presence, they will brush off the loss and Joyce’s time on IL (somebody else will come up from AAA and help) and finish their Texas trip with a 3-3 split or better…. Now coming from an over-optimistic Angel fan (until mathematically out of the wild card race), my prediction is about as worthless as yours.
@angels2WS. It’s not a angel fan. They had one lopsided loss, and it sprouted a new troll account. Washington needs to stop putting McDaniels or Johnson in high pressure situations since they don’t have much mlb experience. Brock Burke would’ve worked or let jack finish the inning.
This team is cooked. Making Patrick Corbin look like a Cy Young.
@unhappy troll. Can you explain with facts. I thought we were cool choof you left two well thought out comments thought you turned over a new queef.
I told you they would fall apart. Come on my guy. You have too much optimism. I’d rather be watching Rex Hudler gripping the ball during commentary than this sad team.
Will Ron Washington’s contract be extended? Does he even want to stay and work here?
@teamspirit. Yeah good question. Three years is common. He might’ve only wanted a two year run.
Jansen’s experience and current performance could make him a valuable trade asset, potentially yielding prospects or addressing other team needs.
Thank you captain obvious
@old york. He’s should be able to get someone decent in return. The only thing i worry about is if their 5 games out of a wildcard spot arte will freeze perry.