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Gustavo Campero

Angels Notes: Anderson, Mederos, Campero, Stephenson

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Angels left-hander Tyler Anderson has had a shaky season, and the 35-year-old southpaw tells Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register that he’s been playing through a back injury throughout the year. Anderson’s most recent start was pushed from Tuesday back to Saturday in order to afford him some extra rest. Anderson described the discomfort as “on and off” but generally something he’s been able to pitch through. However, he acknowledged that it “flared up probably the worst it had been” this season after his most recent outing.

Anderson was tagged for four runs in four innings against the Rays in said start. That marked his sixth time in the veteran southpaw’s past ten trips to the mound that he yielded at least four runs. His ERA over that span is an unsightly 5.50 and has ballooned his season-long mark from 3.99 to its current 4.63.

This is the final season of Anderson’s three-year, $40MM deal with the Halos. At the time, it was the first multi-year deal for a free agent starting pitcher that owner Arte Moreno had authorized in a decade (though the Angels have since signed Yusei Kikuchi to a three-year deal as well). It’s not a promising note on which to end his season, though Anderson will hope that the extra rest can help him get back on track for a strong finish.

Anderson is far from the only struggling member of the Angels’ rotation. Righty Jack Kochanowicz has been optioned twice within the past month, understandably so after turning in a grisly 6.19 ERA with a 14.5% strikeout rate and 11.3% walk rate in 107 2/3 innings spread across 22 starts.

The struggles from the 24-year-old Kochanowicz have prompted a rotation change with some permanence. Another 24-year-old righty, Victor Mederos, appears set to serve as the Halos’ fifth starter for the time being, per Fletcher. The right-hander changed his arm slot and pitch mix this year, most notably swapping out his four-seamer for a sinker, and he’s found strong results in the upper minors thus far.

While Mederos has allowed five runs in eight big league innings, he’s sporting a 3.41 ERA in the hitter-friendly Triple-A Pacific Coast League. He’s not missing tons of bats (19% strikeout rate) but is sporting roughly average walk and ground-ball rates. Opponents have struggled to make hard contact against the righty, and he’ll get some opportunities to show he can stick on the big league staff down the stretch.

On the injury front, the Angels will be without outfielder Gustavo Campero for a significant period — perhaps the rest of the season. The 27-year-old was carted off the field with a lower-half injury earlier this week. He’s avoided a catastrophic injury, thankfully, but has still been diagnosed with a high ankle sprain, MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger reports. The team hasn’t formally ruled Campero out for the rest of the year, but there’s a chance he won’t be able to make it back to the field.

In brighter Angels injury news, right-hander Robert Stephenson is setting out on a minor league rehab assignment today. Stephenson tells Erica Weston of FanDuel Sports West that he’ll make appearances with the Angels’ Triple-A club today and again on Sunday.

Stephenson, 32, signed a three-year, $33MM deal with the Angels in the 2023-24 offseason but missed the entire ’24 campaign due to Tommy John surgery. He briefly returned earlier this summer but pitched only one inning before heading back to the injured list — this time due to inflammation in his right biceps. He’s since been moved back to the 60-day IL but now finally appears to be nearing a return.

Stephenson’s rise from journeyman DFA candidate to high-leverage standout in 2023 was rapid. He was designated for assignment by the Rockies late in 2022, claimed off waivers by Pittsburgh and, in 2023, was flipped from the Pirates to the Rays in a minor June swap for minor league infielder Alika Williams.

While Stephenson had long proven capable of missing bats at a high level, he never put it all together until that trade to Tampa Bay. In 38 1/3 innings with the Rays, he posted a 2.35 ERA while punching out a colossal 42.9% of his opponents against just a 5.7% walk rate. Stephenson was averaging 96.8 mph on his four-seamer, and his gargantuan 24.8% swinging-strike rate (28.9% with the Rays) was the highest single-season mark by any pitcher (min. 40 innings) since Brad Lidge’s 25.1% mark back in 2004.

The first two years of that sizable free agent contract will go down as a wash, by and large, but if Stephenson can finish the year on a high note, it’d give the Angels a bit more optimism regarding their bullpen heading into the 2026 campaign.

Angels Designate Shaun Anderson For Assignment

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The Angels announced that they have recalled infielder Niko Kavadas and right-hander Víctor Mederos from Triple-A Salt Lake. In corresponding moves, they have placed outfielder Gustavo Campero on the 10-day injured list with a left ankle sprain and designated right-hander Shaun Anderson for assignment.

Anderson was just selected to the roster yesterday. On Sunday, starter Jack Kochanowicz had lasted just three innings. Carson Fulmer came in from the bullpen to mop up five innings of long relief. With Fulmer likely unavailable for a few days, the Halos optioned out Kochanowicz and selected Anderson to give them a fresh arm.

In last night’s game against the Dodgers, the Angels had a 7-0 lead through seven. Starter José Soriano had put up six zeroes and then Luis García put up one more. They tried to spare their high-leverage arms by putting Anderson in to pitch the eighth. Unfortunately, he only recorded two outs, allowing four earned runs along the way. That included a solo home run to Shohei Ohtani and a three-run shot to Max Muncy.

That performance has led to Anderson getting bumped off the roster approximately 24 hours after being added. He is out of options, so the Angels had to remove him from the 40-man entirely. With the trade deadline having passed, he’ll be on waivers shortly. He cleared waivers a couple of months back and could do so again. If that comes to pass, he’ll have the right to elect free agency since he has a previous career outright. He has 163 1/3 big league innings under his belt with a 6.39 earned run average.

Mederos is starting for the Halos tonight. As mentioned, Kochanowicz was optioned out. Also, Tyler Anderson has back stiffness, per Sam Blum of The Athletic. It’s unclear if this is just a spot start or if Mederos will having a rotation role for a while. Mederos will be pitching on just three days rest, per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. Interim manager Ray Montgomery says he thinks Mederos can still take on a fairly normal workload since he only tossed 52 pitches last time out.

The 24-year-old Mederos has a limited major league track record but is having a decent season in Triple-A. He has tossed 87 2/3 Triple-A innings with a 3.39 ERA, 18.6% strikeout rate, 8.9% walk rate and 40.2% ground ball rate.

Photo courtesy of Cary Edmondson, Imagn Images

Angels Place Jorge Soler, Chris Taylor On Injured List

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The Angels announced that both outfielder Jorge Soler and utility man Chris Taylor have been placed on the injured list this evening. Soler is suffering from low back inflammation, and his stint on the shelf is retroactive to July 24. Taylor, meanwhile, is suffering from a left hand fracture that he tells MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger comes with a roughly six-week timetable for return, which should allow him to return at some point in September. Outfielder Gustavo Campero and utility man Scott Kingery were recalled from Triple-A Salt Lake to replace Soler and Taylor on the active roster.

Soler missed two weeks due to back inflammation back in June, and since his return on July 1 he’s hit an impressive .262/.360/.595 in 50 plate appearances. That excellent work at the dish is all the more impressive given that he’s evidently been playing at less than perfect health, given that he was pulled from Wednesday’s game early due to his back and had not played since. It’s not clear exactly how long the Angels expect the slugger to be out, but his production will be sorely missed on a team that’s four games under .500 and 4.5 games out of a Wild Card spot, leaving them in a position where every game counts ahead of the trade deadline next week.

As for Taylor, his broken hand is also a recurrence of a previous injury. He fractured his hand back in June and ended up missing around six weeks due to the issue. He finally returned to action on Monday, but got into just five games before a diving catch in the outfield yesterday caused him to re-fracture his hand, leaving him to start all over again with another six weeks of recovery. Taylor has appeared in just 43 games this year between the Dodgers and Angels, only 15 of which have been with the Halos. He’s posted a decent 87 wRC+ in that sample size and has looked the part of a viable and versatile bench option, but it’s unclear how much of an opportunity he’ll get to impact the club down the stretch at this point, with even a fairly optimistic timeline having him return in the season’s final weeks.

Filling in for Soler and Taylor on the roster are Campero and Kingery. Campero, 27, has been a fill-in outfielder for Anaheim in each of the past two seasons. A .192/.259/.295 hitter across 31 games in his big league career, he’s unlikely to provide much offense for the club but can cover all three outfield spots and even has some experience catching, although he’s converted almost exclusively to work in the outfield at this point. As for Kingery, the utility man appeared in 13 games with the Halos earlier this year. it was his first big league work since 2022, but he hit a paltry .160/.222/.200 in that time and has struggled mightily at Triple-A this year as well. His wRC+ in the Pacific Coast League is a ghastly 69 this year, meaning he’s been 31% worse than average even by the standards of the club’s Salt Lake affiliate. Still, he can offer some speed and versatility off the bench, with 25 steals at Triple-A for the Phillies just last year.

Angels Designate J.D. Davis For Assignment

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The Angels announced that outfielder Gustavo Campero has been recalled from Triple-A Salt Lake. In a corresponding move, infielder J.D. Davis has been designated for assignment. The club’s 40-man roster count drops to 38.

Davis, 32, signed a minor league deal with the Halos in the offseason. He cracked the big league roster earlier this month when Yoán Moncada landed on the injured list. Moncada is still on the IL but Davis has hardly played. Since being added to the roster April 10th, he has stepped to the plate nine times over five games. He recorded three strikeouts and one single, leading to a .111/.111/.111 line.

That’s a rough showing but also a tiny sample size. Regardless, the Angels seem to prefer other options for their infield mix. Luis Rengifo is covering third while Nolan Schanuel is the regular at first. Defensive specialist Kevin Newman is presumably the backup for those two at the moment, as no one else on the roster has much experience at those spots.

The Angels will likely put Davis on waivers in the coming days. He is coming off a down year, as he hit .218/.293/.338 for an 86 wRC+ in 2024, which is why he had to settle for a minor league deal coming into this year. But over the five prior seasons, he hit .268/.352/.443 for a 119 wRC+.

Campero is out to a strong start this year, hitting .333/.397/.472 in Triple-A. However, it’s unclear how he’ll get into the lineup as a corner outfield guy. The Angels have Taylor Ward and Mike Trout as their regulars in the corners and Jorge Soler acting as the designated hitter most days. Campero does have some catching experience but the Halos have Logan O’Hoppe and Travis d’Arnaud back there. Campero is a threat for double-digit steals, so perhaps he will be utilized as a pinch runner.

Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images

Angels Designate Nick Robertson For Assignment

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The Angels announced a series of roster moves today, highlighted by the return of right-hander Carson Fulmer from the 15-day injured list. To make room for Fulmer on the active roster, left-hander Samuel Aldegheri was placed on the 15-day IL retroactive to September 14 with a blister on his left middle finger. Meanwhile, outfielder Bryce Teodosio was placed on the 10-day injured list with a fractured right middle finger. Outfielder Gustavo Campero has his contract selected to replace Teodosio on the roster, and right-hander Nick Robertson was designated for assignment to make room for Campero on the 40-man roster. Additionally, manager Ron Washington told reporters (including Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register) that right-hander Ben Joyce will not pitch again in 2024 due to shoulder inflammation.

Fulmer, 30, is a former top ten overall pick in the draft but has never quite managed to stick in the big leagues. After struggling through four seasons with the White Sox to a 6.56 ERA in 94 2/3 innings of work across 44 appearances (15 starts). Since then, he’s bounced between the Tigers, Orioles, Reds, and Angels organizations but has never gotten an extended shot in the majors until this year, when the Halos began using him as a swing man. He’s performed solidly in the role, with a 4.15 ERA (103 ERA+) and 4.56 FIP in 80 1/3 innings split between eight starts and 24 relief outings. The right-hander went on the IL at the end of August with elbow inflammation, but now will get the opportunity to finish the year strong and prove himself healthy ahead of the offseason, when he’ll be eligible for arbitration for the first time in his career.

Making room for Fulmer on the roster is Aldegheri, who will celebrate his 23rd birthday later this week. The youngster will be eligible to return to the big league roster in time for the final game of the regular season if the club wants to see the lefty make one more start before the offseason, though it’s also possible he’s made his last appearance of the 2024 campaign. Aldegheri has made three starts for Anaheim this year after being acquired from the Phillies in the Carlos Estevez trade back in July, though this stint in the big leagues hasn’t gone especially well as he’s surrendered a 4.85 ERA with a 6.40 FIP in 13 frames since being promoted to the majors.

Of course, Aldegheri’s struggles come with the context of the youngster being just 22 years old and having been called up directly from Double-A not long after changing organizations for the first time in his career, so it’s not necessarily shocking the the southpaw has struggled. Looking ahead to 2025, he’ll surely figure into the club’s big league pitching staff in at least some capacity, though it’s not yet clear what his role will be at this point. Washington told reporters (including Fletcher) today that lefty Jose Suarez will replace Aldgheri in the rotation for the time being.

Joining Aldgheri on the IL is Teodosio, a 25-year-old rookie who signed with the club back in 2021 as an undrafted free agent. In 114 games at the Triple-A level this season, Teodosio has slashed .276/.339/.418 with an 89 wRC+ with an excellent 40-for-44 record on the basepaths. Teodosio got the call to the majors last week when Jo Adell and Kevin Pillar were placed on the injured list but struggled in his first taste of big league action, going 1-for-12 with five strikeouts in five games. Teodosio will be replaced on the roster by Campero, a 26-year-old who converted to the outfield after beginning his pro career as a catcher. He’s split his 2024 campaign between the Double- and Triple-A levels, with a .279/.392/.472 slash line in 107 games this year. He’s now set to join Mickey Moniak, Taylor Ward, and Jordyn Adams in the club’s outfield mix going forward.

Robertson departs to make room for Campero on the 40-man roster, just a month after he was claimed off waivers from the Cardinals. The 26-year-old is a product of the Dodgers organization who made his big league debut with the club last year but struggled to a 6.04 ERA in 22 1/3 innings of work between the Dodgers and Red Sox organizations, although he did show some signs of promise with a 3.88 FIP and a 24.5% strikeout rate. Robertson was dealt by the Red Sox to the Cardinals over the winter in the deal that brought Tyler O’Neill to Boston but ultimately appeared in just eight games for St. Louis with a decent 4.38 ERA and 4.55 FIP in 12 1/3 frames. In addition to his time in the majors this year, Robertson has struggled badly in 34 2/3 innings of work at Triple-A this year between the Cardinals and Angels organizations with a 7.27 ERA in 31 appearances.

As for Joyce, the right-hander has been on the 15-day IL for a few days now due to a shoulder issue that the club described yesterday as an impingement (as noted by MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger). Joyce was scheduled to undergo an MRI this weekend and while the results came back showing only inflammation today (as noted by Fletcher), Washington suggested that the hard-throwing righty was “too important” to the club’s long-term plans to risk further injury in the final weeks of a season where the club has been eliminated from playoff contention. Joyce wraps up his 2024 campaign with a sterling 2.08 ERA and 3.20 FIP in 34 2/3 innings and figures to be a key piece of the club’s late-inning mix in 2025.

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