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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 Select Shaun Anderson, Designate Scott Kingery For Assignment

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The Angels announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Shaun Anderson. Fellow righty Jack Kochanowicz has been optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake in a corresponding active roster move. To open a 40-man spot, infielder Scott Kingery has been designated for assignment.

This is the second time this year Kochanowicz has been optioned down to the minors. The first was just before the All-Star break, reducing the number of actual games he would miss with the 15-day minimal stint. He was recalled in late July and has made three more starts since then. The most recent one was yesterday, which did not go well. He allowed seven runs, six earned, in just three innings against the Tigers.

Long reliever Carson Fulmer came in and tossed five innings to get the Angels through the rest of the game, throwing 85 pitches in the process. Presumably, Fulmer won’t be available for a few days, so they’ve made these moves to get Anderson into the mix. He’s been starting in Triple-A and should be able to absorb some innings out of the bullpen, if the Angels need such a performance while Fulmer is out of action.

Anderson has tossed 10 2/3 innings over six appearances for the Halos this year, allowing nine earned runs on 16 hits and three walks while striking out ten opponents. In his 81 Triple-A innings, he has a 6.44 earned run average, 17.9% strikeout rate and 7.6% walk rate.

The Halos will have to replace Kochanowicz in the rotation but not immediately. José Soriano, Tyler Anderson and Kyle Hendricks are slated to start the next three games. The club is off on Thursday and could go with Yusei Kikuchi on Friday, followed by Soriano, Anderson and Hendricks on normal rest. That means the Angels could postpone the decision on a fifth starter/spot starter for about a week.

They are also off on the two following Thursdays, so perhaps they could survive for a while with a four-man rotation and occasional bullpen days. They also have guys like Caden Dana and Víctor Mederos on the 40-man and starting in Triple-A, so calling one of them up for a spot start or two is a possibility.

Kingery, 31, has mostly been in a depth role for the Angels this year. He has appeared in 14 big league games, producing a .160/.222/.200 line in 27 plate appearances. His minor league work has been better but still subpar. His .271/.337/.452 line at Triple-A this year looks nice but actually translates to a 91 wRC+ in the context of the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.

Once a notable prospect with the Phillies, Kingery signed a pre-debut extension with that club, though he never developed into the regular player the Phils were hoping for. That deal has since expired. The Halos acquired him ahead of this season and agreed to a $770K salary to avoid arbitration. Kingery has more than three years of service time but less than five. That means he has the right to reject an outright assignment but has to forfeit his remaining salary commitments in order to do so.

Back in March, Kingery cleared waivers and was sent outright to Triple-A Salt Lake. He accepted that assignment, which allowed him to get selected back to the roster in May. It’s possible the same sequence of events plays out in the coming days, which would allow the Angels to keep him as non-roster depth for the rest of the season.

Photo courtesy of Cary Edmondson, Imagn Images

Angels Option Jack Kochanowicz

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The Angels announced they’ve optioned right-hander Jack Kochanowicz to Triple-A Salt Lake. Jake Eder is up to provide an extra bullpen arm for this weekend’s series against the Diamondbacks.

This is the first change that the Angels have made to their rotation all season. The quintet of Yusei Kikuchi, José Soriano, Tyler Anderson, Kyle Hendricks and Kochanowicz has combined to start all 93 games. That reflects both remarkable health and a lack of upper minors alternatives. Kikuchi is the only member of the starting five with a sub-4.00 ERA or an above-average strikeout rate. Soriano has allowed an even four earned runs per nine with huge ground-ball numbers. Anderson and Hendricks are soft-tossing fifth starter types.

Kochanowicz has been one of the least effective starters in MLB. He carries a 6.03 ERA with a well below-average 15.6% strikeout rate and an elevated 11% walk percentage. The 6’7″ righty is one of six pitchers with at least 15 starts while allowing over six earned runs per nine. Only Randy Vásquez, Erick Fedde and Antonio Senzatela have a worse strikeout/walk rate differential.

The 24-year-old Kochanowicz hasn’t tossed a quality start since the middle of May. He had his worst outing of the season against Texas last night. He surrendered eight runs on as many hits and three walks without escaping the third inning. He’ll spend at least the next 15 days in Triple-A unless he’s recalled in the corresponding move for an injured list placement.

Anderson, Kikuchi and Soriano are lined up for this weekend’s series. They’ll be able to reset their rotation coming out of the All-Star Break. They won’t need to tab a new fifth starter until July 22. Caden Dana and Victor Mederos are on the 40-man roster and working out of the rotation at Salt Lake. Neither is having a great season. Mederos has a better ERA with superior control, while Dana has shown slightly better swing-and-miss ability. Chase Silseth is also on the 40-man but has been on the minor league injured list since May and recently started a rehab assignment at the complex. Sam Aldegheri was just optioned back to Double-A this week.

Sam Blum of The Athletic suggests the Angels might stretch Carson Fulmer out as a starter. He worked 5 1/3 innings of long relief behind Kochanowicz last night. Fulmer had a 3.98 earned run average in 54 1/3 Triple-A frames — mostly as a reliever — before being called up this week. He owns a 5.38 ERA across 115 career big league outings. Reid Detmers has worked out of the bullpen all season, mostly one inning at a time. The Halos haven’t ruled out moving him back to the rotation at some point, but he’s their best setup option in a thin relief group. He’d also need to build back to a traditional starting workload over multiple appearances.

As explored in this afternoon’s Trade Deadline Outlook, the Angels could pursue a starter. Despite a thin roster, they’re within four games of a Wild Card spot in a cluttered American League. They’ve resisted selling at prior deadlines, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if they’re at least soft buyers while they’re within range of the playoff picture.

Reid Detmers To Open Season In Angels’ Bullpen

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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.

Perry Minasian Discusses Angels’ Future

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Angels general manager Perry Minasian held an end-of-season press conference this week, with details provided by Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register and Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. Though the club is wrapping up another disappointing season, Minasian expressed confidence in what he believes to be a budding core and indicated the entire coaching staff will be returning next year.

The Halos finished 2024 with a record of 63-99. Despite plenty of challenging seasons in the club’s history, that was actually their worst performance ever by a notable margin. Prior to this year, the club’s worst record was a mark of 65-95 in 1980. This year’s struggles continued a dreary run for the club, as they haven’t made the postseason since 2014, the longest active drought in the league.

“As far as the season goes, very frustrating from a small-picture standpoint,” Minasian said. “Big picture, there are a lot of things to be excited about. I believe this is the type of year that we’ll look back at a year from now, two years from now, and say that was huge.” Per Bollinger, Minasian highlighted that the Diamondbacks only won 52 games in 2021 but were in the World Series two years later, while the Royals only had 56 wins in 2023 but are in the postseason this year.

Whether the Angels can mount a similar climb into contention remains to be seen. Minasian seems to be encouraged by the development of young players such as shortstop Zach Neto, catcher Logan O’Hoppe and first baseman Nolan Schanuel, as well as pitchers José Soriano, Jack Kochanowicz and Ben Joyce.

Those players all showed encouraging signs this year, to varying degrees. Neto hit 23 home runs and stole 30 bases. His defensive metrics were mixed, as he had 11 Defensive Runs Saved but -5 Outs Above Average, but he was still graded by FanGraphs as being worth 3.5 wins above replacement on the year. O’Hoppe provided offense around league average, with a 101 wRC+ on the year, though catchers are usually about 10 to 12% below par. His work behind the plate was also considered to be solid, leading to a 2.1 fWAR tally. Schanuel’s contributions were more modest. He drew walks at a strong 11.2% clip but only hit 13 homers and also had mixed reviews for his glovework, leading to 0.7 fWAR on the year.

On the pitching side of things, Kochanowicz made 11 starts with a 3.99 earned run average. His 9.4% strikeout rate was well below average but he limited walks to a tiny rate of 3.8% and forced opponents to put 57% of balls in play on the ground. Soriano tossed 113 innings, which was an achievement in and of itself after he missed so much time due to injuries. But the results were also good, as he had a 3.42 ERA, 20.7% strikeout rate, 9.6% walk rate and 59.7% ground ball rate. Ben Joyce used his triple-digit velocity to throw 34 2/3 innings with a 2.08 ERA, 23.2% strikeout rate, 9.9% walk rate and 58.9% ground ball rate.

In addition to their solid results, those players are all cheap and controllable. None of those six have reached three years of service time, meaning none of them are guaranteed to qualify for arbitration this winter. Soriano could perhaps qualify as a Super Two player, depending on where the cutoff will be. He is going into the winter at two years and 121 days, which is close to where the line has been in previous offseasons. Regardless of which side of the border Soriano is on, each of these players can be affordably controlled through at least 2028.

But even with contributions from those six, the club was still a disappointment in 2024, so improvements will be needed elsewhere. Perhaps that will come from other young players like Caden Dana, Sam Aldegheri, Niko Kavadas, Christian Moore, Nelson Rada and others, but the club will also need to make some external additions, something that Minasian is aware of. “We definitely need more players,” he said. “There’s no secret there.”

It’s unclear at this point what kind of resources Minasian will have at his disposal for the winter, as he said he hasn’t yet discussed the 2025 payroll with owner Arte Moreno. The club did cut back on spending in 2024, winding up in the range of $176MM per the calculations of RosterResource. That was close to $40MM below the roughly $215MM they spent in 2023.

RR currently pegs the club at $109MM for 2025 but that’s not a complete picture of their situation. The club has 12 arbitration-eligible players, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting that group for a total of $37.6MM. Not every player in that group will be tendered a contract, but the Angels could be internally committed to the $140MM range already.

That would leave them some wiggle room if they were willing to carry forward a similar payroll to 2024, but it remains to be seen as to whether that will be the case after a 99-loss season. The club presumably took some revenue hits in terms of ticket sales, TV ratings and advertising in their first season of the post-Shohei Ohtani era.

Regardless of how the club handles its offseason, Minasian did reveal a bit about how he’s thinking about the club going forward. Notably, he wouldn’t commit to Anthony Rendon being the club’s starting third baseman nor even being on the roster.

“When Anthony has played, he hasn’t been productive,” Minasian said. “So he’s gonna have to come in and earn it. There’s no handouts. We’re starting to create some depth, where we have some versatile players that can do some different things, so the best players are gonna play, no doubt about it.” When asked if Rendon would continue to have a roster spot if things don’t turn around, he responded with: “That’s a great question. We’re going to look at everything. We’re going to look at what makes the best sense for this organization.”

Rendon’s struggles with the Angels are well documented at this point. He signed a seven-year, $245MM deal with the club going into 2020 but they haven’t seen much return on that investment. He was good in the first year of the deal, though that was the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign. Over the four seasons since then, he has frequently missed time due to injury and only played 205 games. As Minasian said, he hasn’t done well even when on the field, having hit .231/.329/.336 for a wRC+ of 89 over those four campaigns. That includes a dismal line of .218/.307/.267 in 2024, when he only got into 57 contests.

Rendon is now 34 years old, turning 35 next June, and has two years left on his deal. He’ll make $38MM in each of those two years, leaving $76MM to be paid out. It’s not uncommon for a club to give up on a player with an underwater contract. The Angels themselves did it not too long ago by releasing Albert Pujols. However, while some fans may yearn for the same to happen with Rendon soon, it would be unprecedented for a club to eat this much money.

The largest guarantee still owed to a player at the time of his release was when the Red Sox cut Pablo Sandoval loose in July of 2017. At that point, he was still owed $18MM in each of the next two years, plus a $5MM buyout on his 2020 option. He was also still owed a little more than a third of his 2017 salary of $17MM. Matt Gelb of The Athletic recently pegged the total at $48.3MM of what Sandoval was still owed when he was released, which is barely half of what Rendon is still owed.

Whether the Angels want to break that record remains to be seen. They could perhaps have Luis Rengifo take over at third base, though he’s also an option to be the regular at second base or perhaps serve in a utility role. Moore is a second baseman has already reached Double-A and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the club quickly promote him, since they did the same with guys like Neto, Schanuel and Dana. Matthew Lugo, acquired in the Luis García trade, had a strong year in the minors. He has reached Triple-A and can play all over the infield, though he has some time in the outfield as well.

Perhaps there will come a time when the club decides it would rather dedicate playing time to those guys rather than continuing to run Rendon out onto the field. The designated hitter spot might be used by Mike Trout with some regularity as the club tries to stave off his own injury troubles. Offseason acquisitions could further crowd the roster. Rendon could put together a nice stretch of health and flip the narrative but it seems his contract is going to guarantee him any opportunities.

Angels Designate Adam Cimber For Assignment

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The Angels announced that left-hander Jose Quijada has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. Right-hander Jack Kochanowicz was optioned to Double-A Rocket City to make room for him on the active roster. Right-hander Adam Cimber, who was on the 15-day injured list, has been designated for assignment to open up a 40-man roster spot.

Quijada, now 28, underwent Tommy John surgery in May of last year and is now back. He has generally been a high-strikeout but also high-walk guy in his major league career so far. In 108 2/3 innings, he has a 4.89 earned run average, 30.6% strikeout rate but 13.8% walk rate.

That career was put on hold by his surgery, though his results have been fairly similar since he started a rehab assignment about a month ago. In 7 2/3 innings in the minors, he has struck out 41.9% of batters faced but also walked 12.9% of them. He’s out of options so the Angels have installed him back into their bullpen. He’s making a salary of $840K this year and can be retained via arbitration for two more seasons.

Cimber, 33, was signed to a one-year deal in the offseason with a $1.65MM guarantee. He has had some good years but struggled in 2023 and was non-tendered by the Blue Jays. The Halos were undoubtedly hoping for a rebound but didn’t get it. The submariner currently has a 7.03 ERA in 24 1/3 innings this year. He landed on the 15-day IL just over a month ago due to right shoulder inflammation.

It’s possible the shoulder has been an issue for some time. He posted a 7.40 ERA with the Jays last year and then missed the second half of the season due to a right shoulder impingement, but had been quite effective prior to that.

From 2018 through 2022, Cimber posted a 3.20 ERA in 301 appearances between San Diego, Cleveland, Miami and Toronto. He only struck out 18.4% of batters faced in that time but walked just 5.8% of them and got 52% of balls in play pounded into the ground. But he’s now had ERAs above 7.00 in two straight years while going to the IL for shoulder issues in both of them.

Injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers, but that’s a fairly moot point. Cimber has more than five years of service time, meaning he has the right to reject an outright assignment while keeping what’s left of his salary. The DFA limbo period can technically last as long as a week but given Cimber’s injury and recent performance, he seems bound to be released in the coming days as the only other alternative would be a trade.

Assuming he is indeed released, the Halos will remain on the hook for the majority of what’s left of his salary while another club could sign him and only pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the active roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Angels pay. Whether he can find another deal will likely depend on the state of his shoulder in the weeks to come.

Angels To Promote Jack Kochanowicz

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The Angels are calling up right-hander Jack Kochanowicz to start Thursday’s game, per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register on X. The righty is already on the 40-man roster but will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game. The Halos announced that righty Davis Daniel has been optioned to Triple-A with lefty Kenny Rosenberg recalled to take Daniel’s spot tonight. A move will be required to get Kochanowicz onto the roster tomorrow, which might just be Rosenberg getting optioned back down, depending on what happens in tonight’s contest.

Kochanowicz, 23, was a third-round pick of the Halos in the 2019 draft. He didn’t pitch in the affiliated ranks in the months following that selection and then the minors were wiped out by the pandemic in 2020, delaying his professional debut.

He has since been working his way through the system with a grounder-heavy approach. He has thrown 326 innings in the minors to this point in his career with a 5.44 earned run average. His 19.1% strikeout rate in that time is subpar but he’s limited walks to a 7% clip and has had strong ground ball rates at every stop so far. Major league average is at 42.4% this year but Kochanowicz has been between 48 and 63% at every stop of his career so far. His .317 batting average on balls in play and 61.4% strand rate are both a bit on the unlucky side, so perhaps he’ll be able to have some better results with stronger defenders behind him.

Kochanowicz was added to the Angels’ 40-man roster in November to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. Baseball America and FanGraphs both currently list him as the club’s 13th-best prospect, highlighting his high-90s velocity. MLB Pipeline is a bit more bullish and has him up in the #7 slot while Keith Law of The Athletic had him in the #12 spot coming into the year.

The Angels recently lost Patrick Sandoval to season-ending surgery while guys like Reid Detmers, Chase Silseth and Zach Plesac have struggled and been optioned to Triple-A, with Daniel now in that pile as well. The rotation currently consists of Tyler Anderson, Griffin Canning, José Soriano and Roansy Contreras. Kochanowicz will take the ball tomorrow, though it’s unclear if it’s just a spot start or if he’ll get a lengthy rotation audition. He still hasn’t pitched at Triple-A but the Halos will skip him over that level for now. With the All-Star break next week, they could survive with a four-man rotation for a time and call someone else up to take the fifth spot once needed.

It’s possible that the Angels will make some trades at this year’s deadline that thin out that group. The club is 37-54 and clearly in seller mode going into the deadline. Their farm system is poorly regarded, which will perhaps make it tough to contend in the seasons to come. That should leave the front office open to considering trades of players even if they have some club control beyond the current campaign. Anderson has one year left on his deal, for instance, while Canning has one year of arbitration remaining.

Some recent reporting has suggested that the club prefers to hold onto Anderson, Canning and other players with similar windows of control, though it’s possible that’s posturing for negotiation purposes. The trade deadline is July 30.

Angels Select Jack Kochanowicz

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The Angels announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Jack Kochanowicz. Tomorrow is the deadline to select eligible players in order to prevent them from being selected in the Rule 5 draft. Their 40-man roster count is now at 39.

Kochanowicz, the club’s ninth-best prospect per MLB Pipeline, was a third-round pick by the Angels in the 2019 draft. He didn’t make his professional debut until 2021 due to the cancelled minor league season in 2020, and struggled badly in his first pro season with a 6.91 ERA in 83 1/3 innings at the Single-A level. Kochanowicz struck out just 19% of batters faced while walking 9.1% during the 2021 campaign. His performance improved during a repeat of the level in 2022, as his ERA and walk rate dipped to 4.99 and 7.3% while his strikeout rate crept up to 21.2%.

Assigned to the High-A level to open the 2023 campaign, Kochanowicz looked nothing short of dominant for five starts with a 1.52 ERA and 14 strikeouts against just 3 walks in 23 2/3 innings of work. That strong performance earned him a call-up to Double-A, but he struggled badly once again after his promotion with a 6.53 ERA across 70 1/3 innings of work. While his walk rate continued to improve with a 6.1% figure this season, Kochanowicz’s strikeout rate dipped to just 17% in 2023 while he allowed home runs in ten of his sixteen Double-A appearances, including eight of his eleven appearances that lasted longer than two innings.

All those factors make it seem possible that Kochanowicz is ticketed for relief work long term, despite exclusively being used as a starter in 2023. He’s had success in a relief role in the past, with a sterling 1.53 ERA and a 26.1% strikeout rate in 17 2/3 innings of work out of the bullpen during the 2022 campaign. Given that past success in relief and his excellent fastball, which touches the upper 90s and has helped him generate solid ground ball rates throughout his career, it’s understandable that the Angels felt the need to protect Kochanowicz from the upcoming Rule 5 draft; even if the club plans to continue trying to develop the young righty as a starter, it’s certainly feasible a rebuilding club could try and stash his high-velo arm in a major league bullpen for 2024 in hopes of unlocking his potential.

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