Here's a fun fact that many of you probably haven't even realized: the Los Angeles Angels have only used six starting pitchers this year, not counting openers. Their entire Opening Day rotation has 22 starts or more, and Victor Mederos is swinging into Jack Kochanowicz's spot this month. It's very funny, considering that 2024 ended with the promise of Caden Dana and Sam Aldegheri factoring into this team that the rotation's been six guys and none of them are especially prospect-y. I guess Kochanowicz counts, but after this season it feels like he's been pitching for 5 years.
So it's wild that Jose Soriano, Yusei Kikuchi, Tyler Anderson and Kyle Hendricks have all started more than 25 games and are all in pretty nice shape. Hendricks is a little closer to plain 'good' than the rest, but after his tumultuous 2024, where he flirted with greatness but also had torrid months around it, we'll take it. Despite a 5.04 ERA, Hendricks still has 87 Ks and 6 wins, plus a 1.2 WAR. He's had worse seasons. Same with Tyler Anderson, who's 2-8 yet still has 103 strikeouts. If it were a 6 ERA like Sandy Alcantara in the first half I'd be worried, but he's still a solid pitcher who's at the mercy of a bad team.
Soriano and Kikuchi have given some pretty strong campaigns, though, for anybody. Kikuchi got an ASG nod earlier this year, and while he's leveled out a bit since July, he still has a 3.68 ERA and 156 Ks. I did not expect Kikuchi to have much longevity over here after his blah rookie year in 2019, but he's been really strong for a number of great teams. Jose Soriano has continued his quiet come-up as a reliable, consistent starter in LA, and has a 9-9 record with a 3.85 ERA and 136 Ks. Soriano's had a lot of dominant starts this year, and it does point towards an even stronger peak coming very soon.
Now...having a great rotation is one thing, but the Angels just haven't given it much of a team though. Hence all those lopsided records. The Angels are looking like they'll have two 30+ homer guys this year in Taylor Ward and Jo Adell, and yet in a season where Mike Trout was healthy for the majority of the year, he's probably topping out at 25 without a late surge. You'd waited for Trout to be back and healthy and gives you the first human numbers of his career. How upsetting is that?
After this season, the Angels will be losing Anderson, Hendricks, Kenley Jansen and Luis Rengifo, and I wouldn't be too shocked if they tried trading Taylor Ward as well. Zach Neto, Nolan Schanuel, Jose Soriano and Christian Moore will hopefully get to lead this team back from the depths. And if nothing happens next year, it will, at the very least, be the last year of that wretched Anthony Rendon contract, so the dark cloud will lift relatively soon.
Coming Tomorrow- Speaking of dark cloud, a guy who completely flipped the script on two teams upon a trade, and not in the way he was intending.
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