Brewers @ Angels: Don't Sleep On The Angels' Young Players

When Shohei Ohtani decided to go with the other Los Angeles team, it seemed pretty likely that the deflated Angels wouldn’t be particularly competitive in 2024. Still, I doubt many people predicted they’d be sitting just two games ahead of the Athletics toward the end of June. The Brewers begin their West Coast road trip against the Halos and will be looking to pad their division lead by doing what they do best: beating bad teams. Can they do it, or do the Angels defend their turf? Let’s break it down.

Monday June 17th

Carlos F Rodriguez (0-1, 4.91 ERA) vs. Jose Soriano (4-5 3.48 ERA) 
It was a mixed result for number 00 in his big league debut against the Blue Jays last week. He pitched through 3.2 innings, striking out four and giving up three runs, two of which were earned. Despite the short start, there’s much to be intrigued by in young Rodriguez. He threw six different pitches over the start, leaning on a four-seamer but mixing in sliders, sinkers, change-ups, cutters, and curveballs. The malleability in his repertoire leaves a lot of room for development. A start against the floundering Angels might give him a platform for some confidence and a better prognostic perspective on how his stuff works against major-league hitting.

For as much as there has been reason to feel down on the Angels franchise in the last several seasons, there have been a few bright spots, albeit underrated ones. One such example is Jose Soriano, who is showing potential signs of an imminent breakthrough in his second season in the bigs. Increasingly, Soriano is going deep into games, most recently completing eight full innings. In his last five games, he’s pitched a minimum of six. Aside from just eating innings, he’s also executing well, with an elite 60% ground ball rating. Where he’s struggling is with his control, with a 3.5 BB/9. The Brewers will have exploitable angles to take Soriano on, but as he tightens his control, he will be a more formidable presence on the mound.

Tuesday, June 18th

Tobias Myers (3-2, 3.76 ERA) vs. Griffin Canning (2-7, 4.76 ERA)
At 25 years old, Tobias Myers is one of the many high-ceiling youngsters who has made their way to the bigs by way of attrition in the rotation. Myers re-emerged from Triple-A after Robert Gasser’s elbow injury forced him onto the IL. Since returning, Myers has been nothing short of masterful. In two starts, he’s given up one earned run over 14 innings, good for a 0.64 ERA. An unsustainable level of excellence, but he might as well take advantage of a struggling team to pad those numbers - NL Pitcher Of The Month: Tobias Myers doesn’t sound so bad.

After finding himself on an optimistic upswing, the Angels righty took the loss against the D-Backs this past Thursday, giving up four runs over six innings while striking out three. By no means was it a terrible performance, but it was the sort of middling play that has contributed to that glaring win-loss record after his name. By every metric, Canning seems to be having his worst season. The xERA sits a few ticks above his numbers at 4.97, and his K% sits near the bottom of the league at 15.3%. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but the Angels have a LOT of exploitable parts that could give the oft-voracious Brewers offense something to chew on.

Wednesday, June 19th

Freddy Peralta (4-4, 4.38 ERA) vs. Tyler Anderson (6–6, 2.58 ERA)
It’s a concerning stretch for Freddy Peralta as of late, whose June numbers are not what anyone would want in a should-be ace of the staff. Mustering only 13.2 innings in his three starts, Peralta’s June ERA is an ugly 7.90. Peralta has been 1-4 since the start of May, and for a pitcher who’s dealt with fatigue issues before, it will be worth scrutinizing how deep he goes into this start. I hope for the best, but am preparing for Aaron Ashby to return to the majors. 

Another bright spot for the Angels is Tyler Anderson, who’s having an absolutely phenomenal second year of the three-year pact he signed with the Halos before the start of the 2023 season. He’s been responsible for one earned run per start in four of his last five starts. His very respectable 3.00 ERA in May sits above what he’s done all season. It’s worth noting the discrepancy with his xERA, which sits quite a bit higher at 4.62, but results are results, and ultimately, it seems like Anderson is making it work.  

Players To Watch
Logan O’Hoppe: Anytime a team has as much success as the Phillies have had the last couple of years, it’s more or less incumbent on the team to not begrudge the sacrifices they’ve made to cobble together their successful troupe. Still, one has to wonder if maybe Phils didn’t expect the prospect capital they had in Logan O’Hoppe to bloom into something quite as impressive as he’s become. Nevertheless, bloom he has, and the young catcher presently leads the Angels in WAR. As a team with a prodigy behind the plate, Brewers fans should take pause and admire a potential up-and-comer in O'Hoppe. 

Tyler Anderson: It will be interesting to see which Tyler Anderson shows up for the Halos. Will it be last year’s 5.43 ERA or this year’s ace-adjacent lefty? It was his last year with the Dodgers, where he pitched to a 2.57 ERA that secured him the three-year contract that saw him move 25 miles south to Anaheim. teams, so it would seem that the see-saw nature of Anderson’s career would be playing out to display some conveniently timed excellence. What makes the watch more enticing, though, should be that Anderson’s cheap contract probably feels awfully marketable for thrifty teams who are competing this year and need pitching desperately. Does that sound like any team you might know? Still, the potential regression should cast some tentativeness for any Brewers fans thirsty for a bolstered rotation. 

Joey Ortiz: Bryse Wilson caught some shade on social media for hinting that the Orioles might regret exchanging Joey Ortiz as part of the package that netted them, Corbin Burnes. With Burnes potentially on his way to his second Cy Young, that might feel laughable, but the 137 OPS+ and half a decade of team control that Ortiz has to his name say the jury is out. It’s worth mentioning that Ortiz was largely considered the secondary piece in the trade, with DL Hall being the first. It’s safe to say that Ortiz has been the primary producer of the two, and it will be exciting to see what he does to solidify himself as an everyday player.

Christian Yelich: As exciting as the Crew and its many moving parts have been this year, it’s almost easy to overlook that Christian Yelich is back to MVP vote-getter caliber. The wRC+ of 160 to this point is the best he’s had since 2019, when he was the runner-up in MVP voting before a knee injury hampered his season. Since that fateful at-bat, it has looked as if the days of a truly elite Christian Yelich may be behind us. Hints to disprove that inauspicious outcome have been swirling around his performance in the last couple of seasons, and it would seem possible that the real Christian Yelich is back.

Predictions: Every winter, the Angels make some moves that pique my interest and give me the slightest amount of hope in them. Then, almost immediately, it’s evident that the chemistry doesn’t mesh, and the Angels quickly plunge headlong into irrelevance. It’s extremely tempting to say that the Brewers get the sweep here, but I’ll give the Angels the benefit of the doubt since Milwaukee are visitors. The Crew still takes two.