Sam Bachman was the Los Angeles Angels’ first-round selection in the 2021 MLB Draft. Bachman was the top target in a strategy dedicated to college-level pitchers. His scorching velocity and high-graded slider made him a prime candidate to make quick strides to the Major League level.
The Angels started him out at the High-A Rocket City level, where he has already put together two starts. It’s not extremely common for a player to make his debut so quickly after being drafted, as many teams have already shut down their drafted pitchers until 2022. However, some have theorized that Bachman is such an MLB-ready prospect, he could be fast-tracked to the show as a reliever as early as this year.
Bachman is unsure if that’s the case or not, but he knows he still needs to build his mental toughness before he can be completely ready for MLB work, according to Sam Blum of The Athletic:
“Yeah, it’s one of the things I’ve really worked on. I know the difference between a minor-league pitcher to a major-league pitcher is the mental-toughness aspect. Reid (Detmers) is definitely battling through some things at the big-league level, and it takes guys that are resilient. I don’t know him personally, but it seems like he works his butt off. And I think it’s good to have those hardships.
“I definitely want to be able to keep getting experience. I’m going to have bad days, and I want to be able to bounce back from those. With the mental-toughness aspect, I think I’m ready to experience some of that stuff. But major-league hitters are really good. I definitely need to keep going and keep hitting my spots.”
Bachman is still being stretched out as a starter, meaning he’s pitched just two innings in each of his first two starts. In that four-inning stretch, he’s allowed two runs on four hits with no walks and five strikeouts.
He later stated he would love to get in touch with Reid Detmers, who also made the quick transition through the Angels ranks after being their 2020 first round pick. There’s no doubt that Bachman could learn plenty from what Detmers is going through at the MLB level in his first two starts.
Chris Rodriguez on Triple-A IL
It may be a little while before the Angels see Chris Rodriguez again, as he suffered a right lat strain that could keep him on the IL. Joe Maddon was unclear on that severity of his injury, but his tone made it appear unlikely that he is only out for the minimum of seven days required by the Minors.
