The Los Angeles Angels turned back to Chase Silseth in their rotation due to an injury to Griffin Canning, who remains on the injured list with calf tightness. Including Sunday’s loss to the Seattle Mariners, Silseth has made three starts since July 19.
In that time, the 2021 11th-round draft pick has excelled. He has 17.2 innings pitched over three starts — a near six-inning average — and has allowed just four earned runs. That’s good enough for a 2.04 ERA to go along with a 0.79 WHIP. He has struck out 26 batters compared with only three walks in that span.
It’s a stark difference from the pitcher that was giving up 6.3 walks per nine innings with a 5.30 ERA in his first nine appearances out of the bullpen this season.
Silseth spoke about the reason for the recent success and how he can replicate it moving forward, according to J.P. Hoornstra of The O.C. Register:
“Just getting ahead of hitters, attacking them, not getting behind, able to land the slider and get back into counts instead of relying on the fastball 2-0, 2-1, when I’m behind in the count to get back in it,” he said. “I’d say just pounding the zone more with everything has really been a big help.”
In addition to throwing strikes earlier in the count, Silseth has also made a relatively dramatic change in his pitch mix since returning to the rotation, according to Baseball Savant.
In the two appearances prior to being optioned to Triple-A on June 2, Silseth threw his cutter 33% of the time, his four-seam fastball 25.3%, slider 17.3%, sinker 20% and splitter just four percent.
In his three starts since returning to the rotation, his slider has become the primary pitch at 39.4% of his pitches. His four-seam and sinker are still equally prominent, but he has effectively removed the cutter from his arsenal while drastically increasing slider and splitter usage.
This change could be leading to more first-pitch strikes as Silseth says, or it could be unrelated and just a matter of which pitches he currently feels he has the best command of.
Either way, it appears Silseth may have found something as he looks to cement himself in the Angels rotation down the stretch.
Phil Nevin admits missed opportunities in Mariners series
Angels manager Phil Nevin, while arguing some missed strike calls from the home plate umpire in Sunday’s loss, said that the Angels have only themselves to blame for the missed opportunities throughout their four-game sweep at the hands of the Mariners.