The Los Angeles Angels defeated the Oakland Athletics 5-1 on Friday, with Chase Silseth turning in a solid performance to round out his regular season.
Silseth joined the Angels roster as a 22-year-old rookie when receiving the call-up to the big league roster in April. The power right-hander had the makings of a strong piece to the pitching staff, and after a brief stint as a reliever, he joined the starting rotation.
That change in late July signaled a change in Silseth, because in his seven starts since then, he’s carried a 3.21 ERA, 4.47 FIP with 41 strikeouts in 33.2 innings pitched. Although he’s struggled with the walk numbers, his start against the Athletics was enough to bottle up as a positive, per Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com:
“It was good to be back out there and compete again,” Silseth said. “It feels awesome. The injury was unfortunate, but I tried to make the best of it. I wanted to fight and get out there one more time and I was able to do that, so I’m happy about that.”
Silseth is still incredibly early on in his Major League career, and how he’s handled his rookie season didn’t go unnoticed by Angels manager Phil Nevin:
“He’s got a chance to be a very good pitcher in this league — he already is,” Nevin said. “We know what he has. But you hear from other coaches and managers, like ‘Wow,’ and players talk and you overhear that. He has the stuff and makeup to be very, very good.”
On the season, Silseth posted a 3.96 ERA, 4.95 FIP, with 56 strikeouts in 52.1 innings pitched. Because of his strong rookie resume, he figures to slot into the Angels rotation for the foreseeable future.
Griffin Canning thankful for this year with Angels
Griffin Canning hadn’t pitched in MLB since 2021 due to a stress fracture in his back, and with the bar of expectations relatively low, he delivered much higher than that. In 127 innings, he made 24 appearances (22 starts), posting a 4.32 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, with a .245 batting average allowed.
Because of his extended absence, he highlighted a lot of what the year meant to him, and how difficult it was to return.
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