It’s been over a month since the Los Angeles Angels made the difficult, but necessary, decision to option Reid Detmers to Triple-A Salt Lake after a string of rough outings. Detmers needed time in Triple-A to get his mechanics back under control before returning to the Angels, but remained a core part of the team’s plans.
His time with Triple-A so far has been a mixed bag. The good news is that he’s averaging six innings per start — 30 innings over five starts — and has 41 strikeouts compared to only nine walks. That’s a K-per-nine of 12.3 and a K-to-BB ratio of 4.56. The bad news, though, is that he has a 5.70 ERA and 1.367 WHIP as he has given up eight home runs and 32 hits.
Still, Angels pitching coach Barry Enright believes the time in Triple-A has been good for Detmers, even saying that the young pitcher is feeling better as well, according to Jeff Fletcher of The O.C. Register:
“I think he’s in a much better spot right now,” Enright said. “Chatting with him, he’s in a much better head space, and closer to where he needs to be mentally. It’s shown with some slider results and strikeouts as well.”
“I think he would tell you he needs to limit the big innings,” Enright said. “With the stuff he has, we’re holding him to a little bit higher standard.”
The Angels have not put a specific timeline on Detmers’ return, but it would appear that he is getting closer to that time. When asked to compare Detmers’ progress with Chase Silseth, Enright said that Detmers is definitely further along.
Silseth has been activated off of the injured list by the Angels but is taking some extra time in Triple-A to get fully healthy.
Angels rotation without Reid Detmers
In the meantime, the Angels fortunately got Jose Soriano back from the injured list on Tuesday. And while it wasn’t a great start — four earned runs in four innings — he is still a strong part of the team’s rotation. They also have Griffin Canning and Tyler Anderson who have remained healthy throughout the season. Davis Daniel and Roansy Contreras round out the five-man group.
Daniel and Contreras are certainly temporary fixes, but Daniel specifically impressed with his first start.