When the Los Angeles Angels drafted Reid Detmers with their first-round selection in the 2020 MLB Draft, pundits praised the pick due to Detmers’ maturity as a pitcher. He was seen as one of the most MLB-ready players in that draft class, and he quickly proved that with his Minor League dominance.
In Detmers’ half-season in the Minors, he made 13 total starts, 12 at Double-A and one at Triple-A. At the Double-A level, he held a 3.50 ERA over 54.0 innings pitched. That and a 1.167 WHIP are impressive, but where he dazzled was his strikeout totals, K’ing 97 batters while walking only 18. Then, he got the call up to Triple-A, where he made his lone start just last week.
There, he struck out nine batters over six innings in a three-hit shutout. Clearly, the Angels felt they had seen enough, as they traded the expiring contract of Andrew Heaney at the trade deadline and immediately made the move to get Detmers, who will make his MLB debut as Sunday’s starter against the Oakland Athletics.
General manager Perry Minasian discussed what has impressed him most about Detmers and why they felt he was ready to make the leap to The Show, according to Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com:
“Obviously, the box scores have been really good but the work ethic between every start and the preparation between every start and what he puts into it, the reports are even better,” Angels general manager Perry Minasian said. “The two factors when calling up a player are based on a talent and performance standpoint and the second factor is the mental aspect. Can the player handle it? And we think Reid is ready to go.”
As previously stated, Detmers was seen as a near pro-ready starter when he was drafted. However, even by those standards, he made the leap to the Majors remarkably fast. When he takes the mound on Sunday against the team the Angels are desperately trying to chase for a postseason bid, he will have 60 total pro innings under his belt.
Trading Heaney — especially considering the return they got — was absolutely the right move. If Detmers is as advertised at the big league level, it will make the move all the more worthwhile.
Shohei Ohtani’s next start pushed to Monday
Ohtani was actually supposed to make Sunday’s start, but it had to pushed back due to a freak injury. An errant foul ball somehow found Ohtani’s thumb in the dugout, leading to some soreness but no structural damage. It won’t affect his ability to hit, but the team felt it was best to move his start back just one day.