While in the midst of their recent 10-game road trip on the East Coast, the Los Angeles Angels lost pitching prospects Reid Detmers, José Marte and Austin Warren to the COVID-19 injured list.
Detmers and Warren were forced to quarantine for 10 days in Baltimore, while Marte self-isolated for the same amount of time in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
Each of the aforementioned players experienced little-to-no symptoms and have since rejoined their teammates. Detmers appears to be the closest to getting back on the mound as he has resumed playing catch up to 120 feet and expects to throw a bullpen session in the coming days.
When reflecting on the past couple of weeks, Detmers revealed it was difficult having to be out of action for so long but used the time off to work on his craft, via Sam Blum of The Athletic:
“There’s two ways you can look at it,” Detmers said. “There’s the first way — you can just be down and just say, ‘This is terrible. This is not good.’ Then there’s the other way, where you can learn from it. You can take 10 days, learn more about yourself and figure some things out.
“I kind of went the second route.”
Although he took some positives from the experience, Detmers landing on the COVID-19 list was disappointing from a development standpoint as he had only been four starts into his MLB career. The left-hander went 1-3 with a 7.11 ERA, 6.53 FIP and 1.68 WHIP in 19 innings pitched before his season was interrupted.
Although those numbers don’t exactly jump out, Detmers did hold the Houston Astros to just one run in six innings of work on Aug. 15.
After allowing three runs on seven hits across 3.2 innings in his most recent start against the Cleveland Indians on Aug. 21, the 22-year-old revealed that he is more concerned with the process rather than the results he gets as a rookie.
Maddon praises ‘outstanding’ debut by Oliver Ortega
Detmers is one of several pitchers to make their big league debut with the Angels this season. The latest player to join the list is Oliver Ortega, who tossed 1.1 scoreless innings against the San Diego Padres on Wednesday.
The performance impressed manager Joe Maddon, who specifically praised the right-hander’s lively fastball and dynamic curveball.
