Starting pitcher Tucker Davidson was one of the premier acquisitions by the Los Angeles Angels at this week’s trade deadline. He was sent to the Angels from the Atlanta Braves — along with reliever Jesse Chavez — in exchange for closer Raisel Iglesias.
Davidson is the Angels’ 11th-ranked prospect, but was sent to the active roster immediately upon completion of the Iglesias trade. With the Braves, Davidson pitched in 37.0 Major League innings between 2020 and 2022, translating to eight starts and nine total appearances.
Given that the Angels are no longer vying for a playoff spot, and traded one of their starters in Noah Syndergaard, they have plenty of innings to give to Davidson. According to MLB.com, Davidson will be making his Angels debut as the starter on Sunday against the Seattle Mariners.
Davidson, who has a career 5.11 ERA in 37 innings in the Majors, will join the rotation and make his first start with the Angels on Sunday against the Mariners in Seattle.
The Angels are hopeful that a consistent role and more chances at the Major League level will translate to better results for Davidson, who has a 5.11 ERA and a 1.568 WHIP in his 37 innings.
Davidson’s biggest area of improvement as he joins the Angels is strikeouts. This season, in 15.1 innings, Davidson has more walks than strikeouts, and has a K-per-nine of just 5.9. In 2021, his best MLB season, that figure was just 8.1.
Pitching to contact is a valuable skill as a starting pitcher that generally allows for longer starts. However, that must be coupled with the ability to strike batters out. If he is a steady part of the rotation for the rest of the season, he’ll have a legitimate opportunity to work on that.
Baseball Savant also believes that some of Davidson’s issues this season have come down to bad luck. Despite having a 6.46 ERA in 2022, his expected ERA is just 4.84. Perhaps these numbers will come around to the expected result with more than four starts.
Ohtani in lineup after suffering arm cramp Wednesday
The Angels believed they had no reason to be alarmed after Shohei Ohtani was removed from Wednesday night’s game against the Oakland Athletics due to an arm cramp. They were correct, as Ohtani is in the lineup for Thursday’s series finale in Anaheim.