Willie Calhoun is in his eighth MLB season. He has been a professional player since he was drafted in 2015. And on Friday night in the Los Angeles Angels win over the Seattle Mariners, he belted a walk-off home run for the first time in his career.
Not only was it his first walk-off, it came in just his third multi-homer game of his career. He hit two-run homers in the first and 10th inning of Friday night’s victory, accounting for four of the Angels’ six runs on the night. It was a huge bounce-back for the Angels after a crushing 11-0 loss on Thursday.
Calhoun faced Austin Voth with the automatic runner on second base to begin the 10th inning. He took a ball before taking a center-cut sweeper 409 feet to right field, a no-doubter at Angel Stadium, to secure the victory. It was an incredible end to a career night from the veteran, via Dan Arritt of The O.C. Register:
“It’s pretty surreal,” Calhoun said. “I’ve been around for some time now and never hit a walk-off, even in the minor leagues, so rounding the bases like that was. … I kind of blacked out, honestly.”
“Both the home runs today, I really did not try to muscle up or anything,” Calhoun said.
“It went out and I was surprised,” Calhoun said. “It’s a lot of fun to hit one home run in a game, so to be able to do it twice in a game is pretty special.”
The Angels moved to 39-55 with the victory and with only two games remaining before the All-Star break. It came at a good time, as well, as the Angels had only won two of their previous 11 games prior to Friday. And while L.A. may want to end up with fewer wins for a better draft pick, getting wins like these can be a huge confidence boost for a young team.
L.A. has two more opportunities to finish the first half of the season strong, as the trade deadline is nearing and the team that plays in the second half may look somewhat different.
Pirates have interest in Angels’ Taylor Ward
Up to this point, the Angels have shown somewhat of a reluctance to trade players not on expiring deals. That would be a fine decision if the Angels felt they could field a competitive roster in 2025, but at this rate, that appears unlikely. So if a good trade comes up for a player like Taylor Ward, they have to seriously consider it.
One team that reportedly has interest in dealing for Ward are the Pittsburgh Pirates.
