Johnny Cueto — known for his time with the Cincinnati Reds, Kansas City Royals and San Francisco Giants as a workhorse starter — has been in and out of the league for several seasons now. At 38 years old, expecting a comeback effort of any kind would have been naive. But manager Ron Washington and the Los Angeles Angels gave him that chance by starting him against the Royals on Wednesday of last week.
He gave up three runs in 6.1 innings of work with one strikeout and eight hits allowed. But it served as a massive milestone for Cueto, who had not pitched since a short stint with the Miami Marlins in 2023. The Angels don’t need Cueto to help win games at this stage — as they are 23 games below .500 after play on Sunday — but that’s not what his return is about.
For Washington, Cueto is here to provide a helping hand with some of the team’s younger pitchers. And in less than a week, Washington is already impressed with what Cueto has brought in that regard, according to Jeff Fletcher of The O.C. Register:
“He can have a big impact, showing them how to pitch,” manager Ron Washington said. “He pitches. Sometimes our young kids go out there and throw. Sometimes our young kids go out there and forget the situation they’re in. When I talk about situation, I’m talking about we get two outs, we couldn’t seem to be able to put that inning away. Those are the type of things that I think Johnny can bring to those kids on how to handle that, how to pitch, because he is a pitcher. I certainly hope that they’re gravitating to him. And I know the kind of guy that he is, he would open up and give him that.”
Cueto, meanwhile, could have gotten discouraged by his time in the minor leagues and the sense that his career was coming to an end. Instead, he fought the doubt and came out stronger on the other side.
“It was tough to be there,” Cueto said through an interpreter. “But I had to put my head down and work hard. I was like a racehorse, just running. Just look toward the front. I never had a doubt that I could come back because I still have something in my tank.”
Cueto is likely to stick around with the Angels for the rest of the season, unless they make some major moves to bring up minor league pitchers. Even then, if Washington wants Cueto as a veteran leader, that would certainly be the case with even more younger pitchers entering the mix.
Angels have Caden Dana on the radar
One pitcher Cueto could eventually mentor this season is Angels’ No. 1 prospect Caden Dana. There have not been many conversations about bringing him up to the Majors from Double-A Rocket City, but Washington has said that he is on the radar.