OC Register: Angels’ Kole Calhoun working to pull out of early-season slump

[AngelsWin.com]

HOUSTON — Any hitter will tell you that slumps end one hit at a time.

Kole Calhoun is hoping that his RBI single, which snapped a career-worst 0-for-20 rut, is the beginning of getting him out of an early-season hole.

“It relieves some pressure for sure,” Calhoun said Tuesday, a day after his hit got the Angels on the board in a victory over the Houston Astros. “I made changes and adjustments. Sometimes it pays off right away and sometimes it doesn’t. You’ve just got to trust it. Once you get a little bit of success, it definitely helps.”

Calhoun was hitting .185 before Tuesday’s game, with just one homer. He had struck out 22 times and walked only three times.

“It’s been tough lately,” he said. “This game sometimes doesn’t reward you for hard work. You’ve just got to keep going.”

Manager Mike Scioscia said even before Calhoun’s big hit on Monday, he saw encouraging signs, like the line drive he hit to right field in the ninth inning of Sunday’s game. Although the ball was caught, it left Calhoun’s bat at 103 mph.

“That was a great swing he put on it,” Scioscia said. “In batting practice, you are starting to see him get more comfortable in the things he’s doing. Hopefully, he’s getting more comfortable in the box.”

IMPRESSIVE DEBUT

Scioscia said Justin Anderson’s major league debut on Monday night could be a positive sign for the 25-year-old’s future.

Anderson, a Houston native, entered in the eighth inning of a game the Angels led 2-0. He had to face Josh Reddick, George Springer, José Altuve and Carlos Correa. Although Anderson gave up hits to Springer and Altuve, he struck out Correa to finish with a scoreless inning.

Upon reflection a day later, Scioscia said he was impressed with Anderson’s poise.

“It speaks volumes to his concentration,” Scioscia said. “There are so many things that could have been a distraction to him last night. The game situation, the caliber of hitters he was facing, coming to Houston, a ballpark he grew up watching games in, and now he’s on the mound. He responded very well.

“If he can filter out distractions like he did last night, there should be nothing that distracts him moving forward. If he keeps that focus, it’s going to go a long way toward helping him in his career.”

ALSO

Mike Trout, who had been in center field for all but six of the innings the Angels had played this year, got a half-day off with a start at designated hitter on Tuesday night. …

Matt Shoemaker (forearm strain) continued his throwing program on Tuesday, but Scioscia said it’s still too early to project when he might be able to progress to a mound. …

Nick Tropeano will be pitching on Wednesday for the third time against the team that originally drafted him. Tropeano, who was traded to the Angels in the Hank Conger deal in 2014, has allowed four earned runs in 9-1/3 innings against the Astros. He last faced them in 2016, before undergoing Tommy John surgery.

UP NEXT

Angels (Nick Tropeano, 1-1, 3.75) at Astros (Justin Verlander, 3-0, 1.10), 11 a.m., Fox Sports West, KLAA (830 AM)

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[WBaxterDTM]

A few years ago, I saw Kole Calhoun play at Security Service Field in Colorado Springs when he played for the Salt Lake City Bees, TWICE, when The Bees were playing the Colorado Springs Sky Sox. That kid could flat out hit! I know he will pull out of this slump

[Lou]

I hit 7 HRs in little league 

Edited April 25, 2018 by Lou

[totdprods]

Jesus, 0-4, 3 strikeouts. .443 OPS nearly 100 plate appearances into the year.

[Angel Oracle]

Well Cold Calhoun?

We’re waiting!

[Angelsjunky]

0-4, 3 Ks.

It should be Jabari Time.

[JustATroutFan]

Damn, this was supposed to be his bounce back year since it is an even year. Taking a turn for the worse.

[Blarg]

Rod Carew still lives in So Cal and might just be the guy to reach down and pull Cahoun's head out of his ass.

[Docwaukee]

He's looked so awful I don't even know what to say.  

[OK-LA Angels]

I'm sure there is a way to check this stat. But I'm not going to so I'll make my comment based entirely on feelings.

Kole's hitting ended when teams starting playing the shift against him. 

[Angel Oracle]

10 minutes ago, OK-LA Angels said:

I'm sure there is a way to check this stat. But I'm not going to so I'll make my comment based entirely on feelings.

Kole's hitting ended when teams starting playing the shift against him. 

And he’s too F’ing stubborn to hit the F’ing ball to F’ing LF!!!!

At least bunt it towards 3B!!!!

[OK-LA Angels]

 

3 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

And he’s too F’ing stubborn to hit the F’ing ball to F’ing LF!!!!

At least bunt it towards 3B!!!!

He does seem fast enough to reach on a bunt. You'd think 4 bunts a game (assuming he's always facing a shift) would result in a higher avg. than .180.

I love Kole. I love how he plays. But I truly believe his hitting died when the shift came around for him. 

[totdprods]

I still think Angels missed a big opportunity with Yelich. He'd look fantastic hitting between Kinsler and Trout, and we could have flipped Kole for a serviceable arm or prospect before he tanked his trade value.

[Lou]

1 hour ago, totdprods said:

I still think Angels missed a big opportunity with Yelich. He'd look fantastic hitting between Kinsler and Trout, and we could have flipped Kole for a serviceable arm or prospect before he tanked his trade value.

AW typical reply: "we should have traded Calhoun, Parker and Valbuena for him when we had the chance"

iirc, didn't the Brewers give up 3-4 of their top prospects (of a good farm system) for Yellich? If so, who would we have had to offer to better that deal? 

Edited April 25, 2018 by Lou

[totdprods]

1 minute ago, Lou said:

AW typical reply: "we should have traded Calhoun, Parker and Valbuena for him when we had the chance"

iirc, didn't the Brewers give up 3-4 of their top prospects (of a good farm system) for Yellich? If so, who would we have had to offer to better that really? 

I was willing to move two OF prospects (but only one of Adell and Marsh), one of Thaiss/Ward, and then a lesser piece, such as a Procopio, Duensing, Pena, Jose Rodriguez type. I really liked Yelich. 

That could've been competitive with Brinson, Diaz, Harrison, and Yamamoto. It would have come down to internal scouting and org interest. 

And I think Kole could have fetched something useful. 

[Lou]

How is that competive when the guys Milwaukee gave up (from the 7th-ranked system were their numbers 1,2,4 (and the other in the top 15)?

Edited April 25, 2018 by Lou

[Ohtaniland]

Kole is only 30 years old.

I remember when 37 year old Torii Hunter .304 / .334  / .465 / .800 was an All Star / Silver Slugger. 

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

9 hours ago, Angel Oracle said:

And he’s too F’ing stubborn to hit the F’ing ball to F’ing LF!!!!

At least bunt it towards 3B!!!!

He says that is exactly what he is trying to do. Maybe they should have left the RF wall alone, so it isn't so tempting for him. It seems to have help the other team more than us.

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

52 minutes ago, totdprods said:

That could've been competitive with Brinson, Diaz, Harrison, and Yamamoto. It would have come down to internal scouting and org interest.

Yamamoto Planned the Pearl Harbor sneak attack.

[mulwin444]

Kole hasn't had an extra basehit since opening day when he had 3 hits with a 3B and HR.  In his last 21 games, he's 13 singles and 3 BB...that's incredibly bad. 

I don't know what happened to his approach but he needs to get his shit together or he'll be replaced soon.  At a .757 OPS lifetime against RHP, he's not even a good platoon candidate.

[Docwaukee]

everyone Miami got in the Yelich deal is tanking so far.  

All of the MIL prospects were more advanced than anything we could offer so we would have had to offer considerably more to get Yelich and my guess is that MIA wasn't interested in dealing with us anyway.  To make them listen would have cost us more too.  It would have had to have been something like Adell, Jones, Barria, and Canning.  It just wasn't going to happen.  

Kole looks totally lost.  Like he never knows what's coming and just can't figure it out.  He swung over the top of a couple pitches last night and just put his head down on the way back to the dugout appearing totally dejected.  It was pretty rough.  

[Lou]

Lou(stradamus)

Posted June 1, 2017

Why is he (Calhoun) getting a pass on his completely craptastic season?  If Pujols, Maybin...hell, anyone else had his offensive numbers on June 1st, there would be countless threads about how Scioscia sucks for continuing to run him out there every day. 

Over the last 25 games he's batting .144 and has hit 1 home run 

[JustATroutFan]

Batting Calhoun in front and ahead of Trout on spot in the lineup might get him going. He'll get to see way more fastballs. I remember Calhoun hitting at his best when Trout is hitting just one spot behind him in the lineup. 

[Troll Daddy]

Angels owe Kole $20M dollars. Kole is still a GG defender. The only scenario I see happening is possibly platooning him. Kole is on a extra long leash imo. 

Chances are he’ll breakout of his slump and help lead the team to a division title. 

 

[Ohtaniland]

New contract, new baby, new priorities. Life is that way.