Props to the Pitching Staff

[Taylor]

Even though the Rockies are struggling offensively this year, a shutout at Coors Field is pretty impressive. Barria looked good getting out of some jams, and the blowullpen did its job.

[Chuck]

Just now, Taylor said:

Even though the Rockies are struggling offensively this year, a shutout at Coors Field is pretty impressive. Barria looked good getting out of some jams, and the blowullpen did its job.

Yeah dude... When you have a talented group of hitters like Blackmon, Arenado, Dahl, Gonzalez & Story that are in a spacious bandbox of a stadium and you only give up 4 ER in 18 innings, that's solid.

It's too bad our O didn't step up last night, but I'm stoked for so many other things going on right now that there's no room to complain. 

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

Richards' is 4-1, an ERA of 3.96, skewed high because of 1 awful start against NYY. in 5 of 7 starts he has allowed 2 or fewer runs.

Skaggs is 3-2, an ERA of 3.02, skewed high because of 1 awful start against BOS. in 6 of 7 starts he has allowed 2 or fewer runs.

Heaney is 1-2 an ERA of 4.78, skewed high because of 1 awful start against SFG. in 4 of 5 starts he has allowed 3 or fewer earned runs.

Tropeano is 1-2 an ERA of 3.42, he has 2 bad games and 2 games with zero runs allowed.

Barria is 3-1 an ERA of 2.45, he has been great with the exception of the SFG game with the 21 pitch to Belt and 49 pitch first inning.

Ohtani is 3-1 ERA of 4.10 he may be the best 4.1 ERA pitcher in baseball we will have to wait and see. The Angels are 4-1 when he takes the mound.

Our starting pitching is under estimated IMO.

[krAbs]

4 minutes ago, Ace-Of-Diamonds said:

Richards' is 4-1, an ERA of 3.96, skewed high because of 1 awful start against SFG. in 5 of 7 starts he has allowed 2 or fewer runs.

Skaggs is 3-2, an ERA of 3.02, skewed high because of 1 awful start against BOS. in 6 of 7 starts he has allowed 2 or fewer runs.

Heaney is 1-2 an ERA of 4.78, skewed high because of 1 awful start against SFG. in 4 of 5 starts he has allowed 3 or fewer earned runs.

Tropeano is 1-2 an ERA of 3.42, he has 2 bad games and 2 games with zero runs allowed.

Barria is 3-1 an ERA of 2.45, he has been great with the exception of the SFG game with the 21 pitch to belt AB and 49 pitch first inning.

Ohtani is 3-1 ERA of 4.10 he may be the best 4.1 ERA pitcher in baseball we will have to wait and see. The Angels are 4-1 when he takes the mound.

Our starting pitching is under estimated IMO.

I agree - unironically. Though, Rich's bad start was against NYY. I have long thought that people this off season assumed that the offense will make or break the team - I've always thought it would be our starting pitching.

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

9 minutes ago, krAbs said:

Rich's bad start was against NYY

My bad yeah is was against NY.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Pretty eye opening about the pitching.

Its basically the boston and ny series that has added doom and gloom. Not only getting swept, but manhandled by boston and a beat down + blown save by ny.

The giants series was bad, too. Other than those 9 games, this team has been very good...even with our pitchers not going deep, our pen having problems, calhouns bat, etc.

[TroutAdell]

The starters have been solid since the Yanks left town but still need more length from them. 5-6 innings from starters puts too much pressure on the pen.  

[Second Base]

The Angels pitching problems were never quality related as it was over-reported. Their issues have been solely injury related, that's it.

Richards and Ohtani are both aces.

Heaney and Skaggs are both former elite LHP prospects that are healthy now.

Tropeano and Barria were both extremely underrated as prospects, but really had no problems chewing through the minors at a brisk pace. Both can succeed in the majors.

Ramirez and Meyer were both upside arms that got hurt.

Canning projects into the front of an MLB rotation and Suarez in the back end next year.

This is a good pitching staff....if they stay healthy. 

[Ohtaniland]

Good thread Taylor. I like what I’m seeing from our starters. Richards,  Heaney, Skaggs and Ohtani are all giving us a chance to win.

[Stradling]

15 minutes ago, Scotty@AW said:

The Angels pitching problems were never quality related as it was over-reported. Their issues have been solely injury related, that's it.

Richards and Ohtani are both aces.

Heaney and Skaggs are both former elite LHP prospects that are healthy now.

Tropeano and Barria were both extremely underrated as prospects, but really had no problems chewing through the minors at a brisk pace. Both can succeed in the majors.

Ramirez and Meyer were both upside arms that got hurt.

Canning projects into the front of an MLB rotation and Suarez in the back end next year.

This is a good pitching staff....if they stay healthy. 

Please stop saying Richards is an Ace.   I love the guy but he has good stuff but he’s not close to being an Ace.  

[ukyah]

25 minutes ago, Scotty@AW said:

The Angels pitching problems were never quality related as it was over-reported. Their issues have been solely injury related, that's it.

Richards and Ohtani are both aces.

Heaney and Skaggs are both former elite LHP prospects that are healthy now.

Tropeano and Barria were both extremely underrated as prospects, but really had no problems chewing through the minors at a brisk pace. Both can succeed in the majors.

Ramirez and Meyer were both upside arms that got hurt.

Canning projects into the front of an MLB rotation and Suarez in the back end next year.

This is a good pitching staff....if they stay healthy. 

there are no aces on this staff. the "ace" designation is earned through results and not ability. good pilots don't get termed an ace until they prove it in the air.

there is plenty of ability on this staff though.

[Warfarin]

I agree with the overall sentiment here.  It has been a long time since I have felt confident about our chances with all of our starters on the  mound - and we have six of them!

None are currently aces, but Ohtani definitely has ace potential and Richards has a strong #2 potential (at least in my opinion).  

Let’s keep the good vibes going and keep winning!

[stormngt]

13 hours ago, TroutTrumbo said:

The starters have been solid since the Yanks left town but still need more length from them. 5-6 innings from starters puts too much pressure on the pen.  

It has been speculated that there is a max pitch count of around 80-90.  If that is true than you wont see too many games where the starting pitcher going into the 7th.

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

1 hour ago, stormngt said:

It has been speculated that there is a max pitch count of around 80-90.  If that is true than you wont see too many games where the starting pitcher going into the 7th.

Skaggs has thrown at least 98 pitches per start in 6 of 7 and as many as 114 against TEX.

Richards in 5 of 7 starts thrown between 86 and 104 pitches.

Ohtani has thrown 98 pitches in his last 2 starts.

Other than those 3, 80-90 pitches seems to be correct.

[bloodbrother]

15 hours ago, Ace-Of-Diamonds said:

Richards' is 4-1, an ERA of 3.96, skewed high because of 1 awful start against NYY. in 5 of 7 starts he has allowed 2 or fewer runs.

Skaggs is 3-2, an ERA of 3.02, skewed high because of 1 awful start against BOS. in 6 of 7 starts he has allowed 2 or fewer runs.

Heaney is 1-2 an ERA of 4.78, skewed high because of 1 awful start against SFG. in 4 of 5 starts he has allowed 3 or fewer earned runs.

Tropeano is 1-2 an ERA of 3.42, he has 2 bad games and 2 games with zero runs allowed.

Barria is 3-1 an ERA of 2.45, he has been great with the exception of the SFG game with the 21 pitch to Belt and 49 pitch first inning.

Ohtani is 3-1 ERA of 4.10 he may be the best 4.1 ERA pitcher in baseball we will have to wait and see. The Angels are 4-1 when he takes the mound.

Our starting pitching is under estimated IMO.

Always came down to health with the arms and not ability. Now, just add another back of the pen reliever and possibly another middle reliever to this bullpen they'll have something going here

[zenmaster]

We should call our pitching staff "The Rollercoaster"

[Angel Oracle]

Nine straight solid starts pitching at least into the 6th inning, that is more like it.    The command should continue to improve as they accumulate more innings after sitting out a lot of the past 2 years, which in turn will take them deeper into games through better pitch counts.  

Next step, acquiring a proven late innings guy to go with Johnson as veteran leaders in the pen, so that Middleton and Anderson don't have too much pressure too soon put on them.    Herrera, Middleton, Johnson, Anderson, Alvarez, Ramirez, and either Wood or Bedwalk/Badrock....speaking of which, Bedwalk/Badrock, grow a sack! 

Edit: Forgot about Parker, which others probably had as well after his lousy first 5 relief appearances in 2018 (7.71 ERA, just under 2.00 WHIP).   In his past 13.1 innings though: 13 hits, 3 BBs, 13 Ks, just over 2.00 ERA and just over 1.20 WHIP; really only the K's in those innings are different from his 2017 numbers, with the K's trending in the right direction   

[VariousCrap]

We've known what this pitching staff was capable of over the last couple years, they just were never healthy enough to demonstrate what we knew.  So far so good this season.  When Shoe returns, that will only make them stronger.

[fanfromday1]

Sure beats the heck out of last years starting rotation:

Nolasco, Shoemaker, Chavez, Ramirez, Bridwell, Scribner, Meyer. Although, several pitched well at times, it was usually only two heartbeats away from giving fans heart attacks.

[Angel Oracle]

5 minutes ago, VariousCrap said:

We've known what this pitching staff was capable of over the last couple years, they just were never healthy enough to demonstrate what we knew.  So far so good this season.  When Shoe returns, that will only make them stronger.

And with Shoe's activation, pretty good AAA depth now in place (Barria, followed by Lamb or Pena in either order, and then Bridwell).   Lamb and Pena are now both stretched out to around 5 innings in their most recent start (each averaging 4 innings in their past 3 starts), with excellent Ks/BBs ratios. 

[VariousCrap]

2 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

And with Shoe's activation, pretty good AAA depth now in place (Barria, followed by Lamb or Pena in either order, and then Bridwell).   Lamb and Pena are now both stretched out to around 5 innings in their most recent start (each averaging 4 innings in their past 3 starts), with excellent Ks/BBs ratios. 

 

With the Angels pitchers doing so well, you have to wonder if it would make more sense to put Shoe in the BP when he comes back.  It would be less stress on his arm, should keep him healthy and a huge BP upgrade.

[krAbs]

ESPN has a pretty nifty tool that lets you look at the Angels collective starting stats. At this point, we have an ERA of 4.18, a k/9 of 9.25, and a whip of 1.31. That looks like nothing special, middle of the pack stuff. But, most of our starters appear to be improving, and those numbers are dragged down by Bridwell (1.2 innings pitched, 6 runs, 7 hits, no walks, no strikeouts) and JC Ramirez (6.2 innings pitched, 7 runs, 7 hits, 7 walks, 4 ks).

[Angelsfan626]

Angels keep this up we will be in market for a starter at the deadline.

[Inside Pitch]

6 minutes ago, krAbs said:

ESPN has a pretty nifty tool that lets you look at the Angels collective starting stats. At this point, we have an ERA of 4.18, a k/9 of 9.25, and a whip of 1.31. That looks like nothing special, middle of the pack stuff. But, most of our starters appear to be improving, and those numbers are dragged down by Bridwell (1.2 innings pitched, 6 runs, 7 hits, no walks, no strikeouts) and JC Ramirez (6.2 innings pitched, 7 runs, 7 hits, 7 walks, 4 ks).

The the ERA and  park adjusted ERA for all 6 starters..

Skaggs - 3.08, 137
Richards - 3.93, 107
Ohtani - 4.10, 103
Heaney - 4.78, 88   (his FIP is 3.47)
Tropeano - 3.42, 124
Barria - 2.45, 174

I think their combined ERA in May is under 2.00, so as you pointed out, they are improving.   When push comes to shove, 5 guys posting better than league average ERA's is not too shabby.

 

[krAbs]

3 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

The the ERA and  park adjusted ERA for all 6 starters..

Skaggs - 3.08, 137
Richards - 3.93, 107
Ohtani - 4.10, 103
Heaney - 4.78, 88   (his FIP is 3.47)
Tropeano - 3.42, 124
Barria - 2.45, 174

I think their combined ERA in May is under 2.00, so as you pointed out, they are improving.   When push comes to shove, 5 guys posting better than league average ERA's is not too shabby.

 

Which, its important to note, league average era this year is 4.12. Last year it was 4.36, and before that 4.19. In my head, league average is always lower than it actually is.