OC Register: Angels take unusual approach with most of their newly signed pitchers

[AngelsWin.com]

HOUSTON — The Angels minor league seasons are almost over, and if you feel like you missed checking on the progress of the pitchers they just drafted this summer, you didn’t.

More than half of the pitchers the Angels drafted in June — including all the top prospects — did not pitch this summer.

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It’s not unusual for teams to hold out college pitchers who may have had a heavy workload in the spring, but it is highly unusual to do it with this many pitchers, including some high schoolers.

All told, 12 of the 21 pitchers the Angels signed out of the 2018 draft have not pitched in minor league games this summer, including the nine who received the largest bonuses.

Last year, they only held out one of the 16 pitchers they signed: second-rounder Griffin Canning.

Although General Manager Billy Eppler wanted to keep the details of their development plan private, it’s a logical assumption that the strategy is a response to the wave of pitching injuries that have plagued the club at the major league level. The time off allows the Angels to protect the pitchers’ arms, refine their mechanics and improve their overall conditioning.

Eppler did concede that shutting down this quantity of pitchers from one draft is “a little on the higher end,” but he spoke only in vague terms about what prompted the Angels to do it.

“With some of the pitchers that we bring into the organization, we look at historical workload, current season workload and make a decision on if the innings they can get in short-season ball carry more upside or downside,” Eppler said. “We try to evaluate every decision we make on the downside exposure of the decision. We’re just trying to prepare our players for professional baseball.”

Last year, the Angels shut down Canning after drafting him in the second round. Canning had thrown 119 innings at UCLA, and there were also some red flags about the health of his arm.

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This year, they’ve taken an even more cautious route.

Third-round pick Aaron Hernandez, their highest drafted pitcher, threw just 83 innings at Texas A&M Corpus Christi, but has not pitched this summer.

They’ve also shut down the top four high school pitchers they drafted. Fifth-round pick William English, who they signed for an over-slot $700,000 after taking him as a two-way player out of a Detroit high school, is hitting, but not pitching.

The highest drafted pitcher who has pitched this year is sixth-rounder Austin Warren, a senior from UNC Wilmington who signed for just $7,500. The Angels also picked college seniors from seventh to 10th rounds — a strategy to allow them to use more of their allotted bonus pool on lower picks. From the seventh to 10th round, the Angels took Andrew Wantz, Tyler Smith, Jake Lee and Ben Morrison. All of them signed for $10,000 or less, and all have pitched this summer.

Luis Alvarado (17th round), Kyle Tyler (20th), Christian Reyes (21st), Dazon Cole (25th), Darien Williams (26th), Jacob Voss (27th) and Connor Higgins (30th) have all pitched this summer. The largest investment among those pitchers was $75,000 for Tyler.

UPTON UPDATE

Justin Upton was not in the lineup on Sunday, a day after suffering a mild concussion when he hit the ground as he and Andrelton Simmons converged on a popup in shallow left field.

Upton said he was feeling better, but still day to day. He said the concussion wasn’t serious enough that he had be monitored overnight.

“I slept through the night, got a good night’s sleep, feeling a little better,” he said.

GAME WITHIN A GAME

There has been a visible cat-and-mouse game taking place throughout the Angels games with the Astros this week, as the Angels try to protect against Astros runners at second base intercepting the catcher’s signs and relaying them to the hitter. In many cases, Simmons has positioned himself in front of the runner to block his view of the catcher.

Scioscia said there’s nothing sinister about what the Astros are doing.

“It’s part of the game,” he said. “I think you have to go by the premise that every club is doing it, so you don’t get lazy.”

UP NEXT

Angels (RHP Matt Shoemaker, 1-0, 4.76) at Rangers (LHP Jeffrey Springs, 0-0, 2.55), Monday, 5 p.m., Fox Sports West, KLAA (830 AM).

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