Mike Trout Promoted to Big Leagues

By David Saltzer, AngelsWin.com Senior Writer

It's the sight you never want to see: a player making an abrupt stop and immediately reaching for the back of a leg. But, it happened to Peter Bourjos Thursday night, and that opened up an opportunity for Angels fans to get their wish--a chance to see the phenom Mike Trout in Major League action.

For those not familiar with Trout, it's safe to say that the Angels haven't had a position player like him in a long time. Scouts rave about every aspect of his game. He can run, hit, throw with skills and maturity way beyond his 19 years. He will be one of the youngest Angels to ever take the Major League field. The names that scouts drop when comparing him to former Major Leaguers start with the best Hall of Famers.

But before Angels fans begin to expect too much, it's worth rereading something that Abe Flores, the Angels' Director for Player Development told AngelsWin.com last year about Trout: "Don’t ever expect Mike Trout to carry this franchise or any team that he is on. He is part of a team. That part I tend to hammer home with everybody who asks about him . . . He can’t win the game by himself on a nightly basis. He can’t. That’s unrealistic. Can he? On occasion, sure he can. But, not over 140 games in the Minor League schedule. Just expect him to do his part.”

Friday night, Angels fans will in all likelihood get a chance to see Trout do his part. With the Angels playing great baseball right now, that’s all he has to do. Nothing more, nothing less. He is still not a finished product, having played just over half a season in Double-A. Furthermore, he will be flying in from Midland, Texas, so setting any kind of expectations on him is unfair.

With the upcoming All-Star Break, hopefully Bourjos won’t be out too long. If he recovers quickly, Trout will get sent down, most likely to Triple-A.

But, I’m planning on being at the stadium Friday night just to get a taste of what the future will look like with Trout in the outfield. Imagining a future outfield of Wells, Bourjos, and Trout is something that should definitely get all Angels fans excited.

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Angels' Jordan Walden named to All-Star Team

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim right-hander Jordan Walden has been named to replace Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees on the American League’s active roster for the 82nd All-Star Game, Major League Baseball announced today.

Because Rivera was a player-elected All-Star, his replacement was to be the next highest ranking relief pitcher who was not already an All-Star via the Player Ballot. Walden ranked fifth among relief pitchers on the A.L. Player Ballot with 67 votes. Walden, a 23-year-old rookie, is 1-2 with a 2.95 ERA (36.2 IP, 12 ER) and 19 saves this season. The 6’5”, 235 lb. Walden has struck out 39 batters and has allowed only one home run this season.

· Rookie joins teammates Jered Weaver and Howie Kendrick on 2011 A.L. squad

· Walden is the first Angel rookie named to All-Star team since RHP Jason Dickson in 1997.

· Enters play tonight with 19 saves, three shy of matching the club’s rookie record of 22 saves by Ken Tatum in 1969.

· Native of Fort Worth, TX

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Angels Thumbs Up & Thumbs Down (LA Series)

By Jeff Flinn - AngelsWin.com Contributor

Thumbs Up

*Weaver continues to show why he should be the ASG starter. 8 more innings, just 1 run on 4 hits along with an 8/2 Ks/BBs ratio. Over his past 31 innings, he's allowed just 21 hits with a 24/5 Ks/BBs ratio, a 0.87 ERA, and a 0.84 WHIP. On the year, he now leads the AL with a 1.92 ERA. His WHIP is only 0.92, and he's allowed just 5 HRs in 131 innings. 

Santana pitched a really solid game Sunday in allowing just 1 run and 6 hits in 7.2 innings, and having an 8/1 Ks/BBs ratio. Over his past 27.1 innings, he's allowed 24 hits with a 26/6 Ks/BBs ratio, a 2.30 ERA, and a 1.10 WHIP. He even pitched out of a 2 outs bases loaded spot that he prolonged with an error, and kept the deficit at 1-0.

Downs only made one pitch this weekend, and of course got the batter out on a GB. Walden recorded his 2nd straight save after blowing 3 straight save opps, and had solid control in getting the Dodgers out 1-2-3.

*Aybar was 4-14 with a key HR Tuesday night, and drove in 2 runs. Wells had a big 2 run HR against Kershaw, his 2nd HR off of the Dodgers' ace in 2 games. Abreu was 3-11 with 2 rbis, helping to beat Kershaw with 2 rbis. Kendrick is still Mr. Consistent, going 4-10. Bourjos had another solid series, going 3-9 with a walk. Mathis actually was the instigator against Kershaw on Saturday night, going 2-3 including the double that got the Halos going. Branyan went 1-2 with a walk, and hit his first HR as a Halos player and made it a game winning 2 run blast in the 7th inning on Sunday evening. After an XBH drought of some 39 at bats, he's had 2 XBHs in his past 2 games.

*Bourjos and Wells had great catches on Sunday, although Bourjos did overrun one drive that led to the only run scoring on Sunday evening. Hey, no one's perfect. Besides which, Bourjos so far in 2011 has saved more runs than any position player in MLB.

*This was series win number 6 in a row, and gives them a final 2011 interleague record of 13-5, not bad considering the entire AL was only 10 games over .500 against the NL. Texas for instance was 9-9 against the NL in 2011, in spite of playing the worst team in MLB 6 times (4-2 against the Astros). It's always good to beat the Dodgers in a series. But they made it tough this weekend.

*AngelsWin.com congratulates Jered Weaver and Howie Kendrick on making the AL All-Star team. Both players richly deserved those spots. We also congratulate first round pick C.J. Cron on his first pro HR. Cron hit .438/.571/.813 with two home runs in his first weekend at Single-A Orem.

Thumbs Down

*The Halos had a poor weekend with RISP hitting, going just 3-21 (.143 BA), fortunately hitting a couple of clutch HRs to overcome that.

*Hunter missed most of yet another series with yet another injury, this time a HBP. It's probably just a coincidence, and the pitcher likely throws inside to a lot of teams. But throwing back-to-back pitches inside at Trumbo was questionable.

*Chatwood had his first poor outing in a while, allowing 4 runs and 12 hits in only 5 innings with a 1/2 Ks/BBs ratio. We have to remember that he is still only 21, and will have outings like that. Plus the Dodgers faced him a week earlier, and had a better book on him. Adjustments are always a key for any young pitcher. He has allowed just 6 HRs in 94 innings so far, showing his heavy sinker.

Cassevah returned to his wild ways, walking 3 batters in 1.1 innings. He has good stuff, but not nearly enough consistent command of it.

*Izturis (1-12 with a walk), Trumbo (0-7), and Conger (0-6 with a walk) all struggled at the plate. Izturis may need more rest the rest of the way, as he's already not too far from his career high for at bats in a season as a MLB player. Conger is really in a big slump, hitting just .160 in his past 81 at bats after hitting .300 in his first 60 at bats. He's got to make some adjustments now, because the pitchers have definitely made theirs.

*Conger is also getting lit up in SBs, as the Dodgers went 7 for 7 in 2 games with him catching. Again, we have to remember that he is just 23. But he is not looking too good at anything right now.  And to compound the above, Conger failed to throw to 1B on a strike out where the pitch bounced. I hope he wasn't channeling his inner Josh Paul. Fortunately, unlike that October 2005 disaster, the runner didn't eventually score.

*Callaspo made his TENTH error already. He's got a good arm, and is better at 3B than at 2B, but there's still definite work to be done there. Santana even had one brain lock play himself, bowling ball tossing a simple toss to 1B on a comebacker, and getting charged for an error.

*Friday night was also forgettable because the Halos let Tony Gwynn Jr. and Aaron Miles reach base ELEVEN times between them. Gwynn Jr. and Miles????? Really? Really? Really?

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'Inside the Numbers' Tyler Chatwood & Nick Adenhart

By Andre Castillo - AngelsWin.com Feature Writer

You know what; it’s hard to write about the Angels when they’re not playing well. So, please excuse my absence last week. However, it is quite a bit of fun to write about them after a game like Sunday’s, a 7-4 Angels victory over the Mets.

Tyler Chatwood looked pretty good, didn’t he? Hailing from my alma mater of Redlands East Valley High School (woo woo), he gave up only 4 hits over 7 IP. He continued to struggle a bit with his control though, posting 4 walks to go with 4 strikeouts.  But overall, it was a high quality start from the young fireballer.

Which reminded me of another young Angels pitcher, Nick Adenhart, R.I.P. I’ve been thinking about Nick and his tragic loss recently and thought it would be interesting to go and look his numbers and see how they compared to Chatwood’s trajectory.

First some history. Nick Adenhart was a star prospect, at one point considered by some to be the best high school prospect back in 2004. He was Eddie Bane’s first pick as scouting director, who plucked him in the 14^th round, a fall caused by his undergoing Tommy John surgery. He still came at a price – the Angels signed him for a cool $710,000.

Tyler Chatwood was never rated as high as Adenhart had once been, but he finished much better in the draft. He went in the 2^nd round to the Angels, though he signed for less than Adenhart did in the 14^th at $547,000. 

Though I never saw Adenhart pitch, reading their history seems to show that Chatwood’s pitching style is similar to Adenhart’s. Like Adenhart, Chatwood throws a fastball, curve, and change up. While Chatwood’s fastball (97 mph) is a bit harder than Adenhart’s was (93-95 mph), he hasn’t shown the same control Adenhart showed early in his career, either.

*The only piece of information missing that I should mention is their major league home run/fly ball rate. Adenhart’s was 0 and Chatwood’s is 6%.

I think the numbers are interesting. Both did well in the minors, stopping only very briefly at AAA, which neither fared well in.

Chatwood had some wild years in the minors. Look at his Rookie ball year – he posted a K/9 of 11 and a BB/9 of nearly 9! Since then he has calmed down and cut his walk rate, but his strike out rates have fallen with them, from 11.4 K/9 in Rookie ball to 8 in A+, 4.7 in AA, and 4.7 now in the majors. While his strikeout rates have fallen off greatly, his walk rates have only just kept pace, sitting at 4.6 BB/9 right now. 

Adenhart’s walk rates on the other hand moved in the opposite direction, climbing from 2.21 in Rookie ball to 4.6 in AAA (and 8.0 in 18 IP in the majors). In spite of his climbing walk rates, high hopes were placed on the young Nick Adenhart after his strong start in 2009 before he tragically lost his life. Should we have similar hopes for Chatwood going forward?

If Chatwood is like most pitchers, his long term success will be driving by his ability to strike batters out and not give up walks. In other words, his K/9 and BB/9, or K/BB for short. With a K/BB of 1/1, he’s shown the skill of a league average pitcher.

Should we expect it to improve? Unfortunately, while there is always hope, the answer is probably not. According to advanced stats, K/BB rate stabilizes relatively early in a players career. Once a pitcher has faced 500 total batters or so their K/BB rate does not change much over the course of their career, according to research.

Chatwood has faced 351 total batters so far. So, if this pace continues for another 150 batters or so, it is safe to assume that Chatwood’s career K/BB will continue to sit around 1/1.

And if his career K/BB continues to sit around 1/1? Then it is safe to assume that Chatwood will continue to be a league average pitcher, which is more or less what he’s been so far. Now, having a league average pitcher is actually quite good for the #5 slot in the rotation that Chatwood currently inhabits (most teams by rule have below average pitchers in that slot). But will he one day grow into a potential #2 or #3 starter, like we had once hoped Adenhart might, even if Nick may never have done so?

Probably not. And I’m ok with that.

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LIVE Chat with Angels' Scouting Director Ric Wilson about his 2011 Amateur Draft Selections

Make sure to join the LIVE chat with Ric Wilson to ask him about his selections in the 2011 Amateur Draft which took place last week. Also, since we're approaching the minor league mid-season break, feel free to ask questions with relation to how the Angels' current crop of minor leaguers/prospects are doing down on the farm.

Ric Wilson is available for you tomorrow (June 15th) at 3:00 pm PST only HERE at AngelsWin.com.

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Interview with an Original Angel, Dean Chance

By David Saltzer, AngelsWin.com Senior Writer

Part of the treat of going to a home game this year is the opportunity to relive Angels glory as former Angels greats toss out ceremonial opening pitches. One of those greats who recently tossed out an opening pitch was an original Angel, Dean Chance. Signed by the Orioles, then drafted by the Senators, and then traded to the Angels, Chance made his first appearance late in the 1961 season.

Over the course of 6 years with the Angels, Chance posted a 74-66 record (11th most wins), a 2.83 ERA (2nd best for a starter), and 857 strikeouts (9th). Most importantly, he won the Angels’ first Cy Young award in 1964 when he went 20-9 with a 1.65 ERA. At the time, he was the youngest recipient of the award. He pitched 278.1 innings that year, striking out 207, and only allowing a 1.01 WHIP.

Named as the American League’s Right-Handed pitcher of the Decade by the Sporting News, Dean lives in Wooseter, Ohio and is the President of the International Boxing Association.

AngelsWin.com recently spoke with Dean Chance about his time with the Angels, pitching in general, the Hall of Fame, and the current team.

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Stream our AngelsWin.com Podcast (Episode Five) with Riley Breckenridge, Adam Dodge, Andre Castillo and Chuck Richter

Stream our latest AngelsWin.com Podcast (Episode Five) which was LIVE on Saturday June 11th at 10:00 am with host Adam Dodge, AngelsWin.com Founder and Executive Editor Chuck Richter, Riley Breckenridge from the popular OC Band Thrice who also writes for OC Weekly and Flip Collective and special guest Andre Castillo who is the AngelsWin.com Feature Writer of "Inside the Numbers" a Sabermetric Review of Halos Baseball.

In the show we discussed Angels 2011 Amateur Draft, the current events that pertain to Angels Baseball and we talked STATS with AngelsWin.com feature writer Andre Castillo.

Listen to internet radio with AngelsWin on Blog Talk Radio

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