The Angels confronted a left-handed pitcher for the sixth time this season, and Jared Walsh assumed what's changing into an all-too-familiar place — a spot on the bench Friday night time, the fifth consecutive recreation he didn't begin in opposition to a southpaw.
So, the Angels first baseman marched into the supervisor’s workplace, reminded Joe Maddon of his All-Star credentials and the .277 batting common, .850 on-base-plus-slugging share, 29 homers and 98 RBIs he compiled final season and demanded to be inserted within the lineup in opposition to the Baltimore Orioles at Angel Stadium, proper?
“No, no, no, I’m making an attempt to remain out of bother,” Walsh mentioned with a hearty giggle. “If I make it a problem, it’s a problem, so it falls on me. I've the correct angle, and I’m a agency believer in that it’s all gonna work out in the long run. I can’t management it. I don’t write the lineup. I respect administration’s resolution. I are available in and bust my butt.”
Nearly as good because the left-handed-hitting Walsh was throughout his All-Star 2021 season, he entered Friday with a profession .198 batting common and .600 OPS in opposition to left-handers, together with a .170 batting common and .565 OPS in opposition to them final season.
“It's what it's,” mentioned Walsh, who is 2 for eight in opposition to left-handers this season. “I believe I simply must pressure their hand. I believe with extra at-bats, extra reps, hopefully I've good at-bats [against left-handers] and I’ll work my approach in there. I’m fairly assured.”
However the one approach for Walsh to get extra snug within the field and enhance in opposition to left-handers is to face them extra typically, and he can’t do this from the bench.
“You’re proper — how do you get higher in case you don’t do it?” Maddon mentioned. “However then you've gotten Matt Duffy or Jack Mayfield sitting on the bench. Isn’t it a wiser factor to do, within the quick time period, [to play them]? Jared will maintain getting higher with it. He’ll nonetheless get alternatives. However proper now, we've got the correct personnel combine.”
It’s arduous to argue with Maddon. Duffy, who began at first base Friday night time, had six hits in his first 15 at-bats (.400) with two RBIs in opposition to left-handers, and Mayfield, who began at second base, had 4 hits in 10 at-bats (.400) with two RBIs in opposition to southpaws.
The one recreation Walsh began in opposition to a left-hander, the April 7 season opener in opposition to Houston, the Angels misplaced. The following 4 video games Walsh didn’t begin in opposition to a southpaw, the Angels gained.
“If a lefty is an actual reverse-split man who's obviously higher in opposition to righties than lefties, we might undoubtedly [play Walsh],” Maddon mentioned. “For now, it’s working too properly to mess with. However he’s nonetheless going to play nearly all of the video games, and he’ll have the suitable variety of at-bats by the tip of the 12 months.”
Center-infield shuffle
Infielder David Fletcher, sidelined for 10 days by a left hip pressure, began a rehabilitation task with triple-A Salt Lake on Friday that Maddon mentioned “may very well be a few days, it may very well be every week — I do not know proper now.”
When Fletcher, who began 4 of the workforce’s first 5 video games at shortstop, does return, Maddon mentioned he'll play “extra second base than he had earlier than,” a nod to Andrew Velazquez’s very good protection in Fletcher’s absence.
Velazquez entered Friday with 4 defensive runs saved in 70 innings in response to FanGraphs, essentially the most of any main league shortstop. He has made all of the routine performs and a few very good ones, together with a diving cease of Nathaniel Lowe’s shot up the center and fast throw to first base at Texas on April 15.
Velazquez, claimed off waivers from the New York Yankees in November, entered Friday with a .143 batting common (4 for 28) and .429 OPS, and he should hit higher to grab the beginning shortstop job.
However within the quick time period, if Velazquez and Fletcher are in the identical lineup, Velazquez will play shortstop and Fletcher second base, Maddon mentioned.
An ideal storm
Maddon mentioned he wouldn't have pulled Shohei Ohtani from an ideal recreation, however his leash on the right-hander, who retired 16 straight batters to open Wednesday’s recreation at Houston earlier than giving up a one-out single to Jason Castro, was not limitless. Ohtani exited after six innings and 81 pitches.
“If he was feeling good and didn’t suppose he was straining, I might let him do it,” Maddon mentioned. “However 120, 130 pitches in all probability can be like a Waterloo, the purpose you'll say let’s name off the jam. However I believe the best way he was throwing, he may have gotten it inside 120 to 125 pitches, which I might have been wonderful with.”
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