The Angels apparently took the criticism of their pitching employees to coronary heart.

Throughout the 2021 MLB Draft, Los Angeles had 20 picks in the course of the 20-round affair. With every choice, the Angels drafted a pitcher. They did not take a single place participant.

2021 MLB DRAFT: Full outcomes from all 20 rounds

Los Angeles has lengthy had an issue discovering sturdy beginning pitchers, and the issue has reached crucial mass in 2021. The group has two of the most effective gamers in baseball in its lineup — AL MVP front-runner Shohei Ohtani and three-time MVP Mike Trout — however the pitching simply is not ok to make the Angels a playoff contender. 

That is why they’re sitting at 45-44 in fourth place and 9 video games again of the tempo within the AL West. They merely have not gotten high quality begins from most of their employees. Even Ohtani, who’s the beginning pitcher for the AL on this 12 months’s All-Star Sport, has solely began 13 video games and pitched 67 innings on the 12 months.

The Angels have a group ERA of 4.89 this season. That ranks fifth-worst in MLB forward of solely the Twins, Royals, Diamondbacks and Orioles. Their pitchers have walked 357 batters (third-most within the league) and no MLB group has fewer than their one shutout.

For sure, Los Angeles needed to overhaul its pitching employees if it needs to construct a contender. As such, investing closely in pitching is sensible. Not less than some of the 20 pitching prospects the Angels drafted ought to pan out. They added amount, and now they will type via the prospects in hopes of discovering high quality.

The Angels are the third group prior to now two years to spend their alternatives solely on pitchers. The Marlins and White Sox are the opposite two and each did so in the course of the 2020 MLB Draft.

After all, the 2020 draft was solely 5 whole rounds. So, the Marlins took house six new pitching prospects whereas the White Sox ended up with 5 within the abbreviated draft.

The Angels’ technique is definitely extra daring, but it surely simply may be loopy sufficient to work.