Angels baseball news: Orange County Register

Taylor Ward’s late homer helps Angels to victory over Phillies

Jeff Fletcher — Sat, 19 Jul 2025 01:40:19 +0000

Angels relief pitcher Kenley Jansen, right, and catcher Logan O’Hoppe celebrate after the final out of the ninth inning of their victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday, July 18, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

1 of 37

Expand

PHILADELPHIA — It’s a familiar routine for Taylor Ward.

His “inner circle” of friends and family text him when they see his name in trade rumors, and Ward does all he can to ignore it.

The best way to make them go away is to keep doing what he did on Friday night, when he hit a tie-breaking two-run homer in the seventh inning of the Angels’ 6-5 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Angels (48-49) have just 12 games left before the trade deadline. They began the day four games out of a playoff spot, needing a hot streak in the next two weeks to avoid a sell-off that could include Ward.

“I want to stay here,” Ward said. “I want to win with this group. I think it’d be the cherry on top, getting to the playoffs and winning with this group.”

Closer Kenley Jansen, another player likely to be dealt if the Angels decide to sell, echoed Ward’s comments. He also has no desire to be moved.

“I came here with one mind, that’s try to help this organization, to turn it back to a winning organization,” Jansen said after pitching a perfect ninth to record the save. “We’ve got a great group of guys around here, and I think we could do it. We could sneak into the wild card or you never know what could happen the next 65 games. So we just got to keep coming with this energy. We played a really great team today. The bullpen pitched well. Everybody played well. Just look forward to tomorrow. Can’t worry about the next two weeks.”

This one didn’t start very well, with the Angels opting for a bullpen game and winding up in 4-1 hole by the third inning.

The Angels tied it by the fifth. In the seventh, Ward got a hanging sweeper from left-hander Tanner Banks and he hit it over the left field fence, giving the Angels their first lead of the game.

Ward’s team-leading 22nd homer of the season made it 6-4.

“I was hunting a fastball and kind of just ran into that one,” Ward said. “So glad I took a swing on it. Just didn’t miss it.”

Left-hander Reid Detmers worked a perfect seventh. In the eight, right-hander José Fermin gave up Bryce Harper’s second homer of the game, cutting the lead in half.

Jansen took the mound in the ninth with a one-run lead, which could have been bigger if the Angels had driven in runners from third with one out in the eighth or ninth innings.

Jansen still converted his 17th save of the season – and 464th of his career – to finish a successful bullpen game.

It was unusual for the Angels to choose a bullpen game for the first start out of the break.

They did it to give an extra day of rest to starters Yusei Kikuchi and José Soriano and to avoid having Tyler Anderson or Kyle Hendricks pitch at hitter-friendly Citizens Bank Park. They also have an opening in their rotation since Jack Kochanowicz was sent down, and by pushing the spot for the No. 5 starter from next Tuesday to Wednesday, they have the option of using Victor Mederos for that game. Mederos would not have been in the minors for the required 15 days on Tuesday.

Still, the decision didn’t look good initially.

Right-hander Ryan Zeferjahn got the start and he gave up a home run to Kyle Schwarber in the first inning. Left-hander Jake Eder followed Zeferjahn to the mound, and he gave up a three-run homer to Harper in the third inning, putting the Angels in a 4-1 hole.

The Angels got back two of those runs on Jo Adell’s two-run homer in the fourth, his 20th of the season.

In the fifth, Mike Trout poked a two-out single into right, driving in the tying run. It was the 996th RBI of Trout’s career.

Trout is 8 for 22 (.364) with three home runs and nine RBIs in his last six games. Ever since the three-time American League MVP returned from the injured list in late May, he has been getting on base – mostly with walks – but lately he’s been coming up with more clutch hits.

“It’s just a continuation of what we’ve seen since he’s come back,” interim manager Ray Montgomery said. “The important thing is he keeps staying healthy, knock on wood. And when he starts seeing pitches and he’s in games for a lengthy amount of time, it’s Mike Trout.”

Mike Trout says he’s hoping to return to Angels’ outfield ‘soon’

Jeff Fletcher — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 22:16:51 +0000

PHILADELPHIA — Mike Trout returned from his four-day break feeling strong enough to do some work in right field.

“It went good,” Trout said after about 10 minutes worth of drills on Friday. “Just like a slow progression to get my feet under me, and then hopefully be back in the outfield soon.”

Trout, 33, has been limited to DH duty since returning from a bone bruise in his left knee on May 30. He did a couple of days worth of outfield drills a week after he returned, but felt enough discomfort that he stopped. He didn’t resume outfield work until Friday.

Trout said he’s expecting to take some fly balls off the bat during batting practice on Saturday, and they’ll progress from there.

“The stuff all felt good today,” Trout said. “It’s just the load, going out there for nine innings and running, and how I recover from that.”

If the Angels can get Trout back in the outfield, it would give them some more flexibility for their lineup. Jorge Soler was already having a below-average year, with a .687 OPS, before Trout returned and took over the DH spot. Since then, Soler has had to play the outfield to get in the lineup, and he’s posted a .583 OPS.

Having Trout in the outfield would allow Soler to get back to DH, and it would also give the Angels the option of using Taylor Ward or Jo Adell at DH occasionally.

All of that said, the Angels are not inclined to take any chances with Trout because they don’t want to jeopardize having him in the lineup.

Trout has hit .283 with eight home runs and a .911 OPS in 41 games since returning from the injured list. For much of that time, his production was mostly that he was drawing walks. In the five games before the break, Trout hit .353 with three homers and eight RBIs.

Trout now sits at 395 career homers and 995 RBIs.

A BULLPEN GAME

The Angels opted to deploy a bullpen game on Friday, pushing starters Yusei Kikuchi and José Soriano back to Saturday and Sunday, respectively, rather than starting with them immediately after the break.

Interim manager Ray Montgomery said it was “a logical question” to wonder why they wouldn’t simply give those pitchers the ball as soon as possible. He said he liked the opportunity to “give them a little bit of an extra day” after the break.

The Angels also prefer to have Tyler Anderson and Kyle Hendricks pitch in New York’s Citi Field than Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park, because it’s more pitcher-friendly.

The Angels currently have only four starters on the roster, because right-hander Jack Kochanowicz was optioned last week. The Angels are set to use Kikuchi, Soriano, Tyler Anderson and Kyle Hendricks in the next four games, with the final game in New York on Wednesday still to be determined.

BREMNER SIGNS

The Angels agreed to terms with first-round draft pick Tyler Bremner, for a reported bonus of just under $7.7 million, which is significantly under the $10.3 million slot value for the No. 2 overall pick. A right-handed pitcher, Bremner played at UC Santa Barbara.

The Angels used the savings on a variety of over-slot deals with high school players, most notably fifth-round pick C.J. Gray, a high school pitcher from North Carolina. Gray received $1.2 million, which was more than double the slot value.

The Angels on Friday also reportedly reached a deal with 12th-round pick Talon Haley, a left-handed high school pitcher from Mississippi who is committed to Vanderbilt. Haley signed for just under $900,000, which just about hits the limit of spending allowed in their bonus pool.

The Angels are expecting to sign all 21 of their draft picks, although there are some final details left to be settled.

NOTES

Utility man Chris Taylor (broken hand) had three hits, including a double, in a rehab game in the Arizona Complex League on Thursday. Taylor was hit in the thigh by a pitch. He was scheduled to DH on Friday. …

Second baseman Christian Moore (sprained thumb) is not with the Angels in Philadelphia. Montgomery said there’s nothing new on Moore’s progress. “I wish there was more to report,” Montgomery said. “Just time.” …

Third baseman Yoán Moncada was not in the lineup on Friday. The Angels were facing a lefty, and Moncada is still not at full strength when hitting from the right side. Montgomery said he hoped the four-day break helped Moncada’s knee. Moncada is expected to start against a righty on Saturday, and it remains to be seen if he’ll be able to hit right-handed against a lefty on Sunday.

UP NEXT

Angels (LHP Yusei Kikuchi, 4-6, 3.11 ERA) at Phillies (RHP Taijuan Walker, 3-5, 3.55 ERA), Saturday, 3:05 p.m. PT, FDSN West, 830 AM

With trade deadline looming, Angels are in ‘baseball purgatory’ again

Mike Digiovanna — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 15:30:34 +0000

ANAHEIM — Two weeks before the July 31 trade deadline, the Angels find themselves in that uncomfortable and too-familiar place known as “baseball purgatory,” not good enough to compete for a championship and too close to a playoff spot to punt on the season.

They are 47-49 and nine games behind the Houston Astros in the American League West but only four games out of a wild-card spot, fueling a belief in their clubhouse and among the most optimistic of their fans that they can end MLB’s longest active playoff drought of 10 years.

“There’s still a lot of time left to do something crazy,” veteran catcher Travis d’Arnaud said. “I’ve been a part of a team that was under .500 at the trade deadline and won the World Series, so anything can happen.”

This is true. The Atlanta Braves were 51-54 and five games back in the National League East at the deadline in 2021 but went 37-19 over the final two months to finish 88-73 and win the division by 6½ games.

Atlanta went on to beat the Milwaukee Brewers and Dodgers in the playoffs and the Astros in a six-game World Series in which the Angels’ current right fielder – Jorge Soler – hit three homers and had six RBIs to win MVP honors.

But those Braves had established stars in Freddie Freeman and Dansby Swanson, rising stars in Austin Riley and Ozzie Albies, two top-tier starting pitchers in Charlie Morton and Max Fried and a deep and seasoned bullpen.

And they were aggressive at the deadline after star right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. suffered a season-ending knee injury on July 10, acquiring veteran outfielders Adam Duvall, Joc Pederson, Eddie Rosario and Soler, all of whom made significant contributions down the stretch and in October.

Could this Angels team be two or three players away from making a similar run?

“I think we have what it takes now,” said d’Arnaud, a reserve catcher on the 2021 Braves. “I mean, we’re in every game. We’ve beaten good teams.”

Angels veteran pitcher Kyle Hendricks, who won a World Series with the Chicago Cubs in 2016, agrees.

“We know we have everything we need in this clubhouse,” he said. “When we play our brand of baseball, play fundamentally sound and don’t make mistakes, we can beat anybody. We’ve seen that. We’ve proven it.”

This is also true. The Angels swept a three-game series from the defending champion Dodgers in Chavez Ravine to spark an eight-game win streak in May. They won three of four games in Yankee Stadium in mid-June, part of a stretch in which they won seven of 10 against the Yankees, Astros and Boston Red Sox.

In many ways, they have outperformed expectations after losing a franchise-record 99 games last season, but as they say in sports, you are what your record says you are.

The Angels have hovered around .500 all season because they have been unable to sustain the kind of play that propelled them during those hot streaks.

They have decent but not dominant starting pitching, an improved but still relatively thin bullpen and an all-or-nothing lineup that ranks fifth in baseball in home runs (139) but second in strikeouts (927) and 26th in walks (279). The defense is spotty. They’re 18-11 in one-run games but have a run differential of minus-62.

The flip side to those hot streaks are stretches in which the Angels lost 10 of 12 games against Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Seattle and Detroit in late April and early May and seven of eight against Miami, the Yankees and Cleveland in late May and early June.

The Angels would need significant upgrades to their rotation, bullpen and lineup to be championship-caliber, but in a weakened AL, they could sneak into the playoffs with 85-86 wins. The current sixth seed, the Seattle Mariners, are on pace to win 86 games.

“We’re seeing that with the third wild-card spot now, teams with lower records having a chance to make the playoffs,” Hendricks said. “And once you get in the tournament, it’s whoever is the hottest.”

How the Angels play over the next two weeks will determine whether they add players or sell veterans on expiring contracts such as closer Kenley Jansen, pitcher Tyler Anderson and infielder Luis Rengifo.

The word “rebuild” is not in owner Arte Moreno’s vocabulary, so if the Angels remain in the hunt, they will look to add before the deadline, though their thin farm system will make it tough to acquire star-caliber players.

What the Angels can’t afford is to make the same mistake they made in 2023, when they won eight of nine in late July to move to within three games of a wild-card spot.

First, the Angels announced they would not trade free-agent-to-be Shohei Ohtani, who would have netted a huge haul of young major-leaguers and prospects. Then they traded their top pitching and catching prospects for pitchers Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez and dealt two more prospects for first baseman C.J. Cron and outfielder Randal Grichuk.

The Angels opened August with seven straight losses to fall out of contention, and by the end of a month in which they went 8-19, they placed all those trade deadline acquisitions on waivers.

“We’ve been in this position before, in 2023, right?” Angels interim manager Ray Montgomery said. “We were still in the hunt, but the difference was, we had numerous injuries, and we were probably playing above our skis.

“I don’t think we’re playing above our skis now because I’ve seen what we’ve done, I know when we take care of what we need to do we can play with anybody. With a couple of breaks here and there, maybe a couple of better decisions by me, we’re a couple games over .500 easily.”

Angels midseason report: Consistency has proven elusive

Mike Digiovanna — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 15:28:41 +0000

FIRST HALF REVIEW

HOW THEY GOT HERE: The Angels lost two of their best hitters to injuries for a month – Mike Trout in May and Yoán Moncada in June – but the emergence of Jo Adell (.243, .800 OPS, 19 home runs, 54 RBIs) and the consistent production of cleanup man Taylor Ward (.224, .765 OPS, 21 homers, 65 RBIs) and leadoff man Zach Neto (.279, .818 OPS, 15 homers, 35 RBIs) have helped keep them afloat amid a season marked by up-and-down stretches. All-Star left-hander Yusei Kikuchi (4-6. 3.11 ERA) has been a rotation rock, and hard-throwing right-hander Jose Soriano (6-7, 3.90 ERA) has shown flashes of dominance. Veteran closer Kenley Jansen (3.38 ERA, 16 for 17 in save opportunities) and left-handers Reid Detmers (1.24 ERA over his past 28 games) and Brock Burke (4-1, 3.65 ERA in 44 games) have steadied a bullpen that went from having a major league-worst 7.06 ERA in mid-May to a 5.02 ERA – the 17th best in baseball – at the break.

SECOND HALF PREVIEW

KEYS TO SUCCESS: Trout, a three-time American League MVP, has been solid since returning from a knee injury in late-May, batting .283 with a .911 OPS, eight homers and 23 RBIs in 41 games, but he needs to be more of a force at the plate. A return to right field, which would improve the defense and free up DH at-bats for Soler and others, would also help. Tyler Anderson (2-6, 4.34 ERA) and Kyle Hendricks (5-6, 4.88 ERA) need to provide more quality starts, and a replacement must be found for Jack Kochanowicz, who was demoted to Triple-A with a major league-worst 6.03 ERA last week. A return of right-hander Robert Stephenson would be a huge boost to a bullpen that seems one injury away from disaster. Stephenson looked dominant in his first appearance after returning from elbow surgery in late May but returned to the injured list because of a stretched nerve in his right biceps shortly thereafter.

BIGGEST CONCERNS: Moncada returned from a right knee injury in early July but admitted he is not 100%. The switch-hitter has not been able to hit from the right side, and his lack of mobility has been costly in the field – one of his two errors led to four unearned runs in Sunday’s 5-1 loss to Arizona. There are no obvious in-house choices to replace Kochanowicz, so General Manager Perry Minasian will likely need to fill his rotation spot from the outside. Catcher Logan O’Hoppe has regressed badly at the plate since his hot start, when he hit .294 with a .902 OPS, nine homers and 16 RBIs in his first 29 games. O’Hoppe hit .191 with a .572 OPS, eight homers, 21 RBIs, 62 strikeouts and eight walks in his last 48 games. Travis d’Arnaud (.305, .944 OPS, five homers, 13 RBIs in 18 games since June 3) should play more, but the Angels need to be careful not to wear down the 36-year-old backup catcher.

TRADE POSSIBILITIES: If they remain in the hunt, the Angels could pursue veteran starting pitchers such as Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly (Arizona), Andrew Heaney (Pittsburgh), Germán Márquez (Colorado) and Aaron Civale (Chicago White Sox). Relievers such as Dennis Santana and David Bednar (Pittsburgh), Jake Bird (Colorado), Kyle Finnegan (Washington) and Shelby Miller (Arizona) would be attractive trade targets. Diamondbacks third baseman Eugenio Suárez, who has 31 homers and an NL-leading 78 RBIs, might be available. If they fall out of contention, the Angels might get decent returns for Jansen and switch-hitting utility man Luis Rengifo, who hit .292 with a .785 OPS, three homers, five doubles and 10 RBIs in 29 games before the break. The Angels could get maximum value if they traded Detmers, and Hendricks and Anderson might be attractive to contenders looking to plug rotation holes.

SCHEDULE: The Angels will face an immediate challenge coming out of the break with six games on the road against the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets, the top two teams in the NL East, and they’ll return home for seven games against Seattle and Texas, the two teams ahead of them in the AL West. How they fare against these contenders will determine their course of action at the trade deadline. But beginning with a July 24 game against the Mariners, the Angels will play 22 of 28 games at home through Aug. 24. The September schedule features 15 games against the sub-.500 Kansas City Royals, Athletics and Minnesota Twins and 11 games against the playoff-contending Houston Astros, Mariners and Milwaukee Brewers, including a season-ending three-game set against Houston.

Kyle Schwarber leads NL past AL in All-Star Game’s first home run swing-off

The Associated Press — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 04:10:09 +0000

Philadelphia Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber celebrates with the MVP trophy at the MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday night in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Philadelphia Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber celebrates after hitting his third home run in as many swings to help the National League win a tiebreaker against the American League in the MLB All-Star game on Tuesday night in Atlanta. The game was tied, 6-6, after nine innings, leading to the first use of the home run tiebreaker that involved three players from each team. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

1 of 70

Philadelphia Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber celebrates with the MVP trophy at the MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday night in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Expand

By RONALD BLUM AP Baseball Writer

ATLANTA — Kyle Schwarber was nervous.

He had played in Game 7 of the World Series, homered for the United States in the World Baseball Classic.

But he had never walked up to the plate in an All-Star Game swing-off.

No one had.

“That was like the baseball version of a shootout,” the Philadelphia Phillies slugger said after homering on all three of his swings, going down to his left knee on the final one, to overcome a two-homer deficit. That held up when Tampa Bay’s Jonathan Aranda fell short on the American League’s final three swings, giving the National League a 4-3 swing-off win after a 6-6 tie Tuesday night in which it wasted a six-run, seventh-inning lead.

Schwarber earned the MVP award, going 0 for 2 with a walk as the NL won for the second time in its last 12 tries.

“It will be interesting to see where that goes,” said AL manager Aaron Boone of the New York Yankees. “There’s probably a world where you could see that in the future, where maybe it’s in some regular season mix. I wouldn’t be surprised if people start talking about it like that.”

Concerned about running out of pitchers in an era where no All-Star throws more than one inning, Major League Baseball and the players’ association made the change in 2022.

In baseball’s equivalent of soccer’s penalty-kicks shootout, the game was decided by having three batters from each league take three swings each off of coaches.

Boone picked the Athletics’ Brent Rooker, Seattle’s Randy Arozarena and Aranda on Monday, and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts picked Arizona’s Eugenio Suárez, Schwarber and the New York Mets’ Pete Alonso for the NL. Because Suárez was hit on the left hand by a fastball in the eighth inning, the NL turned to its alternate, Miami’s Kyle Stowers.

Players from both teams stood outside their dugouts, some already in street clothes, jumping and shouting after each long ball from their side. Yankees coach Travis Chapman threw to the AL batters and Dodgers third base coach Dino Ebel to the NL hitters.

Rooker put the AL ahead by homering on his last two swings, and Stowers hit one. boosted the AL lead to 3-1.

Ebel had thrown BP to Schwarber two years ago at the WBC.

“He asked me right before, he was like, where do you want it?” Schwarber recalled “I’m like, just middle. And he’s like, I gotcha.”

He took two pitches then deposited the third just over the center-field fence. Schwarber took another, then hit a drive over the right-center bullpen. After letting two more go by, he dropped to a knee while pulling the third, craned his neck and held his bat it the air as the ball landed in the fourth row of the Chop House seats.

“I didn’t hit it, obviously, my best, but I was thinking I got enough of it,” Schwarber said. “I was just kind of down there, hoping, saying: go, go, go. And it went. And it was awesome.”

Aranda followed with a fly well short of the center field warning track, drove a pitch about a foot shy of the top of the right 0field wall and hit an opposite-field pop that dropped in medium left.

Alonso, a two-time Home Run Derby champion, didn’t have to bat and patted Schwarber on the head as fireworks went off at Truist Field.

“I felt like a closer, like a closer going into a game,” said Alonso, who began warming up in a batting cage when the AL tied the score in the ninth inning. “And then it’s like, wait, the guy in the field got a double play to end the inning. You’re not going in. I was ready for it, but I’m glad Schwarbs did it and we did it the easy way.”

So, what was the final score?

MLB, after consulting with the Elias Sports Bureau, said in 2022 that All-Star Games ending in a swing-off would be listed as tied, with a notation of the game being decided in a swing-off. MLB’s official postgame notes listed Tuesday’s outcome as a 7-6 NL victory.

Ketel Marte’s two-run double in the first had put the NL ahead, and Alonso’s three-run homer off Kris Bubic and Corbin Carroll’s solo shot against Casey Mize opened a 6-0 lead in the sixth.

The AL comeback began when Rooker hit a three-run pinch homer against Randy Rodríguez in a four-run seventh that included Bobby Witt Jr.’s RBI groundout. Robert Suarez allowed consecutive doubles to Byron Buxton and Witt with one out in ninth, and Steven Kwan’s infield hit on a three-hopper to third off of Mets closer Edwin Díaz drove in the tying run.

Joe Torre, the 84-year-old former Yankees manager, went to the mound for a pitching change in the eighth to take the ball from Shane Smith and hand it to Andrés Muñoz. The Hall of Famer was picked as a coach by current New York skipper Aaron Boone, who managed the AL.

HEAT ON THE MOUND

Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes, the first pitcher to start the All-Star Game each of his first two seasons, struck out Gleyber Torres and Riley Greene in a perfect first that included Aaron Judge’s inning-ending groundout. The 23-year-old right-hander from El Toro High reached 100 mph on four of 14 pitches.

Last year, in Texas, Skenes walked one batter in his scoreless inning, a blip he said “pissed me off” and pushed him to attack hitters for his encore.

“I was throwing every pitch as hard as I could,” Skenes said, “hoping that it landed in the strike zone.”

He admittedly reached back seeking to strike out the side, but Judge grounded out on another 100 mph pitch.

“That’s what the All-Star Game’s for,” Skenes said. “Every hitter’s trying to hit a home run. We’re trying to strike everybody out.”

Milwaukee Brewers rookie Jacob Misiorowski, a controversial inclusion after pitching in just five major league games, fired nine pitches of 100 mph or more in a one-hit eighth inning 34 days after his major league debut. The 23-year-old righty, added to the NL roster by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, reached 102.3 mph.

There were 21 pitches of 100 mph or more, down from a record 23 last year but up from 13 in 2023, 10 in 2022 and one in 2021.

KERSHAW’S MOMENT

Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw relieved Skenes, 14 years his junior, in the second inning.

Seattle slugger Cal Raleigh, Monday’s Home Run Derby champion, welcomed him with a 101.9 mph line drive that Chicago Cubs left fielder Kyle Tucker snagged with a sliding catch.

Kershaw, an 11-time All-Star, then struck out Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. looking at an 87 mph slider on his sixth pitch, prompting Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to emerge from the NL dugout to take the ball from Kershaw and end what could have been the final All-Star Game appearance of his Hall of Fame career.

A legend pick for the game by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, Kershaw, who became the 20th pitcher to record 3,000 career strikeouts earlier this month, delivered a pregame speech in the NL clubhouse.

“We have the best All-Star Game of any sport,” Kershaw said. “We do have the best product. So to be here, to realize your responsibility in the sport is important. And we have Shohei here. We have Aaron Judge here. We have all these guys that represent the game really, really well so we get to showcase that and be part of that is important.

“I just said I was super honored to be a part of it. Thanks for letting me be here, really.”

ROBOT UMPIRE DEBUTS

Raleigh was just as successful with the first robot umpire All-Star challenge as he was in the Home Run Derby.

Seattle’s catcher signaled for an appeal to the Automated Ball-Strike System in the first inning, getting a strikeout for Detroit’s Tarik Subal on San Diego’s Manny Machado.

“You take ’em any way you can get ’em, boys,” Skubal said on the mound.

Four of five challenges of plate umpire Dan Iassogna’s calls were successful in the first All-Star use of the ABS system, which could make its regular-season debut next year.

Athletics rookie Jacob Wilson, a former Thousand Oaks High standout, won as the first batter to call for a challenge, reversing a 1-and-0 fastball from Washington’s MacKenzie Gore in the fifth inning that had been called a strike.

Stowers lost when ABS upheld a full-count Andrés Muñoz fastball at the bottom of the zone for an inning-ending strikeout in the eighth.

Mets closer Edwin Díaz earned a three-pitch strikeout against Arozarena to end the top of the ninth on a pitch Iassogna thought was outside.

Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk used ABS to get a first-pitch strike on a 100.1 mph Aroldis Chapman offering to Brendan Donovan with two outs in the bottom half.

“The fans enjoy it. I thought the players had fun with it,” said Roberts, who earned his first All-Star win as NL manager. “There’s a strategy to it, if it does get to us during the season. But I like it. I think it’s good for the game.”

Skubal had given up Ketel Marte’s two-run double and retired the Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman on a groundout for his first out when he got ahead of Machado 0-and-2 in the count. Skubal threw a 89.5 mph changeup, and Iassogna yelled “Ball, down!”

Raleigh tapped his helmet just before Skubal tipped his cap, triggering a review by the computer umpire that was tested in spring training this year and could be adopted for regular-season use in 2026.

“Obviously, a strike like that it was, so I called for it and it helped us out,” Raleigh said.

An animation of the computer analysis was shown on the Truist Park scoreboard and the broadcast. Roberts laughed in the dugout after the challenge.

“I knew it was a strike,” Machado said.

Skubal doesn’t intend to use challenges during regular-season games if the ABS is put in place. He says he’ll rely on his catchers.

“I was joking around that I was going to burn two of them on the first balls just so that way we didn’t have them the rest of the game,” he said. “I’m just going to assume that it’s going to happen next year.”

Before the game, Manfred indicated the sport’s 11-man competition committee will consider the system for next season.

“I think the ability to correct a bad call in a high-leverage situation without interfering with the time of game because it’s so fast is something we ought to continue to pursue,” Manfred said.

ABS decisions may have an error of margin up to a half-inch.

“Our guys do have a concern with that half inch, what that might otherwise lead to particularly as it relates to the number of challenges you may have, whether you keep those challenges during the course of the game,” union head Tony Clark told the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. “Does there need to be some type of buffer zone consideration? Or do we want to find ourselves in a world where it’s the most egregious misses that we want focus in on?”

Manfred sounded less concerned.

“I don’t believe that technology supports the notion that you need a buffer zone,” he said. “To get into the idea that there’s something that is not a strike that you’re going to call a strike in a review system, I don’t know why I would want to do that.”

MLB sets the top of the automated strike zone at 53.5% of a batter’s height and the bottom at 27%, basing the decision on the midpoint of the plate, 8½ inches from the front and 8½ inches from the back. That contrasts with the rule book zone called by umpires, which says the zone is a cube.

“We haven’t even started talking about the strike zone itself, how that’s going to necessarily be measured, and whether or not there are tweaks that need to be made there, too,” Clark said. “So there’s a lot of discussion that still needs to be had, despite the fact that it seems more inevitable than not.”

Manfred has tested ABS in the minor leagues since 2019, using it for all pitches and then switching to a challenge system. Each team gets two challenges and a successful challenge is retained. Only catchers, batters and pitchers can call for a challenge.

“Where we are on ABS has been fundamentally influenced by player input,” he maintained. “If you had two years ago said to me: What do the owners want to do? I think they would have called every pitch with ABS as soon as possible. That’s because there is a fundamental, very fundamental interest in getting it right, right? We owe it to our fans to try to get it right because the players as I talked to them over a couple of years really, expressed a very strong interest or preference for the challenge system that we decided to test.”

Skubal wondered is all contingencies had been planned for.

“If power goes out and we don’t have ABS – sometimes we don’t have Hawk-Eye data or Trackman data. So what’s going to happen then?” he said. “Are we going to expect umpires to call balls and strikes when it’s an ABS zone?”

FREEMAN GETS A HAND

Freeman was removed for Alonso with two outs in the third inning, giving the crowd of 41,702 a chance to cheer a player who spent 12 seasons with the Braves and helped Atlanta win the 2021 World Series title.

Freeman grounded out in the first inning in his lone at-bat.

Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani and catcher Will Smith also started for the NL, with Ohtani going 1 for 2 with a single and a run scored. Smith went 0 for 2 with a strikeout and a pop-up.

Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Angels pitcher Yusei Kikuchi were both named All-Stars, but neither pitched because they pitched for their teams over the weekend.

RECREATING AARON’S 715TH HOMER

MLB honored late Hall of Famer Hank Aaron by recreating his record-breaking 715th home run through the use of projection mapping and pyrotechnics.

The lights went down at Truist Park and fans stood holding their cell phone lights following the sixth inning. The scene from April 8, 1974 at old Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium was projected on the infield and also shown on the video board.

The high-tech images of Aaron and other players were seen on the Truist Park infield before a blaze of a fireball launched from home plate to signify the homer that pushed Aaron past Babe Ruth’s record of 714 homers.

Aaron’s widow, Billye Aaron, stood and waved as the cheers from the sellout crowd of 41,702 grew louder.

NL players warmed up for the game in batting practice jerseys with Aaron’s No. 44 on the back

One year ago, MLB celebrated the 50th anniversary of Aaron’s homer with announcements for a new statue at Baseball’s Hall of Fame and a commemorative stamp from the U.S. Postal Service.

Also, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred helped honor Aaron in Atlanta last year by joining the Braves in announcing the $100,000 endowment of a scholarship at Tuskegee University, a historically Black university in Aaron’s home state of Alabama.

Manfred noted the Henry Louis Aaron Fund, launched by the Braves following Aaron’s death in 2021, and the Chasing the Dream Foundation, created by Aaron and his wife were designed to clear paths for minorities in baseball and to encourage educational opportunities.

Aaron hit 755 home runs from 1954-76, a mark that stood until Barry Bonds reached 762 in 2007 during baseball’s steroid era.

Aaron was elected to the Hall in 1982. A 25-time All-Star, he set a record with 2,297 RBIs. He continues to hold the records of 1,477 extra-base hits and 6,856 total bases.

STYLING

Teams were back in their regular-season club jerseys – whites for the NL, mostly grays for the AL – after four years of special All-Star uniforms that were much criticized.

New York Yankees infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. arrived in a Valentino smoking jacket and Christian Louboutin shoes. Instead of having players line up on the foul lines as they were introduced, they walked to a four-level red podium stretching across the infield dirt with flashing lights, smoke a DJ and dancers.

MLB draft: Angels take Louisville 3B Jake Munroe, 10 more pitchers on Day 2

Staff and news service reports — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 00:45:46 +0000

The Angels selected 10 more pitchers with their 17 picks on the second day of the MLB draft, but they started Monday by selecting Louisville third baseman Jake Munroe with the 109th overall pick in the fourth round.

The 6-foot-2, 230-pound Munroe slashed .346/.451/.593 with 13 home runs, 13 doubles and 61 RBIs in his only season at Louisville after two seasons at Logan Community College in Illinois. He was named to the all-tournament team at the College World Series last month.

Combined with the four pitchers they selected on Sunday, the Angels ended up with 14 pitchers (four left-handers) among their 21 total picks, to go with three outfielders, two third basemen, a shortstop and a second baseman.

Of their 21 total selections, nine players came from high school programs, including left-handers Talon Haley (12th round) and Xavier Mitchell (13th round). The 6-2 Haley, a Vanderbilt commit from Lewisburg, Mississippi, is a cancer survivor (non-Hodgkin lymphoma) who has already had two Tommy John surgeries. The 6-3 Mitchell is a Texas commit from Prestonwood Christian Academy in Plano, Texas. He pitched for the U.S. 18-and-under national team last summer but was shut down this season with shoulder fatigue.

After selecting Munroe, the Angels went back to pitching in the fifth round, taking 6-2 high school right-hander CJ Gray (140th overall) from Kannapolis, North Carolina. The N.C. State commit had scholarship offers to play quarterback at several mid-major programs and has a power sinker that reaches 96 mph to go with a slider and a solid changeup.

After selecting 6-4 right-hander Luke Lacourse from Auburn, Michigan, in the sixth round (No. 169 overall), the Angels grabbed Clemson sidearm specialist Lucas Mahlstedt in the seventh (No 199 overall). The 6-3 right-hander was the Tigers’ closer as a senior.

The Angels selected Arizona State outfielder Isaiah Jackson (No. 229) in the eighth round and Georgia third baseman Slate Alford in the ninth round (No. 259). The 6-3 Alford had a big senior season for the Bulldogs, slashing .331/.440/.649 with 19 home runs, 16 doubles and 63 RBIs in 60 games.

Missouri State second baseman Nick Rodriguez was their 10th-round pick (No. 289). The left-handed hitter slashed .368/.444/.702 with 18 homers, 22 doubles and 56 RBIs on his way to Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year honors.

After that, it was 6-5 Georgia lefty Alton Davis II in the 11th round, Haley and Mitchel in the 12th and 13th, high school outfielder TJ Ford (Trinity Christian School, Georgia) in the 14th round and 6-2 high school right-hander and South Florida commit Mikey Cascino (A3 Academy in Flordia) in the 15th. He threw a 17-strikeout no-hitter this past season.

The Angels selected speedy Florida State outfielder Gage Harrelson in the 16th round, 6-4 high school righty Cole Raymond (Avon Old Farms School, Connecticut) in the 17th, 6-foot UCF right-hander Angelo Smith in the 18th round, high school shortstop Ivan Tatis (Georgia Premier Academy) in the 19th round and 6-5 college right-hander Sam Tookoian (Mississippi) in the 20th round.

MLB All-Star notes: Dave Roberts defends Jacob Misiorowski selection

The Associated Press — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 22:15:14 +0000

By CHARLES ODUM AND RONALD BLUM AP Sports Writers

ATLANTA — National League All-Star manager Dave Roberts said including Milwaukee rookie right-hander Jacob Misiorowski on his team was “an easy answer” despite complaints from some players over his inclusion after just five major league appearances.

“If it brings excitement, attention to our game, then I’m all about it,” Roberts said before Monday’s Home Run Derby.

“I think for me, kind of my North Star is the All-Star Game should be the game’s best players,” the Dodgers manager added before also addressing the other side of the argument by adding “It’s about the fans and what the fans want to see.”

Misiorowski has pitched in only five games, a record low for an All-Star, creating a debate between those who say the game is for the most deserving players and those who say the game is for the fans.

The 23-year-old created an instant stir when he threw a 100.5 mph fastball for his first pitch in the big leagues. Oh, and for good measure, he opened that debut on June 12 against St. Louis by throwing five no-hit innings before leaving with cramping in the Brewers’ 6-0 win.

The 6-foot-7 rookie is 4-1 with a 2.81 ERA and has 33 strikeouts with only 12 hits allowed in 25⅔ innings. It’s an impressive debut, but some players still believe the right-hander hasn’t been in the game long enough to merit All-Star consideration over more established players.

Philadelphia shortstop Trea Turner was outspoken in his criticism of the decision to add Misiorowski to the team when Phillies left-hander Cristopher Sánchez, who is 8-2 with a 2.50 ERA, didn’t make the team. The Phillies also lobbied for left-hander Ranger Suárez (7-3, 1.94).

“What a joke,” Turner told reporters.

Misiorowski said Monday he wasn’t offended.

“They’re not upset with me,” he said, adding he is as surprised as anyone to find himself in Atlanta for Tuesday night’s game.

“The last five weeks have been insane,” Misiorowski said. “I thought the All-Star break would be a chance to sit down and reflect. Now we’re here.”

Turner’s teammate, All-Star Kyle Schwarber, said Monday the attempt by Phillies players to speak up for Sánchez and Suárez “was not an attack at Misiorowski by any means. It’s an honor for him that he’s here and it should be an honor for him. It’s not his fault that he’s only pitched five games and he got named.”

Schwarber said Misiorowski could be an All-Star “every year that he pitches. It’s just more of the fact of our guys were having some really good years and some pretty good every day starts and numbers. You want them to feel like they’re gonna get represented the way that they should be.”

Schwarber added that he would likely talk to Misiorowski during All-Star week and would tell him “he’s doing a great job at what he’s doing and he’s going to be a perennial All-Star for years to come.”

Roberts said he plans to bring Misiorowski into the game as early as the fifth inning. “And it’s going to be electric,” Roberts said. “So the fans, the media, you’re going to love it.”

Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw, 37, is on his 11th All-Star roster, this time as a legend pick by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred. When asked about the conflicting opinions about Misiorowski, Kershaw said “I don’t think it’s conflicting. I think everybody wants the best players here.”

San Francisco right-hander Robbie Ray, 33, said Misiorowski has “an electric arm. He’s a special talent and I’m excited to watch him pitch.”

Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker, who is serving on Roberts’ staff and has experience selecting an All-Star roster, said there’s room for a player as inexperienced as Misiorowski to find a spot in Tuesday night’s showcase.

“You know what? It’s an exhibition game,” Snitker said. “He’s another great talent. … There are some guys that are very deserving. It is what it is.”

OHTANI, ACUÑA ATOP NL LINEUP

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani will bat leadoff as the designated hitter for the NL on Tuesday night, and he will be followed in the batting order by left fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. of the host Braves.

Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte will hit third in the batting order announced Monday by Roberts, followed by Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman, San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado, Dodgers catcher Will Smith, Chicago Cubs right fielder Kyle Tucker, New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor and Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong.

Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Paul Skenes will start his second straight All-Star Game, MLB announced last week. Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal will make his first All-Star start for the American League.

“I think when you’re talking about the game, where it’s at, these two guys … are guys that you can root for, are super talented, are going to be faces of this game for years to come,” Roberts said.

Detroit second baseman Gleyber Torres will lead off for the AL, followed by Tigers left fielder Riley Greene, New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge, Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh, Toronto first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr,. Baltimore designated hitter Ryan O’Hearn, Tampa Bay third baseman Junior Caminero, Tigers center fielder Javy Báez and Athletics shortstop Jacob Wilson.

Ohtani led off for the AL in the 2021 All-Star Game, when the two-way sensation also was the AL’s starting pitcher. He hit leadoff in 2022, then was the No. 2 hitter hitter for the AL in 2023 and for the NL last year after leaving the Angels for the Dodgers.

Skenes and Skubal are 1-2 in average four-seam fastball velocity among those with 1,500 or more pitches this season, Skenes at 98.2 mph and Skubal at 97.6 mph, according to MLB Statcast.

A 23-year-old right-hander who played at El Toro High, Skenes is 4-8 despite a major league-best 2.01 ERA for the Pirates, who are last in the NL Central. The 2024 NL Rookie of the Year has 131 strikeouts and 30 walks in 131 innings.

Skubal, a 28-year-old left-hander, is the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner. He is 10-3 with a 2.23 ERA, striking out 153 and walking 16 in 121 innings.

ROBOT UMPIRES MAKING ALL-STAR DEBUT

Skubal views the strike zone differently than robot umpires.

“I have this thing where I think everything is a strike until the umpire calls it a ball,” the Detroit star said Monday.

MLB has been experimenting with the automated ball-strike system in the minor leagues since 2019 and will use it in an All-Star Game for the first time on Tuesday night. Each team gets two challenges and retains the challenge if it is successful.

“Pitchers think everything is a strike. Then you go back and look at it, and it’s two, three balls off,” Skenes said Monday. “We should not be the ones that are challenging it.”

“I did a few rehabs starts with it. I’m OK with it. I think it works,” said Kershaw, a three-time Cy Young Award winner. “Aaron Judge and Jose Altuve should have different sized boxes. They’ve obviously thought about that. As long as that gets figured out, I think it’ll be fine.”

Manfred anticipates the system will be considered by the sport’s 11-man competition committee, which includes six management representatives.

Many pitchers have gravitated to letting their catchers and managers trigger ball/strike appeals. Teams won 52.2% of their challenges during the spring training test. Batters won exactly 50% of their 596 challenges and the defense 54%, with catchers successful 56% of the time and pitchers 41%.

Hall of Famer Joe Torre, an honorary AL coach, favors the system. After his managing career, he worked for MLB and helped supervised expanded video review in 2014.

“You couldn’t ignore it with all the technology out there,” he said. “You couldn’t sit and make an excuse for, ‘Look at what really happened’ the next day.”

Now 84, Torre recalled how his Yankees teams benefitted at least twice from blown calls in the postseason, including one involving the strike zone.

With the 1998 World Series opener tied and the bases loaded with two outs in the seventh inning, Tino Martinez took a 2-and-2 pitch from San Diego left-hander Mark Langston that appeared to be a strike but was called a ball by Richie Garcia. Martinez hit a grand slam on the next pitch for a 9-5 lead, and the Yankees went on to a four-game sweep.

Asked whether he was happy there was no robot umpire then, Torre grinned and said: “Possibly.”

Then he added without a prompt: “Well, not to mention the home run that Jeter hit.”

His reference was to Derek Jeter’s home run in the 1996 AL Championship Series opener, when 12-year-old fan Jeffrey Maier reached over the wall to snatch the ball above the glove over Baltimore right fielder Tony Tarasco.

WILL YAMAMOTO BE A RED CARPET FASHION STAR?

When Yoshinobu Yamamoto makes his All-Star Game red carpet debut Tuesday, stylist Whitney Etoroma expects the Dodgers pitcher to shine just as much as he does on the mound.

“I think it will be a moment,” she told The Associated Press.

The pair are making a final decision on what he’ll wear, but Etoroma is pushing for a Thom Browne runway look that will “push the envelope.”

As part of a program created in 2019, MLB provided stylists for the red carpet to Yamamoto, Seattle catcher Raleigh, Skubal and the Cubs’ Crow-Armstrong as baseball aims to raise its fashion profile and highlight the style of some of its biggest stars.

Yamamoto won’t pitch in the All-Star Game after throwing seven scoreless innings for the Dodgers on Sunday but will participate in the festivities leading up to it. He’s in his second season in the majors after signing a 12-year, $325 million contract following a seven-year career with the Orix Buffaloes in Japan.

Etoroma, who has styled scores of professional athletes, said designers have been particularly interested in Yamamoto, which she believes is because of his cool look and international appeal.

“I’m excited because fashion actually really cares about Yoshi, which is kind of a rarity,” she said. “I will say with other players in the past, they haven’t been as excited, but with Yoshi, it’s something special, something different.”

Though she has 15 different looks for Yamamoto to choose from, she’s hoping to steer him to the Thom Browne look because of the exclusivity of the brand.

“I’ve been like look, this is gonna be incredible,” she said she told him. “If you do Thom Browne, game over, that’s actually a huge level up in fashion. They don’t say yes to anybody. It has to be a very specific person and so hopefully we do that. But I’m not gonna push too much (and) if not I’m happy to go with the classic look.”

Whatever suit he chooses, it will be accessorized with David Yurman jewelry.

Wearing a visionary designer like Thom Browne might be a bit much for Yamamoto, who calls Nike his favorite designer.

“Being honest, I’m not that into fashion, but I appreciate (being called stylish),” he said in Japanese through a translator Monday.

He did say that he’s looking forward to the red carpet, but wouldn’t give any hints as to what he’s leaning toward wearing for the event.

“That’s a secret, I’m not telling,” he said.

Melanie Boppel, who recently styled Jalen Hurts and his wife Bryonna for the Met Gala, is dressing both Raleigh and Skubal for this year’s red carpet.

Skubal, a two-time All-Star who is starting for the American League on Tuesday night, has been working with Boppel to curate a look that will make him feel confident on the red carpet.

“What’s going to be really important are accessories,” she said. “He really wants to tie in Detroit, since that’s the team he plays for and he also wants to tie in the city of Atlanta since the All-Star game will be taking place in Atlanta. So, I hope to bring out those two ideas he has through accessories. We’ll see how that pans out. It might be through his wardrobe as well.”

Boppel hopes the momentum gained from Tuesday’s red carpet style will trickle down to create more interest among fans in what they’re wearing all season like there is for basketball and football.

“The day of the red carpet, there is a lot of focus on the athletes, but it’s just the longevity of style being at the forefront of the players throughout the rest of the season that’s the hard part,” she said. “There’s so many games, they’re traveling so it’s just hard to continue that. But they do get a lot of recognition for the red carpet and All-Star and that whole weekend and I hope at some point it does continue to stick and there is consistency there.”

Raleigh, who leads the majors with a career-high 38 home runs, describes his style as “very bland,” and added: “I’m not the style guy.”

But he is looking forward to sprucing up Tuesday night.

“I like looking good,” he said at All-Star media day. “I think everybody does, right? You want to look good. Especially on the red carpet. I like looking professional and putting together a good fit.”

The catcher said working with a stylist for the event has been great for him.

“I don’t love shopping too much, so it’s nice having somebody that can just throw something on, and I just can pick it and it’s easy,” he said.

And for someone who earned the nickname “Big Dumper” for his generous backside, there’s one must-have for him when it comes to clothes.

“As long as it stretches, I like it,” he said.

AP sports writer Kristie Rieken contributed to this story.

Swanson: Angels’ 1st half ends with a loss and puzzling draft pick

Mirjam Swanson — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 02:31:06 +0000

ANAHEIM — Gotta give it to the Angels; they’re on another level.

Not talking an exceptionally high level; not the top-shelf stuff.

Just very much on their own plane, dancing to their own beat, repeating their familiar one-step-forward, two-steps-back shuffle into the All-Star Break.

On Sunday, that meant they punctuated their surprisingly competent two-games-under-.500 first half with an exclamatory thud.

As the team on the field was losing to the Arizona Diamondbacks, 5-1, to drop to 47-49, the team in the front office was using its No. 2 overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft on a player who experts at MLB.com listed as the 18th best available prospect.

And why?

Angels scouting director Tim McIlvaine explained, they shocked even UC Santa Barbara right-hander Tyler Bremner with the pick because, well, they really, really like him.

They like his 6-foot-2 frame, his fastball, his changeup and, McIlvaine said, “you just get a feeling sometimes with a guy, that just feels right.”

They really, really like him just a smidge more than the other nine or so guys they were considering taking, he said.

“We talked about it right up until the bell, really,” McIlvaine said. “It’s a talented group this year, it really is. Probably 10 guys that we were really exhausted, going through the whole process.”

What about Bremner’s work-in-progress slider? Yep, “it’s developing,” McIlvaine said.

And those questions about his durability? “We talked to him, realized the weight he lost over the summer, he’ll be able to put that back on,” McIlvaine said.

So Bremner should come at a bargain, contract-wise, one would think? Was that the appeal? “No, I wouldn’t say that … we’re still gonna figure it all out,” McIlvaine said.

What about Bremner’s collegiate record – 5-4 in 14 starts this past season? That only made the Angels like him more! “So many guys that we take, they’ve never failed, you know?” McIlvaine said. “And then you get them in pro ball and they’re matching all their peers and it’s harder all of a sudden and some guys don’t know how to deal with it.”

Please keep in mind that it had to have been a difficult season for Bremner, whose mother, Jen Bremner, was fighting cancer, continuing to come to Gauchos games until she couldn’t anymore.

On Instagram, Bremner memorialized his mom with a heartfelt post on June 12 that read, in part: “Saying goodbye to you has been the hardest thing I have had to go through in my life. Why did this evil disease have to come into the life of such a pure hearted soul.”

On a Zoom videoconference with reporters on Sunday, he said that he knows “she’s out there watching, and in a weird way, I went to the Angels. It’s weird how life works.”

To his new employers, Bremner said: “You got a warrior here, you got the most competitive guy in the draft, and I can’t wait to start.”

There’s no reason to doubt the 21-year-old San Diego native’s fight or compete, but it’s usually hard not to doubt the Angels’ thought process.

And now they’ve set up Bremner to have to do some real prove-it pitching.

The No. 2 pick in any draft is supposed to set out to prove people right, not to prove them wrong – unless, I guess, a player is insulted he didn’t go No. 1 overall.

In the Angels’ case, their No. 2 overall pick would not have been miffed even if he hadn’t gone in the top 10.

But now he’s been put in the position of having to show the world that his new team isn’t wrong about him, that the Angels haven’t mismanaged this pick – the highest since they selected Darin Erstad at No. 1 overall in 1995.

He’ll have to prove to his own team’s fans that the Angels haven’t minimized this asset.

Taking aside how much the most highly touted available prospects would have bolstered the Angels’ famously flimsy farm system, hearing Ethan Holliday’s name, or Kade Anderson or Seth Hernandez’s would have fired up those fans who want badly to have hope in a team that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2014.

Fans who had been buoyed by the first half of the season, which had given them that, a bit.

The peaks and valleys almost leveled out at .500, and an average ol’ team, record-wise, was worth watching for the upside of its young core.

That was enough to buy the Angels some time with their fans, but you can only buy so much when you’re skating on thin ice.

Angels select UCSB pitcher Tyler Bremner with No. 2 pick in MLB draft

Mike Digiovanna — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 00:51:43 +0000

ANAHEIM — Tyler Bremner’s stock might have slipped in the eyes of most draft analysts this season, but he shot to the top of the Angels’ draft board on Sunday when the team selected the UC Santa Barbara pitcher with the second overall pick.

The 6-foot-4, 190-pound right-hander went 5-4 with a 3.49 ERA in 14 starts for the Gauchos this season, striking out 111 and walking 19 in 77⅓ innings, but he seemed as surprised by the pick as many Angels fans who hoped the team would choose one of the more high-profile players available.

“Definitely just overwhelmed with shock and emotion,” Bremner said on a video call. “I don’t think this was really something that we thought was a possibility up until recently. So it was definitely a shock, and that’s kind of the emotion coming out. But it’s also just a really emotional time for me and my family right now.”

Bremner played his entire college career while his mother, Jennifer, battled breast cancer. Jennifer died on June 11 and was buried last week.

“She came out to all the games all the way up to the point where her body wouldn’t let her anymore,” Bremner said. “But she’s a fighter, and I know she’s out there watching. It’s weird in a way that I went to the Angels. It’s weird how life works.”

Bremner, a former San Diego Scripps Ranch High standout, features a lively fastball that sits in the 95-mph range and touches 98 mph and a plus changeup. But he struggled to throw his 87-mph slider for strikes this season, which is one reason he fell to No. 18 on MLB Pipeline’s draft ranking.

“We’ve been following Tyler for years,” Angels scouting director Tim McIlvaine said. “I watched him on Team USA over the summer, and through this year and all the adversity that he’s gone through with his mom, and in the second half, he was as good as anyone in the country. His stuff really ticked up. He finally felt good. …

“We really like his changeup. We think it’s a pitch that whenever he’s in trouble, he can get outs with it. We like his fastball. He’s 6-4, and he’s gonna put on more weight still. There’s a lot you can really dream on.”

The slider, McIlvaine admitted, is a work in progress.

“It’s his third pitch, and it’s developing,” McIlvaine said. “There are days where he has it and it’s really good and he gets a lot of swing-and-miss with it, and there are other days where it’s still coming.”

There have also been some questions about Bremner’s durability after the 21-year-old went back and forth between starting and relieving in his first two seasons at UCSB, when he went 16-5 with a 3.63 ERA in 37 games, striking out 184 and walking 38 in 144 innings.

“We talked to him and realize the weight he lost over the summer – he’ll be able to put that back on,” McIlvaine said. “Once we talked through the whole situation with him, it put all those worries to bed for us.”

There are no questions about Bremner’s competitive fire, which was apparent throughout this season and especially in the second half.

“Funny enough, as [my mom] got worse, that’s when I got stronger on the field,” Bremner said. “I feel like I did a very good job of almost using that kind of negative energy and channeling it into pitch and pitching angry, or pitching for her, pitching for something bigger than myself.

“It was a challenging season, especially to come out of the gate and not perform how I wanted to from the start. Obviously, I wanted to just dominate. But I kept on my path, trusted my stuff, and eventually it just clicked for me.”

MORE DRAFT NEWS

The Angels rounded out the first day of the draft by selecting LSU right-hander Chase Shores in the second round (47th overall), Texas high school left-hander Johnny Slawinski in the third round (79th overall) and Tennessee right-hander Nate Snead with a supplemental pick after the third round (105th overall).

The 6-8, 245-pound Shores threw 47 pitches of 100 mph or more during the NCAA tournament for the College World Series-champion Tigers. He complements a fastball that sits between 94-98 mph with arm-side run with a low-80s slider and an upper-80s changeup with fading action.

The 6-3, 180-pound Slawinski went 9-1 with an 0.37 ERA for Lyndon B. Johnson High, giving up 22 hits, striking out 177 and walking 14 in 74 innings, to win Prep Baseball Texas Player of the Year honors. He has good command of a low-to-mid-90s fastball, upper-70s slider, mid-70s curve and low-80s changeup.

The 6-2, 212-pound Snead pitched in relief at Tennessee, going 4-2 with a 4.53 ERA and six saves in 23 games, striking out 42 and walking 21 in 49⅔ innings. He complements a sinking fastball that sits between 95-97 mph and touches 101 mph with a low-90s cutter and a low-80s curve.

HISTORIC DAY

Saturday marked the first time in major league history that four Japanese-born pitchers started games on the same day.

Angels left-hander Yusei Kikuchi got the win over Arizona, Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani threw three scoreless innings in a win over San Francisco, San Diego right-hander Yu Darvish got a no-decision against Philadelphia, and Washington rookie left-hander Shinnosuke Ogasawara got a no-decision against Milwaukee.

“I was not aware of that,” Kikuchi, speaking through an interpreter, said after giving up three runs and six hits in 5⅔ innings of a 10-5 win. “Hopefully, we can be an inspiration to the kids who look up to us. There’s a lot of kids who play baseball over there and are dreaming of playing in the major leagues, so if we can be an inspiration, great.”

Angels drop sloppy loss to Diamondbacks before All-Star break

Mike Digiovanna — Sun, 13 Jul 2025 23:01:43 +0000

Los Angeles Angels pitcher José Soriano throws to an Arizona Diamondbacks batter during the first inning of a baseball game in Anaheim, Calif., Sunday, July 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh)

1 of 6

Los Angeles Angels pitcher José Soriano throws to an Arizona Diamondbacks batter during the first inning of a baseball game in Anaheim, Calif., Sunday, July 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh)

Expand

ANAHEIM — Any chance the Angels had of evening their record and building some momentum heading into the All-Star break evaporated during an ugly fourth inning in which the Arizona Diamondbacks scored four unearned runs en route to a 5-1 victory on Sunday afternoon at Angel Stadium.

One day after amassing 15 hits in Saturday night’s 10-5 win, the Angels mustered only three hits on Sunday. Arizona starter Merrill Kelly somehow managed to limit the Angels to one run and one hit in five innings despite walking four of the first 10 batters he faced and throwing just 58 of his 98 pitches for strikes.

Angels right-hander Jose Soriano experienced his usual control problems, walking three batters during a five-inning, five-hit, 91-pitch start in which only one of the five runs he allowed was earned. Soriano, who is 6-7 with a 3.90 ERA, ranks second among major league pitchers with 55 walks in 113 innings.

But it was the shaky defense that was most responsible for the Angels falling to 47-49 heading into the break, third baseman Yoán Moncada committing one of his two errors in the fateful fourth inning.

“We had our chances, and we didn’t make some plays,” Angels interim manager Ray Montgomery said. “It would have been nice to get that one and complete the sweep and a real good homestead going to the break, but we’re in a good spot.”

The Angels parlayed Zach Neto’s aggressive baserunning into a 1-0 lead in the third, Neto leading off with a walk, tagging up and taking second on Nolan Schanuel’s fly ball to center and scoring on Mike Trout’s single to left-center, career RBI No. 995 for the three-time American League MVP.

But Moncada’s second error of the game opened the door for the Diamondbacks to score four times in the top of the fourth.

Geraldo Perdomo led off with a walk and took second on Josh Naylor’s single to left-center. Eugenio Suárez followed with a grounder to the left of Moncada, who attempted to snag the ball, step on the third-base bag and throw to first for a potential double play.

The wiser choice would have been for Moncada to field the ball and throw to second, the base his momentum was carrying him toward. Instead, Moncada leaned toward third before securing the ball, which rolled under his glove and into left field, allowing Perdomo to score for a 1-1 tie.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. popped out to shortstop, and Alek Thomas struck out, but Blaze Alexander dunked a soft RBI double to left for a 2-1 lead. Angels left fielder Taylor Ward fielded the ball cleanly but neglected to throw to second, where he might have had a play on Alexander.

Switch-hitting catcher Jose Herrera then sliced a two-run double just inside the third-base bag for a 4-1 Arizona lead.

“Sori’s grinding right there, he’s working through it, and he made a pitch,” Montgomery said. “Nobody feels worse than Yo. That’s a ball he makes a play on 99 out of 100 times. It led to a few runs and put Sori in a tough spot.”

Should Moncada, who is playing with a sore right knee, have gone to second base on the Suarez grounder instead of attempting the tag-the-bag-and-throw double play?

“I didn’t talk to him about it, but, you know, with Suarez, he’s got a chance to just roll that one over,” Montgomery said. “Obviously we all know that If he had a chance to do it over again, he probably would have just spun the double play [and thrown to second] the way we normally do.”

The Diamondbacks took advantage of another defensive miscue to tack on an insurance run in the fifth. With two outs and Perdomo on first, Suarez blooped a hit to shallow right.

Angels right fielder LaMonte Wade Jr. raced in and fell short in his attempt to make a diving catch, the ball getting by him and allowing Perdomo to score from first on the double for a 5-1 lead.

Moncada was pulled from the game in the sixth.

“He keeps telling me he’s good to go and he’s battling through some stuff – we all know that,” Montgomery said. “At that point, with the four days coming up, I just wanted to give him a little extra breather and so I got him out of the game.”