Angels sit Jared Walsh against left-hander again, and numbers back up decision

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 towards 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 proportion, 29 homers and 98 RBIs he compiled final season and demanded to be inserted within the lineup towards the Baltimore Orioles at Angel Stadium, proper?

“No, no, no, I’m attempting to remain out of hassle,” Walsh stated with a hearty chuckle. “If I make it a problem, it’s a problem, so it falls on me. I’ve the best perspective, 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 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 towards left-handers, together with a .170 batting common and .565 OPS towards them final season.

“It’s what it’s,” stated Walsh, who is 2 for eight towards left-handers this season. “I believe I simply have to drive their hand. I believe with extra at-bats, extra reps, hopefully I’ve good at-bats [against left-handers] and I’ll work my manner in there. I’m fairly assured.”

However the one manner for Walsh to get extra comfy within the field and enhance towards left-handers is to face them extra typically, and he can’t try this from the bench.

“You’re proper — how do you get higher if you happen to don’t do it?” Maddon stated. “However then you’ve Matt Duffy or Jack Mayfield sitting on the bench. Isn’t it a wiser factor to do, within the brief time period, [to play them]? Jared will hold getting higher with it. He’ll nonetheless get alternatives. However proper now, we’ve the best personnel combine.”

It’s exhausting 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 towards left-handers, and Mayfield, who began at second base, had 4 hits in 10 at-bats (.400) with two RBIs towards southpaws.

The one recreation Walsh began towards a left-hander, the April 7 season opener towards Houston, the Angels misplaced. The following 4 video games Walsh didn’t begin towards a southpaw, the Angels gained.

“If a lefty is an actual reverse-split man who’s manifestly higher towards righties than lefties, we’d undoubtedly [play Walsh],” Maddon stated. “For now, it’s working too effectively to mess with. However he’s nonetheless going to play the vast majority of the video games, and he’ll have the suitable variety of at-bats by the top of the 12 months.”

Center-infield shuffle

Infielder David Fletcher, sidelined for 10 days by a left hip pressure, began a rehabilitation project with triple-A Salt Lake on Friday that Maddon stated “might be a few days, it might be every week — I don’t know proper now.”

When Fletcher, who began 4 of the workforce’s first 5 video games at shortstop, does return, Maddon stated he’ll play “extra second base than he had earlier than,” a nod to Andrew Velazquez’s excellent protection in Fletcher’s absence.

Velazquez entered Friday with 4 defensive runs saved in 70 innings in keeping with FanGraphs, essentially the most of any main league shortstop. He has made all of the routine performs and a few excellent 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 brief time period, if Velazquez and Fletcher are in the identical lineup, Velazquez will play shortstop and Fletcher second base, Maddon stated.

An ideal storm

Maddon stated 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 assume he was straining, I’d let him do it,” Maddon stated. “However 120, 130 pitches in all probability could be like a Waterloo, the purpose you’d say let’s name off the jam. However I believe the way in which he was throwing, he may have gotten it inside 120 to 125 pitches, which I’d have been fantastic with.”