AL West Notes: Trout, Soler, Seager, Gilbert, Miller
Mike Trout is seemingly nearing a return to action, as the Angels superstar has been taking part in batting practice sessions and running drills, and is set to start running the bases within the next few days’ time. Trout has been out since April 30 due to a bone bruise in his left knee, and when he does get back, it isn’t clear whether or not Trout will return to outfield duty or if he’ll get more time as a DH in order to help preserve his health. Halos manager Ron Washington told Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register and other reporters that the focus right now is just on getting Trout healthy, and “once Mike is back, we can have that conversation right there” about his spot in the lineup.
After years as the Halos’ center fielder, Trout began 2025 in right field, already as a way to try and reduce the wear-and-tear on the oft-injured star. Of course, if Trout takes on more of a regular DH role, that would force Jorge Soler into more right field work, which wouldn’t bode well for the L.A. defense given Soler’s long history of subpar glovework. While Washington has felt Soler has “done an outstanding job” in 13 appearances as a right fielder this season, the team feels keeping Soler in right field only in limited fashion is the best solution to help Soler’s overall game. “Running him out there five, six days in a row, we’re not going to do that. But give him two days, a change from just hitting, will help him focus more,” Washington said.
More injury updates from around the AL West…
- Corey Seager hasn’t played since May 10 due to a right hamstring strain, though Rangers manager Bruce Bochy told reporters (including Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News) that the star shortstop could be ready to return at some point this week. Friday seems to be the loose target date, though Seager could be back earlier given the increased ramp-up of his prep work — Seager has been taking part in running and fielding drills, and also took part in a live batting practice on Saturday. The plan is to have these baseball activities get Seager into game-ready mode without the need for a minor league rehab assignment. This is already Seager’s second hamstring-related IL stint of the season, which is why he has been limited to 26 games and 107 plate appearances in 2025. As usual, Seager has been excellent (.300/.346/.520 with six home runs) when he has been able to play, and the offensively-challenged Rangers could badly use that bat in their struggling lineup.
- Mariners starters Bryce Miller and Logan Gilbert each threw simulated games on Friday, with Miller throwing around 25 pitches and Gilbert going higher with 35. It was exactly a month ago that Gilbert was pulled from a start due to a flexor strain in his right elbow, and while Friday’s session was a good step forward, the right-hander suggested to MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer and other reporters that he has a ways to go in his throwing progression. This could mean another sim game and perhaps multiple minor league rehab starts before Gilbert is back in Seattle’s rotation.
- Miller (on the 15-day IL since May 12 due to elbow inflammation) is hopeful of returning as early as this week, though manager Dan Wilson expressed some caution. In perhaps more of a long-term concern, Miller told Kramer and company that some tests revealed that his elbow was structurally fine overall, but “there’s something in there that causes inflammation and something I can’t just take out without missing the rest of the year. So this ideally gets me to the end of the year, and then we can reassess and see if I need to clean it up or anything.” These comments somewhat expand on the lingering health issues the righty hinted at when speaking with the media at the time of his initial IL placement, and the exact nature of these injuries may not be known until or unless Miller does get a clean-up procedure at season’s end. With a 5.22 ERA over his first 39 2/3 innings this year, something has clearly seemed amiss with Miller’s performance, and there’s naturally some risk in trying to tough out several more months of pitching before properly addressing the problem.
Angels Promote Caden Dana
The Angels announced this evening that they have designated right-hander Shaun Anderson for assignment. Anderson’s departure would make room for right-hander Caden Dana, who Sam Blum of The Athletic notes is poised to join the club’s bullpen.
Anderson, 30, was a third-round pick by the Red Sox all the way back in 2016 who made his big league debut with the Giants in 2019. He’s pitched parts of six seasons in the majors but has never had much success in doing so. Across 162 innings of work between the Giants, Twins, Orioles, Padres, Blue Jays, Rangers, Marlins, and Angels, the righty has a career 6.11 ERA in the big leagues with a 16.8% strikeout rate and an 8.7% walk rate. He’s also had troubles with the long ball over the years, with 13.5% of his fly balls leaving the yard throughout his career.
It’s a rough profile, though a solid 2023 season in the KBO league where he pitched to a 3.76 ERA across 14 starts for the Kia Tigers offers at least some level of optimism about his ability to get outs at a higher professional level. He also has a 3.86 ERA in 349 1/3 career innings at Triple-A, suggesting he can at least be viable minor league depth for a pitching-needy club. The Angels will have one week to either work out a trade involving Anderson or attempt to pass him through waivers, at which point he would have the option to either accept an outright assignment or test free agency.
As for Dana, the 21-year-old has not yet done much at the big league level across parts of two seasons. He’s posted an 8.78 ERA in 13 1/3 big league innings so far, spread between three starts last year and one multi-inning relief outing earlier this season. Despite those lackluster performances in his brief time in the majors so far, Dana is a consensus top-100 prospect who dominated Double-A pitching last year with a 2.52 ERA across 23 starts (135 2/3 innings of work) with a 27.4% strikeout rate.
It was an extremely impressive showing, though Dana hasn’t been able to keep it up at Triple-A this year. In 38 innings of work across eight starts, he’s posted a 5.21 ERA despite a solid 24.6% strikeout rate. Much of that is surely due to the inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League, however, and perhaps getting Dana into a more pitching-friendly environment is why the Angels have decided to work to continue the right-hander’s development at the big league level. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time a top pitching prospect broke into the majors first as a reliever, with Chris Sale‘s early years with the White Sox standing out as perhaps the most noteworthy example.
The competitiveness of the big league club may also be a factor in the club’s aggressive promotion of Dana. After all, the club entered the weekend with an eight-game winning streak that had brought them back up to a .500 record, which puts them just 1.5 games out of playoff position in a weak AL Wild Card field. After a playoff drought that has lasted nearly all of Mike Trout‘s career, it makes plenty of sense for the Angels to be aggressive in trying to capitalize on that opportunity. That aggressiveness could include pushing Dana to finish his development in the big league bullpen rather than the Triple-A rotation, where he can get reps against big leaguers in a less hostile environment to pitchers while avoiding the need to build up to a full starter’s workload or pitch a third time through the order.
Red Sox Acquire Ryan Noda
Infielder/outfielder Ryan Noda has been traded from the Angels to the Red Sox, according to announcements from both clubs. The Halos, who designated Noda for assignment a few days ago, receive cash considerations in return. The Red Sox optioned Noda to Triple-A Worcester and transferred outfielder/designated hitter Masataka Yoshida to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man roster spot.
Noda, 29, was a Rule 5 success story just over a year ago. Going into 2023, the Athletics plucked him from the Dodgers and put him at first base almost every day, in addition to occasional time in the outfield corners. He stepped to the plate 495 times that year and posted an awful 34.3% strikeout rate but he also drew walks at a 15.6% clip and hit 16 home runs. Despite all those punchouts, he was on-base enough and had enough power to produce a .229/.364/.406 line and 122 wRC+.
That was generally in line with his previous minor league performance. In Triple-A with the Dodgers the year prior, he had a 16% walk rate, 28.2% strikeout rate and 25 home runs, leading to a .259/.395/.474 line and 125 wRC+.
But Noda got out to a slow start in 2024. He had a .128/.242/.198 line on May 2nd when the A’s sent him down to the minors. From then on, he did his usual thing. He had 447 Triple-A plate appearances last year with 22 home runs, a 19.9% walk rate and a 30% strikeout rate.
The A’s put him on waivers in November and the Angels claimed him. The Halos kept him in Triple-A to start the year, where he continued in his particular fashion, though with some apparent bad luck. He has a 20.1% walk rate and 34.4% strikeout rate so far this year with four home runs but a .224 batting average on balls in play, leading to a .148/.364/.270 line and 81 wRC+.
For the Red Sox, first base is an obvious target area. Triston Casas suffered a season-ending injury a few weeks ago. Designated hitter Rafael Devers was approached about trying to learn the position but he didn’t take well to that request. Second baseman/outfielder Kristian Campbell has been doing first base drills but hasn’t yet appeared there in a game. Romy González took over the position for a few days before landing on the IL with a a left quad contusion. Glove-first utility guys like Abraham Toro and Nick Sogard have been covering the position in recent weeks.
Noda is a proper first baseman with a bit of major league success and options, so he’s a logical depth add for the Sox. They can get a close-up look at him in Worcester and decide whether they want to call him up for major league at-bats at some point.
As for Yoshida, this doesn’t change anything about his timeline. He has been on the 10-day IL all season, struggling to get his shoulder healthy after last year’s surgery. His 60-day count is retroactive to his initial IL placement, so he’ll be eligible for activation in about a week. He has not begun a rehab assignment, so a return in the near future doesn’t seem likely. As of yesterday, manager Alex Cora said Yoshida would be restarting his throwing program after receiving a cortisone shot, per Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic.
Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images
Angels, Sammy Peralta Agree To Minor League Deal
The Angels have agreed to a minor league contract with left-handed reliever Sammy Peralta, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. He’d been pitching with El Aguila de Veracruz in the Mexican League and will head to Triple-A Salt Lake for the time being. He’s represented by Premier Talent Sports & Entertainment.
Peralta, 27, has spent the majority of his career in the White Sox system. He reached the majors in both 2023 and 2024, logging a combined 35 innings of 4.37 ERA ball with a 17.9% strikeout rate, 11.1% walk rate and 41.7% ground-ball rate. The soft-tossing southpaw has averaged just 89.3 mph on his four-seamer in the majors and complements that pitch with a slider sitting just north of 78 mph and a changeup that averages just under 82 mph.
Peralta opened the 2025 season with a strong showing in an intensely hitter-friendly setting in Mexico — interestingly doing so as a starting pitcher. The 6’2″ lefty has spent nearly his entire professional career as a reliever but started four games with Veracruz and notched a 2.53 ERA with a 22-to-2 K/BB ratio in 21 1/3 innings (26.5 K%, 2.4 BB%). All 25 of Peralta’s major league appearances have been relief outings, and only nine of his 150 minor league games have been starts. He’d never pitched more than four innings in a single professional appearance prior to signing in Mexico.
It’s not yet clear which role Peralta will hold with the Halos. I’m told he stretched out in Mexico not necessarily due to a preference to move to a starting role but just to expand his versatility. Angels starters rank 19th in the majors with a 3.99 ERA, though both Jack Kochanowicz (4.71 ERA) and Kyle Hendricks (5.32 ERA) have struggled in nine starts apiece. The Angels’ bullpen is dead last in the majors with a 6.82 ERA, and they recently lost Ben Joyce to season-ending shoulder surgery. Peralta posted a 4.44 ERA in 50 2/3 relief innings at the Triple-A level in 2025 and carries a career 4.80 earned run average, 21.1% strikeout rate and 8.8% walk rate in 125 2/3 innings at the top minor league level.
Angels Announce Three Roster Moves
The Angels announced three moves this afternoon, including Jose Fermin‘s placement (retroactive to May 15) on the 15-day injured list due to an impingement in his right elbow. Los Angeles selected Hunter Strickland‘s contract from Triple-A, and also designated infielder Ryan Noda for assignment to open up a spot on the 40-man roster.
Noda, 29, ends his tenure with the Angels without making an appearance with the big league club. The infielder was plucked out of the Dodgers organization by the Athletics in the Rule 5 draft prior to the 2023 season. Noda made that pick look like a brilliant move during his first season in Oakland, hitting .229/.364/.406 with 16 homers, 22 doubles, and a 122 wRC+ while serving as the A’s primary first baseman that year. With that being said, a 34.3% strikeout rate raised real long-term concerns even as he was producing at an above-average clip.
Given that, it was hardly a surprise when he struggled badly in his sophomore season as a major leaguer. Noda’s age-28 campaign saw him hit just .137/.255/.211 (44 wRC+) in 111 trips to the plate as he spent most of the season at Triple-A. Following the 2024 season, the A’s placed him on waivers and he found himself claimed by the Angels off waivers. With that being said, Noda did not make the club out of Spring Training and has failed to hit even at the Triple-A level with a .148/.364/.270 slash line in 38 games for the club’s affiliate. That was evidently enough for the Angels to feel comfortable pulling the plug on Noda, and they’ll now have one week to either work out a trade involving the infielder or try to pass him through waivers.
Noda’s departure creates room on the roster for Strickland, a veteran of ten MLB seasons already who made his big league debut with the Giants all the way back in 2014. Strickland was a solid late-inning relief arm early in his career with San Francisco, pitching to a 2.91 ERA and 3.40 FIP while racking up 19 saves in parts of five seasons. Things have been up and down in the years since then, however, with a 4.18 ERA and 4.73 FIP from 2019 to 2022 including a 2021 season where he pitched to a strong 2.61 ERA despite bouncing between three different teams over the course of the season. Last year, Strickland was a largely adequate middle reliever for the Angels with a 3.31 ERA in 73 1/3 innings of work despite a 4.45 FIP. He signed with the Rangers organization on a minor league deal over the winter but returned to the Angels earlier this month and will now get a shot in the club’s bullpen once again in 2025. In doing so, he’ll replace Fermin, a 23-year-old rookie with 7 2/3 innings of 5.87 ERA ball to his name in the majors so far.
Ben Joyce Undergoes Season-Ending Shoulder Surgery
The Angels announced today that right-hander Ben Joyce underwent surgery on his right shoulder this morning and is expected to miss the remainder of the season. Joyce is already on the 60-day injured list and will stay there for the rest of the campaign.
It’s a tough break for the Halos and one of baseball’s fastest throwers. Joyce, 24, has thrown 49 innings with the Halos to this point in his career. His fastball has averaged 101.6 miles per hour, while he’s also mixed in a cutter, sinker, slider and changeup. Despite that huge velocity, he’s more of a ground-ball pitcher, with a 53.7% rate in that department. His 21% strikeout rate and 11.4% walk rate are subpar, but he’s still managed to post a 3.12 earned run average.
He landed on the 15-day IL about two weeks into the season due to inflammation in his throwing shoulder. Joyce and the Angels seemed to initially think it was a minor issue. He framed the IL stint as precautionary at the time, saying that he “just kind of thought it was normal soreness, and ended up getting reevaluated and just a little more inflamed than we wanted it to be. So [we’re] just trying to get ahead of it.”
But last week, the Halos transferred him to the 60-day IL, indicating that the prognosis had changed. Now it seems to have gotten far worse, with Joyce going under the knife. The announcement was lacking in specifics about the procedure but the main takeaway is that 2025 will essentially be a lost season for Joyce.
The Halos have one of the worst bullpens in the league this year. Their relievers have a collective ERA of 7.07, tied with the Nationals for worst in the majors. Both clubs are almost two runs clear of their competition, as the Diamondbacks are the next-worst bullpen with a 5.18 ERA. That’s part of the reason the Angels are 17-24 so far. Getting Joyce back could have helped but that won’t happen now.
Joyce came into this year with one year and 75 days of big league service time. He’ll continue adding to that while on the IL and will therefore finish this year at 2.075. He’s slated to qualify for arbitration after 2026 and free agency after 2029.
Photo courtesy of David Banks, Imagn Images
AL West Notes: Trout, Wesneski, Kirby, Gilbert
When Angels superstar Mike Trout first went on the injured list just over a week ago due to a bone bruise in his left knee, Trout expressed optimism that he would be able to return after a minimum stay. He’s eligible to be activated on Sunday, but that ultimately will not come to pass. Trout told reporters (including Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com) that while he’s resumed swinging a bat with no issues, he has yet to begin running.
The good news is, that could change fairly soon. Trout indicated that he’ll be traveling with the Angels to San Diego for their upcoming series against the Padres this week, and there’s “a good chance” that he’ll start running on that road trip. Trout added that the pain he was feeling in his knee that led to the IL stint has now dissipated, and the veteran is encouraged enough by the progress that a return in the somewhat near future seems to be on the table, though an exact timeline won’t be able to be established until Trout resumes running.
Obviously, the face of the Angels franchise returning to the field will be a key factor in whatever hopes the club may have of clawing its way back into the AL playoff picture. A strong start to the 2025 campaign for the Halos has largely been snuffed out at this point, as they own a lackluster 15-22 record and are currently sitting in fifth place in the AL West. Even side from the odds of playoff baseball in Anaheim, however, Trout’s return to action would be reason for celebration for fans all around the game. A slam-dunk Hall of Famer who was on track to become one of the greatest players in history just a few years ago, Trout has appeared in just 295 games since the start of the 2021 season and will be looking to have his first mostly-healthy campaign since 2022 once he returns from the injured list.
More from around the AL West…
- Astros right-hander Hayden Wesneski went on the injured list yesterday due to discomfort in his right elbow. It’s an ominous diagnosis that resulted in the righty being sent for imaging, but manager Joe Espada told reporters (including The Athletic’s Chandler Rome) this afternoon that while Wesneski’s MRI showed inflammation in his elbow, the club felt that they “couldn’t get a good read of what’s going on.” Espada added that the club’s plan is now to give Wesneski a few more days of rest in hopes that the inflammation will calm down before trying to reassess the situation and decide on next steps. It’s an update that offers little clarity on Wesneski’s path forward, much less a timetable for his return. The right-hander pitched to middling results in six starts for Houston this year after being acquired from the Cubs as part of the Kyle Tucker trade, with a 4.50 ERA in 32 innings of work.
- The Mariners are without co-aces George Kirby and Logan Gilbert at the moment. Kirby has yet to pitch this year after beginning the season on the shelf due to shoulder inflammation, while tightness in Gilbert’s forearm shut him down near the end of last month. Seattle GM Justin Hollander told reporters (including Daniel Kramer of MLB.com) yesterday that Kirby would make one more rehab start after today’s outing with Triple-A Tacoma. That would put him in line to be activated at some point during the club’s upcoming road trip, perhaps either against the White Sox or the Astros. Gilbert, meanwhile, is further from a return given that he’s still just playing catch. Hollander did suggest, however, that the righty could resume throwing off the mound in the coming days. Emerson Hancock and Logan Evans are filling in for Kirby and Gilbert in the club’s rotation in the meantime.
Angels Select Shaun Anderson, Transfer Ben Joyce To 60-Day IL
The Angels made several roster moves this afternoon, selecting Shaun Anderson‘s contract and recalling Matthew Lugo from Triple-A. To make room on the active roster, they optioned Ryan Johnson to High-A and placed Gustavo Campero on the 10-day injured list. In addition, they made room for Anderson on the 40-man roster by transferring Ben Joyce to the 60-day IL.
Anderson, 30, signed a minor league deal with the Angels over the offseason. From 2019-22, the right-hander threw 135 2/3 innings over 63 games (16 starts) for five different teams: the Giants, Twins, Orioles, Padres, and Blue Jays. He struggled to limit baserunners or to strand them, pitching to a 5.84 ERA and 5.24 SIERA. He then spent the first half of the 2023 campaign as a starter for the Kia Tigers of the KBO. He pitched well, putting up a 3.76 ERA and 3.83 FIP in 14 starts, but lost his job halfway through the season to another former big leaguer, Thomas Pannone. After finishing out 2023 in the Phillies’ minor league system and briefly playing in the Mexican League in early 2024, Anderson returned to the majors, pitching for both the Rangers and Marlins last season. It didn’t go well. He gave up 19 runs (15 earned) over 16 1/3 innings, striking out just 10 of the 85 batters he faced. Nevertheless, the Angels saw something to like in his arm. He has a 5.06 ERA and 5.77 FIP in seven starts at Triple-A this season, and he will presumably offer a bit of depth to a bullpen that has been something of a disaster as of late.
Lugo, 24 today, was added to L.A.’s 40-man roster over the offseason to protect him from the Rule 5 draft, but this marks his first promotion to the major leagues; he’ll be making his MLB debut as soon as he gets in a game. A second-round pick by the Red Sox in 2019, he was traded to the Angels ahead of the deadline last summer as part of the return for Luis García. Interestingly, he is now the third player from that seemingly minor trade to appear for the Angels, following first baseman Niko Kavadas and right-handed reliever Ryan Zeferjahn, who is currently in the big league bullpen. Initially an infielder, Lugo started playing the corner outfield in 2023 and ’24 and has exclusively played center field this season. He is struggling at the plate this year, with just a .656 OPS and 66 wRC+, but he showed impressive power last season, posting a .291 isolated power between Double and Triple-A. With Campero injured, he’ll take over as the backup outfielder on the bench.
Campero, 27, made it into just five games for the Angels this season before injuring his ankle during an at-bat. He has been placed on the 10-day IL, retroactive to Wednesday, with left ankle inflammation. The fact that the injury has been diagnosed as inflammation seems to be a good sign that Campero won’t miss too much time. While he has a .605 OPS and 71 wRC+ in 18 big league games, he has crushed minor league pitching throughout his career. With Mike Trout on the IL, the Angels are short on outfield depth, so they’ll hope Campero can get back on the field before too long.
Johnson, 22, was yet another prospect the Angels promoted shockingly quickly. The team took him in the second compensatory round of the draft (74th overall) just last summer, and he made his big league debut on Opening Day 2025. There’s no doubt he has promise, as evidenced by his 3.35 SIERA and 3.60 xERA through 14 appearances. However, he has also given up 15 runs (12 earned) on 24 hits, including six runs and nine hits in his last four appearances. There’s no doubt he could benefit from some time in the minor leagues. It’s not every day that you see a player optioned from the big leagues all the way down to High-A, but then again, it’s not every day you see a player debut in the majors before he’s pitched a single game in the minor leagues.
Last but certainly not least is the news about Joyce. The 24-year-old with a triple-digit fastball has not pitched in over a month. In mid-April, he went on the 15-day IL with what the Angels initially believed to be relatively minor shoulder inflammation. The team hasn’t offered an update, but he is now ineligible to return for another month. In other words, no matter what, the word “minor” is no longer an accurate descriptor of his injury. According to Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, Joyce tried to throw earlier in the week, but his shoulder “still didn’t feel right.” He will go for further evaluation next week. The Athletic’s Sam Blum adds that Joyce is “obviously concerned,” though Blum stresses the point that there will not be a formal update until Joyce meets with a doctor. It’s always concerning to hear that a hard-throwing young pitcher has suffered a setback, but the Angels will hope their promising fireman can avoid surgery and get back on the bump later this season.
Angels, Buck Farmer Agree To Minor League Deal
The Angels have agreed to a minor league contract with right-handed pitcher Buck Farmer, FanSided’s Robert Murray reports. Farmer had been a free agent since mid-April, when the Braves released him from a minor league deal.
Farmer, 34, spent the first eight seasons of his career with the Tigers. After moving into a full-time bullpen role in 2018, he was a solid middle reliever for Detroit for three seasons, pitching 158 1/3 innings with 29 holds and a 3.92 ERA from 2018-20. He was never an overpowering presence on the mound, and indeed, many of his underlying metrics suggested his ERA in that span was unsustainable. Still, he was a reliable inning eater out of the bullpen for some mediocre Tigers teams that desperately needed those innings. Unfortunately, he struggled so badly in 2021 that he was designated for assignment and passed through waivers twice. The first time, the Tigers sent him outright to Triple-A. The second time, he was granted his release.
After a brief stint in the Rangers’ minor league system, Farmer resuscitated his career with the Reds. Across three seasons in Cincinnati from 2022-24, he pitched to a 3.68 ERA and a 3.99 SIERA over 193 innings. Rarely did he enter in high-leverage spots, but even so, he was a key player in the Reds’ bullpen all three years. In that time, only 15 relievers threw more innings than Farmer. That’s all the more impressive considering it took him some time to establish himself in 2022, and he only threw 47 innings in the majors that year.
Despite his solid, dependable performance over the previous three seasons, Farmer was only able to land a minor league deal this winter, which he signed just days before spring training began. He struggled in five spring appearances with the Braves, giving up four runs on eight hits and four walks. His struggles continued at Triple-A, where he gave up five runs (four earned) on seven hits and four walks in 4 2/3 innings.
Nonetheless, Farmer’s big league track record, and particularly his time with the Reds, speaks louder than his poor performance in a handful of spring training and Triple-A appearances. Thus, it’s hardly surprising that he landed a new minor league deal, and one would have to think his chances of returning to the majors are much better with the Angels than they were with the Braves. Indeed, just a few days ago, the Angels selected the contracts of two veteran relievers whom they had signed to minor league deals: Héctor Neris and Connor Brogdon. Angels relievers have an ugly 7.15 ERA this season, and their bullpen ranks second-to-last in the majors in FanGraphs WAR. So, if Farmer pitches well at Triple-A, L.A. won’t have trouble making room for him in the big league bullpen.
Angels Outright Touki Toussaint
The Angels announced that Touki Toussaint cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Salt Lake. He was designated for assignment yesterday when the club called up Héctor Neris and Connor Brogdon. While Toussaint has the right to decline the assignment in favor of free agency, the team did not indicate he planned to do so.
It was a brief big league stint for the 28-year-old righty. The Angels selected his contract on Saturday. He pitched the following day, allowing two runs in as many innings with a trio of strikeouts and one walk. It was Toussaint’s second stint with the Halos. He allowed a 4.62 ERA in 25 1/3 innings for them three years ago.
A former first-round pick by Arizona, Toussaint has pitched in parts of eight big league seasons as a swingman. He owns a 5.42 ERA in 282 1/3 MLB frames. He has recorded a roughly average 23.1% strikeout rate while walking more than 14% of opposing hitters. Toussaint has allowed 4.84 earned runs per nine over parts of seven seasons in Triple-A. He’s worked in long relief this year with Salt Lake, walking 14 of 96 batters faced with a 5.32 ERA.
The Angels have cycled through middle relievers as their bullpen has struggled to the worst results in the league. Entering play Wednesday, only Washington had a higher bullpen ERA than the Angels’ 6.95 mark. They’ve given up an MLB-leading 24 home runs. The Angels don’t have a single reliever who has logged a sub-4.00 earned run average.