The Los Angeles Angels signed Alek Manoah to be their fifth starter, but now two other pitchers are beating him out.
The Los Angeles Angels have plenty of competition for spots up and down the entire roster, and one of the most spirited battles is the jousting to join the back of the rotation. Alek Manoah was the favorite to be the fifth starter, but he’s struggled after a couple of strong initial starts, and now two other pitchers are making their case to beat him out.
Jack Kochanowicz and Bryce Johnson are the names to watch here, and Kochanowicz may have pitched his way into the rotation yesterday, according to Perla Paredes and Courtney Hillman of MLB.com.
Kochanowicz made a slightly stronger case than Johnson, as he gave up just one run in five innings while throwing 92 pitches against the Cincinnati Reds yesterday, and he struck out six and walked three. What gives him the edge is that his 1.98 ERA for the spring is better, with that number coming over 13-2/3 innings with 11 strikeouts, according to the writers.
“It's definitely been good. More than anything, I've been getting the right kind of at-bats. I want to be able to get a lot of early contact,” Kochanowicz said. “Strikeouts are fun, but I want to get through innings. So that’s been good, and more than anything, the ball is coming out how I want.”
Ryan Johnson is still in the running, and he threw a strong game yesterday as well in his split-squad start against the Milwaukee Brewers. He also threw five innings and gave up just a single run, but Johnson’s ERA for the spring is now 3.78, albeit with 18 strikeouts in 16-2/3 innings.
"We've got good problems, we've got to make tough decisions," Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. "Those two guys have been pitching unbelievably this whole spring. So kudos to them and way to make it hard on us."
The first starter spot is rarely a strength for most teams, so it’s important to keep that in mind. Suzuki is doing a solid job of sorting things out so far, but it will be interesting to see what happens to see what happens when one of these guys gets hit around in an early-season start.
"I'm just thinking about myself," Kochanowicz said of the roster race. "That's the only productive way to go about it. My job is to execute pitches. ... I kind of just always have to keep the blinders up besides that."