Angels' All-Star Has Advice For Struggling Teammates

He has made a huge jump from last season.

Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

The Los Angeles Angels' rotation and bullpen have struggled mightily the last two seasons. These struggles have only been exacerbated with the departure of Shohei Ohtani in free agency, depriving the team of their best pitcher and their best hitter.

The Angels currently rank third-to-last in MLB in ERA overall. The rotation has a 4.63 ERA (26th in MLB) even with Tyler Anderson and his 2.97 ERA pitching a team-high 118 innings. A two-time All-Star, Anderson's ERA ranks 12th in MLB. He's improved significantly since last season, when he slumped to a 5.43 ERA in his first year in Anaheim following an All-Star campaign in 2022 with the Dodgers.

Anderson reflected on his rebound this season, and shared what kind of advice he would give to some of his teammates.

“I just feel like you’ve got to do a deep dive and know what makes you good," Anderson said, via Jeff Fletcher of the O.C. Register. "And if you don’t know that, it’s hard. If you don’t really know what your strengths are, it’s hard to try to revert back to your strengths and hone in on your strengths. But I think as a player if you’re struggling you have to know when you’re at your best what you do well, and then figure out how you get back to doing those things.”

Besides Anderson, Jose Soriano (3.71) is the Angels' only other starting pitcher with an ERA under 4.00. Many of the starters they were counting on have struggled. Reid Detmers was sent back down to Triple-A Salt Lake after posting a 6.14 ERA. Chase Silseth is currently pitching out of the bullpen at Salt Lake. Jose Suarez was designated for assignment with an 8.15 ERA.

Ideally, Anderson's improvement and advice will pass on to his teammates. Anderson himself is a good bet to get traded at the deadline, which will leave the team without its best pitcher and likely drop their ERA even further.