Promising Angels Pitcher Undergoes Season-Ending Surgery

Maren Angus-Coombs | Sep 15, 2024

Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images

When the Los Angeles Angels transferred Jose Marte to the 60-day injured list roughly two weeks ago, it was because of an illness.

On Saturday, Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com confirmed that Marte successfully underwent shoulder surgery.

Marte was placed on the 15-day injured list on Aug. 10 with a viral infection, once he was transferred to the 60-day IL on Aug. 30, he season was over.

Jose Marte underwent successful right shoulder surgery, the #Angels announced

— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) September 14, 2024

Marte's year ends with a 2.33 earned run average across 19.1 innings in 14 games.

In his last appearance of the season, Marte logged 1.2 scoreless innings against the New York Yankees.

While Saturday brought a bit of tough news with Marte, it also featured a great moment for Eric Wagaman who notched his career first hit, an RBI double off presumptive Hall of Famer Justin Verlander in a 5-3 loss to the Houston Astros at Angel Stadium.

The Orange County native grew up in Aliso Viejo, Calif., just 20 miles south of Anaheim, and made his big league debut on Tuesday. Days later, Wagaman hit a 2-1 curveball down the left-field line, which came in front of roughly 25 family members and friends at the game, including his parents, Julie and Jim.

“It's definitely pretty special, especially because of all the family and friends that I have here tonight,” Wagaman said. “It felt good to get the first one out of the way. I feel like I've taken a couple good swings and they haven't fallen, but it's part of the game.”

After beginning his career hitless in his first nine at-bats, the Wagaman family knew the first was coming. Julie said it still felt like a dream when it happened and she felt speechless watching it unfold.

“It was insane,” Julie Wagaman said. “I don't know what else to say. I knew it was going to happen. It was a beautiful hit. And there's a guy on base, so he got an RBI double. And off Verlander. I mean, are you kidding me?

"I don’t know what else to say, it was just epic and beautiful, and I knew he could do it.”

The Yankees selected him in the 13th round of the 2017 MLB Draft, and he spent six seasons in their system, reaching Double-A. However, New York left him unprotected in the Minor League phase of the Rule 5 Draft, and the Angels picked him up to strengthen their corner infield depth.

“That was pretty cool,” Wagaman said. “I grew up an Angels fan, so as soon as that happened, it was kind of the same deal, like a lot of people reached out. I was excited. I went to a ton of games growing up, and I had a lot of favorite players on the team.”