Angels' Top Free Agent Signee to Face Live Hitters

Maren Angus-Coombs | Apr 5, 2024

Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

The Los Angeles Angels have yet to see their high-paid free agent reliever Robert Stephenson pitch in an Angels uniform. He has been dealing with a shoulder injury and didn't pitch at all this spring.

That could change soon with news posted on social media by Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. According to him, Stephenson threw his third bullpen in a week on Wednesday.

"He's got a live BP (batting practice) coming up and then probably will start a rehab assignment soon after," Fletcher wrote.

Signing Stephenson was the most significant deal the Angels made this offseason agreeing to a three-year, $33 million contract with the reliever. He was briefly shut down because of the shoulder problem early in the spring and was hoping to be ready by Opening Day.

Earlier this spring, Angels manager Ron Washington told reporters that they had done all the testing necessary to make sure the soreness was nothing serious.

“The kid was scared," Washington told reporters on March 15. "He never had that kind of discomfort before, but it’s nothing major. Now he knows that and we’ll progress a little quicker, but I don’t know if it will be quick enough for him to open the season.”

That date is long gone and the Angels nor Stephenson have given an exact timetable of when he will make his Angels debut but he mentioned March 30 that he expects to return before the end of April.

The Angels brought him in after a strong second half of 2023 with the Tampa Bay Rays. With a minor tweak to his slider after a June trade from the Pittsburgh Pirates, he posted a 2.35 ERA with 60 strikeouts and eight walks in 38 1/3 innings with the Rays.