Angels News: Rockies Staff Writer Expects Breakout Season from Carlos Estevez

Rockies writer Nick Groke says new Angels reliever Carlos Estevez will be a different pitcher with Los Angeles than he was with Colorado.

Last week, the Angels signed relief pitcher Carlos Estevez, who spent the first six years of his career with the Rockies before hitting free agency and getting out of Colorado as fast as possible. Estevez signed a two-year, $13.5 million deal and will get a chance to close games for the Halos.

Over at The Athletic, Rockies writer Nick Groke wrote a column about some of the players whose fantasy stock went up or down at the Winter Meetings, and he listed Estevez in the "Up" category.

"Estévez isn’t going to Anaheim as the pitcher he was. The [Angels] want the pitcher he can be. And removing Coors Field will almost certainly boost him into prominence. Even pitching a bulk of his games in the thin air of elevation, Estévez boosted his park-adjusted ERA from 110 in 2021 to 135 last season (where 100 is league average and higher is better), according to Baseball-Reference. In other words, he was 35 percent better than league average last year. And his traditional ERA dropped year-over-year by more than 90 points. He’s trending in the right direction anyway and now he can pitch in a more normal environment."

Groke is right about Estevez's ERA+ of 135, but the Angels will definitely be looking for a bump in his effectiveness, especially if he hopes to be their closer. For comparison, in 2022, Patrick Sandoval's 2.91 ERA was good for a 138 ERA+, so Estevez's 135 ERA+ would be the equivalent of an ERA just under 3.00 in Anaheim. With a closer, you're looking for something much closer to 2.00 than 3.00, so Estevez will be counting on his stuff playing up once he's out of the altitude of Denver.

His stuff is outstanding, though, so there's every reason to expect that improvement. The Angels sure are.