Angels See Former First-Round Pitcher as Potential Rotation Piece in 2024

The Angels might promote one of their best young relievers to the rotation.

The Los Angeles Angels face a season of significant changes, as they prepare to play without Shohei Ohtani for the first time in six years. Their first priority will be to address the starting rotation.

As they will look to decide who will be the fifth man in the rotation, it appears the Angels might count on Sam Bachman to join the starting rotation next year.

Despite spending most of last year pitching out of the bullpen, Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register reported the Angels still view Bachman as a starting pitcher, and he will be a "full go" next season after dealing with a shoulder injury that kept him out for most of 2023.

“We’ll come into spring training and see where it goes, but we believe he can start,” Minasian said.

Per Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register

When Bachman's contract was selected from Double-A Rocket City on May 26, there was no space for him in the starting rotation. Shohei Ohtani, Patrick Sandoval, Griffin Canning, Reid Detmers, Tyler Anderson and Chase Silseth were comfortably holding down jobs for a team still four games above .500.

Due to the Angels' need for relief pitching, Bachman was relied on out of the pen. In 11 games, Bachman went 1-2 with a 3.18 ERA, two holds, and one save. Additionally, he struck out 14 batters in 17 innings.

Bachman pitched his final game on July 3, after which he was placed on the injured list with an injury the team described as "shoulder inflammation."

It was a glimpse, however brief, of Bachman's potential as a former first-round pick. He was effective in getting runners to ground out into double plays (4) without allowing a home run.

Sam Bachman did a fantastic job at the end of the game.

6 up, 6 down to give the back-end of the bullpen a night off.

This sequence was his best: pic.twitter.com/hHbGa6bMge

— BTH (@BeyondTheHalo) June 8, 2023

Before his time with the Angels, Bachman was a star pitcher at the University of Miami Ohio. In 2021, he was one of the NCAA's best pitchers, with 93 strikeouts in only 59.2 innings to go with a 1.81 ERA.

Bachman was drafted by the Angels with the ninth pick in the 2021 MLB Draft.