Why the Angels' Bullpen Will Be Better Than Most Expect

The Angels’ bullpen has some really good arms, and to some, is an underrated bullpen.

The bullpen held up quite nicely to begin the season in 2019′, but later ended up being taxed due to the starting pitchers not being effective and injuries.

Let’s take a look at who will be returning to the bullpen.

Bullpen Options

Luke Bard

Bard has an incredibly high spin rate but with how much he has been up and down from Triple-A it is hard to know if Bard can be consistent at the big league level. He has at times shown he can be a great reliever but has often been put into situations that are not ideal to be in.

Taylor Cole

Cole is coming off a season in which he struggled at times but the advanced metrics suggest that he was really unlucky. He struggled for most of the time when he was used as an opener and how much the bullpen was used might have been a factor.

There were a couple of times he was used as an opener and did not make it out of the first inning. He has the ability to pitch more than 1-2 innings if needed on occasion.

Locks for the Pen

Cam Bedrosian

Bedrosian is a solid arm for the bullpen and has continued to improve each year. He has surprisingly been with the Angels the longest out of all the pitchers on the roster.

Justin Anderson

Anderson is a power arm and is coming off a season that saw his velocity drop a bit. He has struggled with walks and if he can limit the walks he could make this bullpen much better in the back end.

Keynan Middleton

Middleton was the Angels closer before undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2018′ and returned to the big leagues in September last-season. He pitched 7.2 innings while giving up 1 run. In his short time back his velocity wasn’t where it was before the surgery, but if he gets the velocity back he could also play a huge role in the back-end of the bullpen.

Noe Ramirez

Ramirez is not your typical reliever as he relies on his command and funky delivery to get outs. He has a career 10.2 Strikeouts per 9 innings which is quite high for a guy with a low 90’s to high 80’s fastball. Ramirez has the ability to get more than 3 outs which is a great thing to have.

Setup

Ty Buttrey

Buttrey is a dominant arm and was one of the best relievers in baseball for most of the first half, but the heavy usage might have taken a toll on him as his first and second half splits are quite different. The first half saw Buttrey dominate as he had an ERA of 2.57 in 42 innings compared to a 5.93 ERA in 30.1 innings in the second half.

Closer

Hansel Robles

Robles has been quite the find for the Angels after claiming him off of waivers from the New York Mets in June of 2018. He is coming off of an excellent season in which he was the Angels closer for most of the season after RHP Cody Allen struggled.