2020 Angels in review: Cam Bedrosian

Cam Bedrosian’s seventh year with the Angels was a trying one, missing nearly half the season with an injury. Now, he’s a free agent whose tenure with the team might be over.

Nominally, Bedrosian’s numbers when he pitched were pretty good. The right-hander had a 2.45 ERA and 2.92 FIP, both the second-best marks of his career, with 11 strikeouts, six walks and no home runs allowed in 14⅔ innings.

But he was rarely used in any high-leverage or late-inning situations, failing to climb the depth chart of a bullpen that had the 21st-ranked ERA in baseball (4.63) and tied for the most blown saves (14). Bedrosian entered only one of his 11 appearances with the Angels leading, and of the 18 relief pitchers used by the Angels he had the second-lowest average leverage index.

Bedrosian missed 25 games on the injured list with a strained right adductor muscle, which threw a wrench into an already shortened season and knocked him out for all but two days in August.

If this is it in Anaheim for Bedrosian, the Angels’ first-round pick out of high school in 2010, he leaves with the eighth-most games in relief in franchise history (278), to go with a 3.70 ERA (114 ERA+), 3.60 FIP, and 290 walks in 277⅔ innings.

2020 particulars

Age: 28

Stats: 2.45 ERA, 14⅔ IP, 11 strikeouts, 6 walks

Salary: $2.8 million

Game of the year

During the Angels’ four-game weekend sweep of the Astros, Bedrosian provided key relief in the second game of a doubleheader on Sept. 5, retiring all seven batters he faced, with two strikeouts in his longest outing of the season.

Roster status

Bedrosian has five years, 153 days of service time, and would have been eligible for salary arbitration this winter. But he cleared waivers last week and was sent outright to Triple-A. Rather than accept a minor league assignment, Bedrosian elected free agency instead.