Angels add Reid Detmers to club player pool

The Angels signed their first-round draft pick, Reid Detmers out of Louisville, on Sunday, and on Tuesday confirmed that the left-handed pitcher would be added to their club player pool, the list of up to 60 players who would be eligible to play in the majors this season.

Adding Detmers brings the Angels’ player pool to 56 players. General manager Billy Eppler told reporters Tuesday, “We wanted to make sure we leave ourselves open and flexible should the opportunity arise to acquire players, whether that’s via trade or waiver wire or if we want to sign a player to a minor league contract,” per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register.

“I think I’m gonna move pretty quick. I think I’ll get going, and have good feel right off the bat,” Detmers told ESPN’s Karl Ravech right after getting drafted, 10th overall by the Angels. “That’s my goal, to move quickly through the organization and get to the big leagues as soon as possible.”

While it remains to be seen whether Detmers will pitch in the majors, but getting added to the player pool at least puts him a step closer.

Being on the club player pool also gives Detmers a chance to actually pitch this season, even if it is just with other minor leaguers at Blair Field in Long Beach, the Angels’ alternate training site.

Minor League Baseball on Tuesday officially canceled the 2020 season, a move long since expected since the coronavirus pandemic shut down the sport for several weeks. MLB back in March suspended all minor league contracts amid a national emergency, and by not supplying minor league teams with players, MiLB had no choice but to shut everything down.

“These are unprecedented times for our country and our organization as this is the first time in our history that we’ve had a summer without minor league baseball played,” said Minor League Baseball President & CEO Pat O’Conner in a statement.

Links

• Left-handed pitcher Dillon Peters has been dealing with oblique injury, but is expected to be ready to pitch in mid-July, Eppler said Tuesday, per Rhett Bollinger of MLB,com.
• “Baseball has always been part of the healing when our country has come back from tragic times,” said Angels’ Double-A affiliate Rocket City president Ralph Nelson said Tuesday about the MiLB season getting canceled.
• Other Angels affiliates releasing statements included Triple-A Salt Lake and both Class-A teams, the Inland Empire 66ers and Burlington Bees.
• Mike Trout joined the parade of folks in and around baseball celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Negro Leagues: