Joe Maddon is optimistic Angels pitching will improve

There’s no question that when healthy, the Angels have one of the top offenses in all of baseball. On paper, their pitching staff is by no means the best, but it’s definitely solid. Safe to say, through the first month of the season, the pitching staff for the Angels has been their downfall.

LA is now sitting at 16-20 on the season. After a hot start start to the season, they just can’t pull together any sort of winning stretch. Only three teams in the American League have a worse record than they do.

As of today, the Angels’ 5.23 team ERA is the worst in baseball. Regardless of how good your offense is, when your pitching is allowing only average five runs a game, it’s going to be tough to win.

However, Angels manager Joe Maddon is optimistic that the numbers will get better and the Angels will be just fine.

“The stuff out of the hand and numbers are good,” Maddon said to reporters following the game on Wednesday. “They’re good. Their velocity is where it’s supposed to be. Their breaking pitches are what they’re supposed to be.”

Ironically, although the Angels’ staff has the worst ERA, they are striking out more hitters than anyone in the American League. Their staff has a SO/9 rate of 10.52, the best in the AL and the second best in all of baseball. So, if they are striking out more hitters than anyone else, why are they struggling? Well, for starters, their walk rate of 4.35 per nine innings is the worst in all of baseball. So, they’re issuing more free passes than anyone else.

Opponents are also hitting .249 off them, the third worsr in the AL.

“It’s all about confidence,” Maddon said. “It’s all about getting on a roll. It’s all about momentum. These guys are going to feel our support.”

As mentioned earlier, the offense isn’t a problem for the Angels. Once they can get consistent pitching from their starters and bullpen, they’ll start winning ballgames again.

Angels links

• Jared Walsh is the Albert Pujols replacement, and he’s been the best hitter in the AL since September
• Angels lose yet again after home run barrage from Astros
• Is this Mike Trout’s greatest season ever? His dad saw this coming before anyone else