As the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim got swept over the weekend against the Seattle Mariners, it was one of their younger players who was dealt more than a loss in the midst of a brutal stretch for the Halos.
Left-handed starter Reid Detmers, who was looked at to be one of the frontline starters for the Halos this year and looked like it in the first weeks of the season, was recently optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake City after surrendering five earned runs on four hits with four walks and three strikeouts in 3.2 innings pitched on Saturday afternoon in Seattle.
After starting the season 3-0 in his first four starts with a 1.19 ERA, Detmers has gone 180 degrees in the wrong direction going 0-6 in his last eight starts with an 8.93 ERA and finally, the Angels decided enough was enough for the 24-year-old lefty who cannot seem to get on track.
Detmers was clearly frustrated with the latest setback, but is trying to be professional about the situation.
“It just sucks, there’s no other way to put it,” an emotional Detmers said of his demotion. “I just have to be better. You can take it two ways. You can pout about it and not get better or go there and get to work and figure some stuff out and get called back up. It’s been tough; it’s been a long month.”
Manager Ron Washington wants Detmers to be able to work on whatever the issue in a less stressful environment.
“He just hasn’t been able to consistently put hitters away,” Washington said. “Like today, he was ahead of hitters all day long but then the next thing you know it was 3-2. He just couldn’t command his slider, which is his pitch. The whole idea is to get him in an environment where it’s not about results. It’s about finding your stuff.”
Sometimes a demotion to the minors isn’t the worst thing. It allows you to be away from the intense scrutiny of the fans and media, and be less stressed while having the time to work with different coaches to really figure things out.
For the Halos, Detmers is the latest addition to a mediocre season. Whether it’s been injuries to their star players, an untrustworthy bullpen, a shaky offense, or a starting rotation that’s been inconsistent, the bottom line is this Halos team is struggling at all levels without a clue of what they’re going to get from anyone on any given night.
Whatever good stretches they may have occasionally like winning five of seven two weeks ago is being drowned out by their awful stretches like losing eight of their last nine games including two sweeps by the Mariners and the Cleveland Guardians at home.
Detmers along with fellow lefty Patrick Sandoval (2-8, 5.34 ERA, 1.48 WHIP) should be the anchors of this rotation; instead they’ve been two of the more disappointing starters this year despite some pockets of success.
Combine their issues with an offense that isn’t scoring much, and it becomes a recipe for disaster.
Hopefully, Detmers will get called back up later this month or perhaps sometime in July, and we will see the guy that was dealing the first month of the season.
However, we all know he’s not the only that has to get on track on this mediocre squad, but unfortunately, Detmers is the latest example of what is wrong in Anaheim.
