TEMPE, Ariz. — Hunter Strickland emerged from his brief “retirement” to put himself in a solid position to resume his big league career.
Strickland, a 35-year-old right-hander who didn’t pitch in the majors last season, has not allowed a run in 7-1/3 innings with the Angels this spring. Perhaps more significantly, he has not issued a walk, while striking out nine.
“He’s been pounding the strike zone,” manager Ron Washington said. “That’s exactly what we’ve been talking about, what we want everybody else to do.”
Strike-throwing has been such an emphasis in camp that the Angels have been posting a sheet listing the all the pitchers’ strike-throwing performance on the first pitch and on 1-and-1 counts. As of the last update, Strickland had thrown a first-pitch strike 88% of the time and he was at 100% on 1-1 pitches.
Washington stopped short of saying that the numbers gave Strickland a leg up on winning a spot in the Angels’ opening day bullpen.
“He’s been having a good spring,” Washington said. “We’ll see how it shakes out when we start to make a decision.”
The Angels appear to have six of the eight bullpen spots locked, with right-handed closer Carlos Estévez at the top. Right-handers Luis Garcia, Adam Cimber and José Cisnero, and left-handers Matt Moore and José Suarez are all safely on the roster.
Right-hander Robert Stephenson’s shoulder injury has likely opened up another spot. That could go to right-hander José Soriano, who has been working as a starter but could easily drop back to the bullpen if that’s what the Angels decide.
After that, though, Strickland is one of four candidates for the final one or two spots. He’s joined by right-handers Guillo Zuñiga and Ben Joyce and left-hander Drew Pomeranz. Strickland and Pomeranz are both in camp on minor league deals, while Zuñiga and Joyce are already on the 40-man roster.
Although there’s more to the decision than spring training numbers,…
Read the full article here
