ANAHEIM — Reid Detmers struggled as a starter for a couple of years before having a breakthrough as a reliever in 2025. That earned him a chance to start again this season.
Now, 10 starts in, he has a 5.07 ERA. He’s had stretches of good work, even dominance, in most of his games, but he has continually run into trouble with one bad inning.
A day after Detmers gave up eight runs in a 14-6 loss to the A’s on Tuesday night, Manager Kurt Suzuki said he firmly believes that Detmers is best suited for the rotation.
“I feel like if you look at all the peripherals and stuff, it’s really good,” Suzuki said. “I’m not saying this as an excuse. It just seems like he get an inning where there are some jam shots and some off the end of the bat, some softer contact gets from runs to come in. It’s tough luck that way.”
There are numbers to back up Suzuki’s assessment.
Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) estimates what a pitcher’s ERA would normally be based on the three factors he controls the most: strikeouts, walks and homers. Detmers’ FIP is 3.10.
That stat was in vogue 20 years ago, but these days it’s been replaced by expected ERA (xERA), which uses the quality of contact to judge a pitcher’s effectiveness.
In this case, that number tells the same story. Detmers’ xERA is 3.24.
None of that is any consolation to Angels fans who judge him by what actually happens between the lines, not what should have happened.
Suzuki said they talked to Detmers on Wednesday to keep his spirits up.
“We said, ‘Hey, you’ve got to keep working, keep executing pitches and things will change,’” Suzuki said. “But you’ve got to believe it, and you’ve got to keep going.”
JOHNSON DOWN
The Angels optioned right-hander Ryan Johnson to Double-A on Wednesday. He will pitch out of the rotation there. Among the issues they want him to address are his reduced velocity.
The average velocity of Johnson’s sinker was 91 mph during his time in the major league bullpen this month. It was 94 mph in spring training and last year.
Johnson had an illness and then a hamstring issue after starting the season in the major league rotation, but he said on Monday he felt fine.
“He’s been battling back, to get his strength back,” Suzuki said. “We wanted him to get stretched out and start and see how he does.”
The Angels called up left-hander Tayler Saucedo to take Johnson’s spot in the bullpen.
KIKUCHI UPDATE
Yusei Kikuchi is confident that he’ll be back with the Angels sometime this summer.
Although the fact that it took more than a week for the Angels to release a diagnosis on Kikuchi’s left shoulder led to an assumption that he has a serious injury, Kikuchi said on Wednesday that he was never concerned. He had not spoken to the media since the diagnosis.
The Angels said Kikuchi had just shoulder inflammation, and he would rest for three or four weeks and then build up to pitch again.
Kikuchi said surgery was never presented to him as an option. There was a conversation, he said, about coming back even sooner. He ultimately decided on a more conservative route.
“I have a doctor that I really trust, so I wanted to get his opinion too, but we were on the same page,” Kikuchi said through his interpreter. “There weren’t any new opinions from the doctor I trust. I think we’ll get back pitching soon, within the next two to three months.”
For now, Kikuchi said he feels “no pain at all” and he’s looking forward to “throwing a ball soon.”
Kikuchi, 34, is in the second year of a three-year, $63 million deal. He was an All-Star in 2025, when he posted a 3.99 ERA. He had gotten off to a bad start this season, with a 5.81 ERA.
Kikuchi started throwing a splitter this year, and he had been tinkering with his arm angle, but he said he doesn’t believe either of those contributed to the injury.
NOTES
The Angels outrighted right-hander Alek Manoah, which opens a spot on the 40-man roster. Manoah was optioned to Triple-A on Sunday. Manoah is expected to remain in the organization, because he doesn’t have enough service time to refuse the outright without forfeiting what’s left of his $1.95 million salary. …
Infielders Denzer Guzman and Christian Moore are both hitting well at Triple-A Salt Lake lately. Guzman is hitting .312 with an .890 OPS, including 1.197 in May. Moore had missed a couple of weeks with a hamstring injury, but since he came back he’s 10 for 29 (.345) in six games. For the season, he’s hitting .255 with an .882 OPS.
UP NEXT
Athletics (RHP Luis Severino, 2-5, 4.45 ERA) at Angels (RHP José Soriano, 6-3, 2.41 ERA), Thursday, 6:38 p.m., ABTV, 830 AM