Recap: It might look like a regular old .500ish season and maybe even a step forward from 1972 but 1973 was a topsy-turvy year for the Angels. After starting the season 6-9, they went 22-7 from April 28 to the end of May to find themselves half a game up on the Rangers. Then a 1-8 swing to open June led to a 9-21 month, followed by a 12-17 July, and suddenly as of the All-Star Break they were just 47-49 and 13 1/2 games behind Texas. And theeeen, starting in August, they rattled off 5 straight wins against the Rangers and the A's which at least got them back to .500. They finished 17-9 that and as of the morning of September 1 they were 8 1/2 games back, still within shouting distance. Then they
finally put together a .500 month to end the year.
The Angels had a very finesse-y pitching staff, even after the acquisition of ace closer Montay Luiso, and were kind of middle of the pack in just about everything. Again, though, this is a little deceiving: "middle of the pack" in this case means they had a couple of good, solid frontline guys but also some awful play coming from guys who were supposed to be solid veterans. The defense, which has been really solid in the past when Norm Hodge patrolled centerfield, could best be described as good and solid if not quite great.
1974 Outlook: You'd think this was a young team given their relative lack of success and all. However, the Angels have spent some money and resources over the past couple years trying to contend and their clock is ticking. In order for them to win the AL West crown they're going to probably need a combination of returns to form from veterans such as Andy Ring and Willie Vargas and setbacks by both the White Sox and Rangers. Hate to say it but it looks like the division has already passed the Angels by.
Mike Brookes
3B/DH No. 6
SR, 6'2" 200 lbs.
Born 1938-11-28
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 MIN MLB | .275 | 112 | 400 | 73 | 110 | 22 | 2 | 27 | 72 | 73 | 61 | 1 |
| 1972 MIN MLB | .204 | 106 | 362 | 39 | 74 | 12 | 3 | 13 | 34 | 68 | 76 | 4 |
| 1973 PHI MLB | .227 | 50 | 176 | 31 | 40 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 28 | 27 | 29 | 4 |
| 1973 CAL MLB | .239 | 42 | 142 | 16 | 34 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 21 | 23 | 2 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
The power outage that Mike Brookes, a 3-time MVP who's 22nd all-time in HRs with 306, suffered in 1972 got even worse last year and by August the longtime Twins stalwart found himself on his 3rd team in 2 years. If anything, the power problem got worse after the August 15 trade, with Brookes hitting his only AL homer of the year in a 15-7 barnburner of a loss to his former teammates in Minnesota. Throughout it all, too, he kept missing time from injury, from a strained PCL that forced him to miss all of June and most of May to a strained hamstring he suffered in mid-September that he simply tried to play through.
The Angels, needless to say, would love to see that power return. Brookes was still largely effective with the Twins in 1972 in spite of the lack of power because he draws so many walks. In fact, in 1970, his last MVP season, he finished just 2 bases on balls off the record set by Henning Rasmussen in 1955, a decade when generally there were a lot more free passes. He still walked a decent amount last year but you have to figure that those totals will drop once pitchers figure out he doesn't have that prodigious homerun stroke anymore. He's still a very good defensive third baseman; although he played 12 times at DH with his new team last year that was mostly to keep his bat in the lineup while he suffered through his latest injury. He's never been a great baserunner and of course when he's suffering through leg injuries he's no threat to do anything on the bases.
Brookes is a naturally funny guy who probably has a career ahead of him as a color commentator when his career is through. Still only 34 as of this writing, we're crossing our fingers that his career isn't through quite yet.
Gary Bruno
RHP No. 35
RR, 5'8" 176 lbs.
Born 1945-09-04
Code:
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| yrtmlvl | w | l | sv | era | g | gs | cg | ip | h | r | er | bb | k |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| 1971 CAL MLB | 14 | 14 | 0 | 3.27 | 38 | 38 | 11 | 277.2 | 284 | 111 | 101 | 75 | 111 |
| 1972 CAL MLB | 11 | 14 | 0 | 2.99 | 32 | 32 | 8 | 240.2 | 228 | 103 | 80 | 59 | 109 |
| 1973 CAL MLB | 15 | 14 | 0 | 3.23 | 33 | 33 | 12 | 245.0 | 245 | 100 | 88 | 65 | 129 |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
Bruno's a classic pitch-to-contact pitcher and he was at his pitch-to-contact most in 1973. Even though he reversed the leaguewide trend and struck out more batters last year than the year before, hitters managed to raise their average off of him from .252 to .260. That said, that .260 is kind of all guys get off of him: he allowed only 0.5 HR/9, his lowest rate in 4 years and just outside of the top 10 this year, and 2.4 BB/9, good for 10th. This allowed him to throw a lot of 7-inning, 2-3 run games, as evidenced by the 23 quality starts in 33 outings. Unfortunately for him, his team never seems to score runs around him. Do they not like him? Outside of a 16-8 1970 Bruno has never been appreciably above .500. I should note here, too, that he was really bad at keeping runners on base last season, allowing 18 stealers to take their base.
Bruno's a guy who leaves it all out on the field, pumping his fist when he gets a late strikeout (which to be fair to him is not something he does a lot). He doesn't really have the profile to be a fan favorite unless you're a fan of going to 90 minute long games. He's the Platonic ideal of a mid-rotation starter. Right now it looks like he'll be more of a #2 or #3 on this team but that's an Angels issue more than a Gary Bruno issue.
David Camacho
LHP No. 22
RL, 6'7" 201 lbs.
Born 1941-07-25
Code:
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| yrtmlvl | w | l | sv | era | g | gs | cg | ip | h | r | er | bb | k |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| 1971 NYM MLB | 12 | 10 | 0 | 3.81 | 34 | 31 | 4 | 217.0 | 222 | 104 | 92 | 58 | 141 |
| 1972 CAL MLB | 10 | 7 | 0 | 3.40 | 23 | 23 | 5 | 164.0 | 147 | 63 | 62 | 45 | 95 |
| 1973 CAL MLB | 6 | 10 | 0 | 5.24 | 30 | 20 | 3 | 137.1 | 168 | 93 | 80 | 49 | 60 |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
"Macho" Camacho (note: not the boxer), along with Carlos Figueroa, was one of the biggest disappointments of the year for an Angels team who really and truly thought they had a chance at contending. Although on paper he stayed healthy all year this year - his 1972 was cut short by tendinitis in his shoulder - the 32 year old Mexican native threw like he was pitching through an injury. He's always been a finesse type pitcher but he just stopped getting strikeouts at all after May: 33 Ks in 80.1 IP from June onwards. He got pulled out of the rotation following a disastrous 2-4, 6.89 July and was barely on the roster through the end of the year: just 9 games and 10.1 IP in August and September.
It's really hard to project Camacho as a successful reliever based on pitching once a week in the second half of the year. He did find ways to be effective, with just 1 run allowed in 11.1 innings in relief, but he still wasn't striking anyone out (only 5 Ks). The drop in stuff, which at least wasn't accompanied by a drop in velo, is really, really discouraging.
Shaun Dennehy
C No. 18
RR, 5'10" 203 lbs.
Born 1943-12-09
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 CAL MLB | .248 | 126 | 408 | 45 | 101 | 12 | 2 | 7 | 39 | 63 | 78 | 0 |
| 1972 CAL MLB | .196 | 121 | 321 | 32 | 63 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 28 | 52 | 66 | 0 |
| 1973 CAL MLB | .213 | 74 | 211 | 15 | 45 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 17 | 40 | 0 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
Dennehy followed up a really terrible 1972 campaign by somehow hitting even worse last year and now the 29 year old's career is in jeopardy. The biggest issue appears to be that he just plain stopped hitting for power. Dennehy's always been a guy who chops at the ball and tries to hit to all fields, which isn't a super great profile for a lead-footed catcher, but in years past he was able to make solid contact often enough to make pitchers a little bit wary. He stopped doing that in 1972 and this past year pitchers seemed to figure that out and often let him "groove" fastballs down the pipe to weak ground balls to shortstop. His walk rate, which was really the only thing that made him stand out among hitters, plummeted and he didn't even post a .500 OPS last year.
Dennehy wont the NL Gold Glove at catcher in 1970 by default and is not really considered a fantastic defensive backstop. He threw out a lot of batters in Atlanta in 1970 but for his career he's got a perfectly pedestrian 34.3% CS rate. He's quite a bit better than teammate Tsui Hark at blocking pitches in the dirt, not that that's saying much, and he's not... terrible at handling a pitching staff. He's very much not a leader though. He'll lay down a bunt, which is just about the only thing he's above average at nowadays.
A guy like Dennehy can still stick around in the league for a while if he doesn't make waves, and he's not really the wave-making type. Right now the Angels really have nothing down the pipe to replace him as a backup. Since he does provide a decent defensive foil for the offensive-minded Hark, he should see a caddy role for at least the next year or two, even if he never finds the hitting stroke again.
Bernd Eichinger
LHP No. 21
LL, 5'10" 177 lbs.
Born 1949-04-11
Code:
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| yrtmlvl | w | l | sv | era | g | gs | cg | ip | h | r | er | bb | k |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| 1971 AND A | 4 | 3 | 0 | 2.79 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 74.0 | 68 | 23 | 23 | 15 | 66 |
| 1971 WIL A | 5 | 1 | 0 | 2.15 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 54.1 | 52 | 14 | 13 | 21 | 30 |
| 1972 PFD AA | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1.97 | 16 | 16 | 14 | 141.1 | 117 | 35 | 31 | 27 | 77 |
| 1972 DEN AAA | 8 | 1 | 0 | 2.74 | 11 | 11 | 6 | 88.2 | 73 | 31 | 27 | 22 | 56 |
| 1972 TEX MLB | 4 | 3 | 0 | 2.44 | 10 | 10 | 4 | 77.1 | 62 | 24 | 21 | 31 | 47 |
| 1973 SPO AAA | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3.21 | 10 | 10 | 2 | 70.0 | 78 | 28 | 25 | 14 | 44 |
| 1973 SLC AAA | 10 | 9 | 0 | 3.36 | 21 | 21 | 7 | 160.2 | 141 | 66 | 60 | 46 | 112 |
| 1973 CAL MLB | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2.15 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 46.0 | 42 | 12 | 11 | 18 | 24 |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
In order to include good relievers I have a 40 IP minimum to get a write-up here. Sometimes that means that I trawl in guys like Eichinger, who put up 6 Septemver starts. They were good starts, granted. Eichinger was a throw-in in the Chris Seek for Bobby Ramirez and Tanzan Kihara trade and wasn't necessarily expected to see time this year but 14 wins between AAA Spokane and Salt Lake City combined with, frankly, a lot of mess with the major league starting rotation earned him an early shot.
Eichinger did strike out a decent amount of people in the minor leagues so unlike a lot of the guys ahead of him right now, you should expect the K rate to go up. On the other hand he's very much not a fireballer: he's worked hard to improve his velo from "can't break a pane of glass" as of spring training 1972 to "hits 90 on a good day" as of now. To make up for it he has command of 5 interesting pitches, including... wait for it... a nice changeup and a splitter that looks practically identical to his 4-seamer before tailing off at the last moment. He had some issues controlling that pitch in the major leagues but you can probably chalk that up to jitters.
Eichinger turns 25 just after the season begins and the future looks bright. I'd still expect him to begin the season in AAA but you never know...
Jared Ferrell
OF No. 9
LL, 6'2" 201 lbs.
Born 1946-05-18
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 DAN A | .000 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 1971 EVA AAA | .315 | 33 | 111 | 18 | 35 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 0 |
| 1971 MIL MLB | .287 | 104 | 279 | 46 | 80 | 16 | 2 | 19 | 49 | 40 | 47 | 1 |
| 1972 MIL MLB | .202 | 30 | 114 | 11 | 23 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 13 | 19 | 0 |
| 1972 CAL MLB | .260 | 70 | 181 | 15 | 47 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 24 | 18 | 36 | 0 |
| 1973 CAL MLB | .282 | 91 | 284 | 32 | 80 | 17 | 1 | 8 | 43 | 31 | 54 | 0 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
Now a 3 year veteran, the 27 year old Ferrell has settled into a role as a platoon / 4th outfielder. He doesn't really do anything to "wow" you but when you add up all the parts he's a solidly above average ballplayer. I don't really have a huge amount to say about this guy, honestly: if he can fnd that power swing that got him 19 HRs in 279 at-bats with Milwaukee a couple years ago he could rise out of platoon obscurity but as it stands he's fine.
Carlos Figueroa
RHP No. 36
RR, 6'1" 198 lbs.
Born 1946-05-04
Code:
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| yrtmlvl | w | l | sv | era | g | gs | cg | ip | h | r | er | bb | k |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| 1971 LAD MLB | 11 | 14 | 0 | 4.69 | 31 | 29 | 3 | 201.1 | 219 | 112 | 105 | 97 | 168 |
| 1972 LAD MLB | 8 | 18 | 0 | 3.42 | 31 | 31 | 5 | 233.2 | 215 | 93 | 89 | 95 | 192 |
| 1973 CAL MLB | 6 | 13 | 0 | 5.10 | 31 | 21 | 7 | 158.2 | 169 | 103 | 90 | 62 | 85 |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
Carlos Figueroa's 1972 season could best be described as hard luck: despite collecting almost 200 strikeouts, he led the NL in losses for a Dodgers team that hadn't yet fallen apart. That was enough to make the Angels trade across the city - man, this team looooves to trade with the Dodgers - sending back a pitcher in Ken Hansen who'd gone 14-16, 2.46 and an exciting CF prospect in Anatoly Karpov - to get him. Then this year the luck just plain ran out. Pitching to a new league, Figueroa's K rate fell almost in half and he allowed 32 HRs in 158.2 IP. On the road he was 1-7 with a 6.06 ERA and 2.2 HRs allowed per 9 innings.
Figueroa also didn't respond super well to adjustments the pitching coaches wanted him to make - he seems to be kind of uncoachable - and the team pretty well gave up on him from the All-Star break on. He pitched in just 8 games, 2 starts, from August 1 to the end of the year. He'll be in the running for a rotation job this year but maaaan, he's got to improve.
Tsui Hark
C No. 46
RR, 6'1" 201 lbs.
Born 1950-02-14
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 QC A | .298 | 34 | 114 | 22 | 34 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 24 | 22 | 0 |
| 1971 SHR AA | .289 | 54 | 194 | 22 | 56 | 10 | 0 | 4 | 14 | 25 | 33 | 1 |
| 1971 SLC AAA | .313 | 5 | 16 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| 1972 SLC AAA | .274 | 79 | 237 | 40 | 65 | 11 | 3 | 7 | 30 | 41 | 32 | 0 |
| 1972 CAL MLB | .327 | 34 | 49 | 9 | 16 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 16 | 4 | 0 |
| 1973 SLC AAA | .323 | 53 | 189 | 30 | 61 | 13 | 0 | 7 | 21 | 24 | 21 | 0 |
| 1973 CAL MLB | .268 | 86 | 265 | 40 | 71 | 13 | 0 | 7 | 45 | 67 | 35 | 0 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
Hark came up in the second half of 1972 and was used quite a bit as a pinch-hitter and sometimes backup catcher to great effect. Nevertheless, management decided it was best to try to give the 23 year old another year of seasoning in the minors before bringing him up for good. At least that was the plan. In reality, Shaun Dennehy failed to rebound from a bad 1972 and his anointed backup Mauricio Alvarez hit just .094 with no extra base hits over 53 at-bats in the first half. Hark, who was named the #23 prospect coming into the season, was called up, probably for good this time, on June 3rd.
It wasn't just seasoning that kept the Angels from sticking Hark at catcher. Hark already has the reputation for being a less than great defensive backstop. He's got a decent enough arm and did throw out 38.2% of runners who tried to steal on him but he's got some real problems when it comes to knocking down pitches that go where he doesn't expect him to go. Hark allowed 7 passed balls in 82 starts at catcher and probably would have given up more if it wasn't for a control-focused pitching staff.
On the other hand, the hitting looks like it's for real. No, he didn't sustain the .327 average or near-.500 OBP but the .411 he did finish with would have been the 4th highest in all of baseball had he qualified. He's also got some nice pop for a catcher, pop that scouts project to 15-20 HRs when everything is all said and done. He's as slow as you'd expect a catcher to be and even though the Angels had him lay down 5 sacrifice bunts last year that's really not a great part of his game.
Hark, a Vietnamese film-maker now living in Hong Kong, clearly doesn't have his heart all the way set on baseball. Even the 80% or so he's willing to give the game makes him potentially one of the better hitting catchers in the game today.
Elijah Harper
RHP No. 1
RR, 6'2" 200 lbs.
Born 1949-02-26
Code:
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| yrtmlvl | w | l | sv | era | g | gs | cg | ip | h | r | er | bb | k |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| 1972 SHR AA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.99 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9.0 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 4 |
| 1972 SLC AAA | 6 | 6 | 0 | 3.12 | 17 | 17 | 3 | 121.0 | 103 | 44 | 42 | 56 | 52 |
| 1973 SLC AAA | 9 | 7 | 0 | 2.00 | 22 | 22 | 7 | 170.2 | 133 | 50 | 38 | 68 | 100 |
| 1973 CAL MLB | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2.68 | 12 | 12 | 5 | 94.0 | 73 | 29 | 28 | 40 | 50 |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
24 year old Elijah Harper has been, frankly, rushed since coming out of college in 1972. In fairness to the Angels' development staff, he's looked good at every level and that includes the major leagues last year. Ideally you'd like your young pitching prospects to show a bit more power than Harper has but you play with what you have, not what you want, and the Angels suuuure do seem to have a type: Harper's yet another finesse groundball pitcher whose out pitch is a changeup.
Harper is a member of the Oji-Cree tribe who even at his young age does a lot of community development work in his home province of Manitoba. He's a guy who has a bigger picture than baseball and this seems to keep him grounded: you're not likely to see him get mad when he pitches too much or too little, and although he's been purely a starter since he was drafted he would pitch in any situation without complaint. This year I'd surely prefer him in the back of the rotation over the vets but that kind of thing is what spring training is for.
Carlos Hernandez
CF/RF No. 11
RR, 5'10" 196 lbs.
Born 1942-03-18
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 CLE MLB | .279 | 51 | 179 | 16 | 50 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 15 | 8 | 23 | 2 |
| 1972 CAL MLB | .281 | 137 | 565 | 53 | 159 | 16 | 7 | 9 | 61 | 30 | 53 | 8 |
| 1973 CAL MLB | .290 | 147 | 594 | 67 | 172 | 29 | 3 | 10 | 70 | 25 | 51 | 4 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
In his second season with the Angels, Carlos Hernandez posted his best raw numbers since he hit .296/13/57 with Clevelend in 1970. You could argue that this year was even better given that the Big A is much more of a pitcher's park than the Mistake on the Lake. On the other hand, he did have 198 hits that year and that's what pays the bills for a guy like him.
Hernandez has a natural inside-out swing and sometimes falls in love with his (40-grade) power and tries to pull everything. When this happens he usually still makes good contact, it's just, those balls wind up going right at the 3rd baseman or the left fielder. He's never exactly been a speed demon but last year was just 4/11 on steals and grounded into a career high 19 double plays. The Angels used him in center for 49 games which was a giant mistake even if they didn't have Josh Pierce available: even if he did play the position in Cleveland he has average range at best and an arm that's much better suited to right field.
Hernandez was famously traded to California after being suspended for most of the 1971 season, which in turn came when teammate Ernesto Garcia accused him of pulling a gun on him in the locker room. That may or may not have been true but the Indians had to choose to believe someone and in the end they chose their star slugger. We haven't seen anything crazy like that from Hernandez since he's been in Cal; he's not exactly the first person to show up at the park or anything (closer to the last in fact) but the worst that could be said about him is that sometimes he loafs. For now, he's producing well enough to ignore that sort of thing.
Rodrigo Juarez
2B No. 10
RR, 5'7" 154 lbs.
Born 1947-01-15
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 SF MLB | .237 | 126 | 459 | 67 | 109 | 18 | 4 | 17 | 69 | 54 | 75 | 2 |
| 1972 SF MLB | .219 | 138 | 521 | 65 | 114 | 17 | 1 | 26 | 76 | 53 | 101 | 2 |
| 1973 SF MLB | .200 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 1973 CAL MLB | .282 | 144 | 547 | 80 | 154 | 21 | 2 | 23 | 88 | 58 | 127 | 3 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
Acquired from the Giants in April for shortstop prospect and bass player John Deacon, Rodrigo Juarez was plugged into the cleanup role and delivered all season long. Second basemen don't usually hit for the kind of power Juarez is capable of, and after having trouble making contact in 1972 Juarez upped his batting average by 60 points last season, earning him his 2nd trick to the All-Star Game. His worst month was his first one, where he hit just .163 overall and 6-41 with the Angels figuring out the strike zone in the new league. The very next month he hit .365 with 8 HRs and 29 RBIs.
With a line like that you'd expect Juarez to be a dead-pull mistake hitter but in point of fact he likes high balls to the inside or outside part of the plate. He does hit everything with a big uppercut, which is part of why he strikes out so much. Of course, you get to round the bases for free if you hit the ball with an uppercut and hard enough so it's a good trade-off. Rodrigo is a better fielder than he sometimes gets credit for: he's got good range and hands and turned 124 DPs last season.
1973 was a career year for the high-strung Juarez. You probably have to expect a bit of regression in the average. At the same time, if anything he didn't hit for all the power he's got the potential to hit with. He's certainly one of the better cleanup men, not to mention second basemen, in the game today.
Bobby Kraljevic
3B No. 16
LR, 5'11" 204 lbs.
Born 1943-06-18
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 CIN MLB | .241 | 143 | 497 | 58 | 120 | 20 | 2 | 12 | 58 | 87 | 67 | 1 |
| 1972 CIN MLB | .249 | 104 | 305 | 32 | 76 | 12 | 2 | 3 | 29 | 49 | 52 | 2 |
| 1973 CIN MLB | .272 | 54 | 195 | 26 | 53 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 22 | 38 | 21 | 0 |
| 1973 CAL MLB | .189 | 53 | 169 | 26 | 32 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 31 | 16 | 0 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
The Reds finally had enough of Bobby K's sniping and backbiting in the locker room and they shipped him off to the Angels in June for practically nothing: just two mid to low tier pitching prospects. It turns out that the joke was on California, as Kraljevic left his bat in Cincinnati. The attitude, unfortunately, traveled just fine and he was very, very unhappy when the team pulled the trigger for the second time in the season to acquire a third baseman. Bobby K barely played from August forward, getting just 43 at-bats in 17 games with 8 hits.
When Kraljevic is playing well, which cannot be said about last year in the AL, he can exhaust the opposing pitcher with foul ball after foul ball until they finally give up and walk him or give him a ball he can stroke for a solid base hit. He finished 2nd in the NL in 1970 with 123 walks and followed that up with a 6th place finish in 71. He's normally got a decent power stroke with a career high 14 HRs in 1970 although that's been absent for 2 seasons now. Defensively he's got a great arm and is good enough at the other things to make him an above average if not Gold Glove quality catcher.
Kraljevic has almost certainly already worn out his welcome in Anaheim. If he even makes it to spring training it'll only be because Mike Brookes isn't healthy yet. I'm sure some bad team will want to give him another chance to play every day though.
Montay Luiso
LHP No. 2
LL, 5'11" 201 lbs.
Born 1937-12-19
Code:
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| yrtmlvl | w | l | sv | era | g | gs | cg | ip | h | r | er | bb | k |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| 1971 BAL MLB | 11 | 8 | 25 | 3.34 | 69 | 0 | 0 | 105.0 | 108 | 47 | 39 | 17 | 73 |
| 1972 BAL MLB | 5 | 6 | 27 | 2.46 | 63 | 0 | 0 | 80.1 | 66 | 22 | 22 | 21 | 69 |
| 1973 BAL MLB | 0 | 1 | 7 | 2.25 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 28.0 | 24 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 16 |
| 1973 CAL MLB | 3 | 2 | 8 | 2.68 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 50.1 | 41 | 15 | 15 | 19 | 27 |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
The Angels paid a pretty penny to acquire the veteran closer Montay Luiso from the Orioles - 2B prospect Kurt Russell - and then, following a rough June (0-1, 5.56) didn't use him the way Luiso has shown he can be used in the past. On the one hand, you have to think "come on man, the time is now"; on the other, Luiso is 35 years old and the slightly lower work rate did pay dividends in July and August at least.
Luiso throws both a 4-seam fastball and a cutter for strikes, although he no longer throws those quite as fast as he did a couple years ago. These days it'll inch over 90 mph on a good day, still plenty fast. This year the lower velocity also allowed him to really hit the zone hard in his time in California, with just 1.6 BB/9 and 2 HRs allowed with California. He's every bit as crafty as you'd think a guy like him would be, with a great pickoff move that runners have learned that you just don't even try to run on.
Luiso has a bit of a reputation as a clubhouse lawyer. That rep wasn't enough to get him off the Orioles, where he spent nearly a decade after being drafted by the Giants. He's one of the few players left in the game who pitched major league baseball in the 1950s, having debuted in 1959. He's 2nd all time in saves with 305, behind Dodgers ace (and Hall of Famer) Bill Cory, who saved 350 games for Brooklyn and LA. He won't pass that mark this year but even if 15 saves is the new normal for him, that puts him on pace to get there in 1976.
Derek Massey
LHP No. 23
LL, 5'10" 188 lbs.
Born 1945-12-14
Code:
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| yrtmlvl | w | l | sv | era | g | gs | cg | ip | h | r | er | bb | k |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| 1971 ALB AAA | 5 | 12 | 7 | 3.38 | 40 | 16 | 4 | 154.1 | 149 | 64 | 58 | 73 | 64 |
| 1972 ALB AAA | 5 | 11 | 0 | 2.83 | 22 | 22 | 8 | 171.2 | 134 | 57 | 54 | 87 | 115 |
| 1972 LAD MLB | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3.85 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 23.1 | 17 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 15 |
| 1973 CAL MLB | 1 | 4 | 1 | 3.97 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 43.0 | 38 | 19 | 19 | 19 | 28 |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
Massey, a throw-in in the Ken Hansen for Carlos Figueroa trade, spent the 1973 season as the Angels' designated left-handed specialist. Look, we are not in the LOOGY era just yet so that can mean 3-04 games and 40+ IP. Massey bucked the team trend and struck out a decent amount of guys but was perhaps just a little bit too valuable in his bullpen role to get a shot at starting. He does have the stamina and the pitch selection for it and he did look pretty decent in AAA Albuquerque in 71 and 72.
Hey, what do you know about that! Massey's arsenal includes, and I quote my scout here, "an outstanding changeup". Yeah, Derek, you and literally every single other Angels pitcher. He also throws a forkball and both a 2-seam and 4-seam fastball and in spite of not a lot of velocity he does a good job of keeping the ball down in the strike zone even when he's a little on the wild side. He ended the season pretty, pretty badly, with 8 runs allowed in his final 7.2 IP but you can blame at least some of that to rust: those innings were stretched out over 10 games in the final 2 months of the year.
Massey is waaaay down on the list for the Angels in 1974 but could certainly still find a role as a lefty... one inning guy.
Moises Melendez
RHP No. 29
RR, 6'5" 202 lbs.
Born 1948-01-24
Code:
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| yrtmlvl | w | l | sv | era | g | gs | cg | ip | h | r | er | bb | k |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| 1971 SF MLB | 14 | 10 | 0 | 2.84 | 32 | 32 | 6 | 234.1 | 215 | 86 | 74 | 52 | 102 |
| 1972 SF MLB | 12 | 10 | 0 | 2.81 | 29 | 29 | 8 | 217.1 | 183 | 70 | 68 | 50 | 118 |
| 1973 SF MLB | 7 | 6 | 0 | 2.70 | 17 | 17 | 7 | 129.2 | 124 | 46 | 39 | 38 | 68 |
| 1973 CAL MLB | 8 | 5 | 0 | 2.19 | 16 | 15 | 5 | 115.0 | 109 | 33 | 28 | 37 | 51 |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
Moises "Duck" Melendez looked like a potential staff ace in San Francisco only held back by a lack of offensive support. He continued to look like that guy in Anaheim. Don't look too hard under the hood, however: the same low-K issues that plagued teammates Carlos Figueroa and David Camacho affected Melendez as well. In fact, he struck out just 4 batters per 9 innings upon coming to the City of Angels, which is very severely at "uh oh" levels.
Melendez has always been a guy who forces you to beat him with multiple base hits. He allowed 11 HRs total and just 4 with the Angels last year, the lowest rate of his career, and he induced enough ground balls to generate 28 double plays, 12th in baseball. And you look at him pitching on the mound and that low to mid 90s fastball in particular and you think he
should get more Ks than he does. Melendez won't turn 26 until January so perhaps he has room to improve. As it stands, he figures to be a top guy for this team.
Andy O'Connor
RHP No. 34
RR, 6'0" 192 lbs.
Born 1944-06-24
Code:
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| yrtmlvl | w | l | sv | era | g | gs | cg | ip | h | r | er | bb | k |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| 1971 SLC AAA | 8 | 10 | 0 | 4.05 | 24 | 24 | 0 | 157.2 | 149 | 85 | 71 | 109 | 88 |
| 1971 CAL MLB | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.63 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 13.2 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 12 | 9 |
| 1972 SLC AAA | 18 | 4 | 0 | 2.13 | 27 | 27 | 2 | 189.1 | 121 | 55 | 45 | 102 | 106 |
| 1972 CAL MLB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.74 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 12.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 13 |
| 1973 CAL MLB | 9 | 3 | 3 | 4.64 | 41 | 9 | 1 | 116.1 | 114 | 63 | 60 | 66 | 71 |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
Don't be fooled by the wins and losses: Andy O'Connor was all over the place last year. At times he looked great: in May he threw 13 games and 23.1 IP in relief and went 6-1(!) with a 1.16 ERA. At times, like in July and August when he got called on to start, he was average: a combined 3-2 with 4 no-decisions and ERAs of 4.95 and 3.93. And at times he was the worst pitcher in the league, as in September when he went to the mound 7 times in relief, threw 4.1 innings, and allowed 11 runs (10 earned).
Like teammate Andy Ring, O'Connor's out pitch is a change of pace with a lot of movement on it. Like Ring, he had some issues controlling it this year: he allowed more than 5 walks per 9 innings and sometimes went through stretches where he was getting to 2 or 3 balls on every hitter. One thing he did do a decent job of, despite being a flyball pitcher, was keeping the ball in the park for the most part: 8 HRs allowed isn't, like, fantastic or anything but you see a guy prone to wildness and flyballs like this and you'd almost expect that number to be double.
O'Connor captured the imaginations of fans following an 18-4, 2.14 showing in AAA Salt Lake City in 1972. It's clear that that performance was minor league smoke and mirrors. As a major leaguer he's just too wild to be much more than a very up-and-down middle reliever.
Jaco Pastorius
OF No. 8
LR, 6'0" 195 lbs.
Born 1948-09-29
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 QC A | .000 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1971 SHR AA | .359 | 11 | 39 | 8 | 14 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 3 |
| 1971 SLC AAA | .289 | 55 | 204 | 23 | 59 | 13 | 3 | 4 | 20 | 20 | 42 | 3 |
| 1971 CAL MLB | .321 | 29 | 78 | 6 | 25 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 6 | 18 | 4 |
| 1972 CAL MLB | .199 | 86 | 221 | 31 | 44 | 14 | 1 | 2 | 19 | 22 | 50 | 6 |
| 1973 SLC AAA | .273 | 78 | 267 | 27 | 73 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 49 | 30 | 56 | 4 |
| 1973 CAL MLB | .225 | 43 | 129 | 8 | 29 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 9 | 33 | 5 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
One look at Jaco - hell, one listen to the man's bass playing - and you can see why the Angels rushed him to the major leagues so heavily. He went all the way from college to the pros in 1971 and looked like a future All-Star by September of that year. That said, he's suffered a couple of real setback seasons since then that have perhaps soured the team on him a little bit.
Jaco has had some really bad issues with striking out, which alone screams "give this man more time to play in the minors". That said, he did pretty well in Salt Lake City last year after he was sent down in early May. Injuries necessitated a recall in mid-July, when he was a still-encouraging 14-52 with both of his HRs and 6 RBIs. Then he didn't see ML playing time again until late September, when he struggled again (3-18, 1 BB, 4 Ks).
It's looking like even if he solves the strikeout issues, Pastorius is a bit of a "tweener": not a good enough fielder to play center or second base, not a good enough hitter to carry a corner outfield spot. He's still only 25 years old so his situation could still improve. In the meantime... I don't think the Heavy Weather album comes out for another 2 years so potential's all I got.
Josh Pierce
CF No. 13
SL, 5'12" 192 lbs.
Born 1947-03-01
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 SLC AAA | .269 | 29 | 104 | 19 | 28 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 17 | 22 | 21 | 5 |
| 1971 CAL MLB | .159 | 29 | 69 | 7 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 4 |
| 1972 SLC AAA | .224 | 96 | 343 | 44 | 77 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 44 | 57 | 43 | 14 |
| 1972 CAL MLB | .115 | 13 | 26 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| 1973 CAL MLB | .296 | 106 | 307 | 48 | 91 | 13 | 4 | 8 | 39 | 48 | 47 | 12 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
The 26 year old Pierce put it all together last season and didn't just have a good, promising year, he was legitimately one of the best centerfielders in the AL by the end of the season. Pierce has always been a pesky at-bat and a lowkey tough out who will foul off pitch after pitch before finally drawing a walk or hitting a single. In years past, including in the minor leagues, those singles were too often ground balls towards short and left. This year seems to have been the second, "consolidation" season for Pierce and a bit of new-found power. I won't say it's anything great but it was good for a lot more line drives off of his bat.
Pierce's fielding is enough to make Angels fans forget about Norm Hodge in his prime. He covers an awful lot of ground in the big Big-A outfield. He's not quuuuite as fast as you might expect him to be but on the basepaths he should be good for an easy 20 or so steals given all the time he gets on base (his OBP hovered close to .400 last year). He's a guy who takes a lot of feedback as a hitter and as a fielder and has a catchy exuberance on and off the field.
Last year Pierce, a switch-hitter, spent most of the season in a semi-platoon situation where he played all the time vs lefties but only around half-time vs righties. He's clearly ready for the bigger role.
Andy Ring
RHP No. 27
RR, 6'0" 203 lbs.
Born 1939-11-19
Code:
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| yrtmlvl | w | l | sv | era | g | gs | cg | ip | h | r | er | bb | k |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| 1971 CAL MLB | 18 | 10 | 0 | 2.72 | 32 | 32 | 10 | 240.2 | 191 | 83 | 73 | 97 | 172 |
| 1972 CAL MLB | 15 | 11 | 0 | 2.90 | 35 | 35 | 11 | 269.1 | 217 | 91 | 87 | 83 | 192 |
| 1973 CAL MLB | 17 | 11 | 0 | 3.23 | 34 | 34 | 14 | 245.0 | 224 | 94 | 88 | 101 | 146 |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
The Lizard made the move from one Tinseltown team to the other in the middle of 1970 and he's held up well as the team's ace. He still seems to be the same player he's always been; the Angels' commitment to the 5 man rotation seems to have saved the 33 year old's stamina pretty well. This past year, though, Ks were down, walks were up, and the ERA ballooned by 40 points. He likes to set up hitters with a solid, low-90s cut fastball and a slider before knocking them out with the change. That change wasn't quite finding the zone the way it had in the past. He's still got one of the best pickoff moves in the league for a right-handed pitcher.
Ring's still very much a team leader both in terms of what he does on the field and what he does off of it. Pitchers are often out in their own little world. That's not the case with Ring. Even with the slightly fluffier ERA he still found ways to win last year and there's no reason to think that will change.
Chris Seek
1B No. 3
RR, 6'2" 205 lbs.
Born 1944-10-03
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 SF MLB | .269 | 134 | 439 | 49 | 118 | 23 | 2 | 2 | 47 | 35 | 42 | 0 |
| 1972 SF MLB | .256 | 111 | 199 | 22 | 51 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 15 | 17 | 20 | 0 |
| 1973 CAL MLB | .327 | 122 | 502 | 73 | 164 | 29 | 3 | 10 | 73 | 29 | 58 | 1 |
| 1973 TEX MLB | .358 | 33 | 123 | 19 | 44 | 13 | 1 | 5 | 18 | 4 | 14 | 0 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
Sometimes a change of venue is all you need. In 5 seasons with the Giants, Chris Seek had never shown himself to be anything more than an okay if not great contact guy without the power you generally need from a first baseman. In 1,193 career at-bats with San Francisco Seek put together a .278 BA, 12 HRs, 127 RBIs, and an OPS+ of 103. Then after being claimed off waivers from the Giants last November, Seek put up a scorching-hot April and May, hot enough to entire the Angels to trade away both 3B Bobby "Ghost Runner" Ramirez and RP Tanzan Kihara for him on May 20. This trade was widely panned as the worst kind of "buy high" deal you could find... except that Seek never stopped his hot streak. He finished the year leading the AL in hits with 208 and average with a .333 mark and made his very first All-Star Game.
Seek's always been a guy who prefers to hit the ball to all fields, especially on pitches up in the strike zone. In the past the criticism has been that that cuts into his power compared to if he just tried to pull everything. This year he set a career high with 15 HRs and a slugging average just south of .500 (.485). He's not a slowpoke but he gets all those hits by swinging early and often, making contact a lot, and hitting line drives. Seek is also a very good defensive first baseman. As a right-hander he lacks any kind of an arm but he's got the hands of a middle infielder. He's a quiet, mild-mannered guy who just shows up every day and gets the job done.
Is Seek for real? I'm inclined to say yes but I am an eternal optimist. Even a regression paints him as an awfully good contact man and all but ideal 3-hole hitter for the Angels in 1974.
Mark Seitz
RHP No. 25
RR, 5'11" 186 lbs.
Born 1946-11-19
Code:
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| yrtmlvl | w | l | sv | era | g | gs | cg | ip | h | r | er | bb | k |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
| 1971 TID AAA | 7 | 3 | 7 | 2.20 | 47 | 0 | 0 | 69.1 | 53 | 21 | 17 | 19 | 43 |
| 1971 NYM MLB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.10 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 15.1 | 13 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 |
| 1972 SLC AAA | 1 | 1 | 9 | 1.12 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 32.0 | 18 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 14 |
| 1972 CAL MLB | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3.85 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 25.2 | 25 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 18 |
| 1973 CAL MLB | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2.68 | 40 | 0 | 0 | 63.2 | 63 | 25 | 19 | 21 | 30 |
+ ------------ + ------ + ------ + ------- + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------ +
With the staff around him facing a lot of change and turmoil, Mark Seitz quietly put together a solid first full year in middle relief. Never really called on to be a high-leverage guy, Seitz didn't strike out as many guys as you'd expect a guy with a mid-90s heater to get but still did well enough to pitch the Angels through the 6th and 7th innings. He's a guy who will sometimes nibble a bit too much at the plate and then miss both off the plate and, more discouragingly, over the middle.
Seitz only allowed 7 out of 26 runners to score and carried a nice ERA in spite of the HRs. He'll surely see a bigger role on this team moving forward.
Richard Simmons
SS/3B No. 5
LR, 5'12" 192 lbs.
Born 1948-01-25
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 SLC AAA | .306 | 86 | 327 | 36 | 100 | 14 | 5 | 5 | 45 | 47 | 45 | 5 |
| 1971 CAL MLB | .261 | 52 | 199 | 30 | 52 | 11 | 2 | 4 | 21 | 26 | 32 | 3 |
| 1972 CAL MLB | .234 | 136 | 441 | 47 | 103 | 15 | 5 | 10 | 44 | 58 | 77 | 10 |
| 1973 CAL MLB | .240 | 119 | 454 | 50 | 109 | 10 | 1 | 4 | 43 | 42 | 70 | 29 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
In his second full year in the majors and 3rd overall Richard Simmons showed that 80-grade speed scouts had been talking about for years. Unfortunately he lost that power that made him such an exciting prospect, finishing the year with just 15 extra base hits. At that, it took some doing to make this not a lost year. Simmons started the year out hitting .182 when he went down with a back injury in early May. He returned in June to hit a solid .284 but then fought a lingering hamstring injury that held him to .225 and .213 averages in July and August before finishing the year with a respectable .277.
Simmons needs to decide if he's a power hitter or not and play accordingly. Last year he still tried to make things work as a pull hitter even when those long flies ended on the warning track instead of the stands. If he could learn to chop at the ball instead he might be able to fashion an Alvin Romero type offensive game. One thing the Angels could do to help him with that is call on him to bunt more often: he's very good at that skill. Swinging down at the ball would also, presumably, help with the strikeouts. Defensively Simmons is very good at short with plus tools in all categories. He's a great leader, aven at 25 years of age, who leads his team in daily fitness moves and hands out cards with pictures of food on them.
I know I want to see Simmons bounce back to a truly respectable year next year. He's a good enough fielder that 1973's level of offense still makes him a net positive but a 10 HR Richard Simmons was literally an All-Star in 1972.
Paul Stewart
DH No. 28
LL, 6'3" 199 lbs.
Born 1943-03-03
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 EUG AAA | .375 | 18 | 64 | 11 | 24 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 2 |
| 1971 PHI MLB | .238 | 39 | 143 | 13 | 34 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 6 | 25 | 1 |
| 1972 LAD MLB | .262 | 125 | 465 | 49 | 122 | 12 | 1 | 12 | 50 | 36 | 49 | 2 |
| 1973 CAL MLB | .266 | 84 | 282 | 25 | 75 | 13 | 0 | 7 | 36 | 13 | 46 | 0 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
The Angels took Stewart on after a pretty rough rookie year with the Dodgers. THe hope was that California would pull a little bit more production out of him by allowing him to concentrate on hitting and at that not hit so much against left-handed pitching. Stewart finished the season with just 31 at-bats vs. LHPs (and hit .226 against them). All those accommodations met, however, Stewart still didn't really do anything to make himself stand out. His 1970, which is the production the Angels were chasing, is just off of this board: he went .298/14/62 for an up-and-coming Phillies team.
Stewart's power seems to ebb a little bit every year and AL pitchers, to be frank, were just not all that afraid of him. He's shown a decent if not great ability to work the count in years past but with California this season pitchers just weren't giving him a lot of 3 ball counts. A veteran of the NL, Stewart could certainly play the field if needed; he's got a good arm although not a lot of range.
It's going to be increasingly harder for the Angels or any other team to find a steady place for Stewart if the 30 year old continues to decline like this. Already the Angels were his 3rd team in 3 years. Does he need to make it 4 in 4 to get a real shot?
Stuart Tosh
IF No. 15
RR, 6'2" 194 lbs.
Born 1951-09-27
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 BAK A | .268 | 79 | 299 | 30 | 80 | 13 | 6 | 4 | 23 | 18 | 44 | 20 |
| 1971 DB A | .287 | 43 | 171 | 21 | 49 | 6 | 10 | 3 | 12 | 7 | 22 | 18 |
| 1972 BAK A | .310 | 99 | 423 | 83 | 131 | 25 | 4 | 10 | 48 | 33 | 63 | 62 |
| 1972 DB A | .374 | 23 | 91 | 15 | 34 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 11 | 8 | 8 | 12 |
| 1972 EP AA | .204 | 13 | 49 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 3 |
| 1973 EP AA | .344 | 39 | 163 | 21 | 56 | 11 | 3 | 4 | 21 | 4 | 7 | 9 |
| 1973 SLC AAA | .350 | 58 | 254 | 35 | 89 | 11 | 4 | 4 | 16 | 3 | 26 | 9 |
| 1973 CAL MLB | .296 | 21 | 71 | 9 | 21 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 4 | 16 | 7 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
What does Stuart Tosh need to do to get a job around here? After hitting well over .300 at 2 different levels in 1973, Tosh got a September call-up and played third base while Mike Brookes suffered through a badly strained hamstring that limited him to DH duties. The international discovery out of Scotland - I'm told he's a drummer - made the most of his cup of coffee and now has to be considered in the mix in 1974.
Tosh has middling power at best and climbed through the minor leagues by using his speed to get on base. He posted some ugly walk-to-strikeout rates at AAA Salt Lake City and the major leagues so it might be best for the 22 year old to spend another full year in the minor leagues. Defensively he's ready to go right now, at least at third base. He doesn't really have the range to play 2nd or short regularly but can definitely fill in both spots as a lete-inning defensive replacement or a fill-in for injury. His biggest asset as a defender is his gun for an arm. He stole 62 bases at A-level Bakersfield in 1972 although a look at him makes you wonder how that happened: he's got good enough instincts but average speed. I guess that said, Tosh did attempt 7 steals in the major leagues, being successful on all of them.
Stuart Tosh has a bit of that Scottish "tell it like it is" quality about him, which sometimes does not endear him to managers or his teammates. He's gotten in as a top-100 prospect each of the last 2 seasons and we currently grade him the 6th best guy in the Angels' organization (hey! the #2 man is Pete Carroll! GO HAWKS). I'm not predicting great things for him but hey, good things could be had.
Willie Vargas
LF/1B No. 7
RR, 6'2" 200 lbs.
Born 1944-09-12
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 CAL MLB | .281 | 135 | 552 | 67 | 155 | 30 | 5 | 5 | 46 | 36 | 50 | 32 |
| 1972 CAL MLB | .277 | 145 | 559 | 58 | 155 | 21 | 8 | 9 | 61 | 46 | 59 | 29 |
| 1973 CAL MLB | .272 | 138 | 552 | 77 | 150 | 23 | 7 | 13 | 52 | 34 | 44 | 20 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
Vargas led the league in hitting in 1959 with a .357 average and 225 hits and has been a little worse every year since. The big drop-off came after 1970, when he was traded from the WHite Sox to the Angels and also fell into his approximate current level of a .270-.280 hitter. This year it was really looking like he'd figured things out and was hitting like his old self: as of the All-Star Break he was hitting .295 with 11 HRs, 38 RBI, and 57 runs scored while batting at the top of the lineup. Then he fell way off, batting just .225 and .219 in the final 2 months of the year. At the very end of it he did miss a little bit of time with a bruised shoulder, which might have been lingering for a while (note: it was not).
Vargas spreads the ball around to all fields and can make good contact - when he's doing well - to all fields. He got some of that power stroke he'd lost the previous 3 seasons back this year as well, although the 2 HRs from August 1 onward is also disconcerting. The high contact also means he's not really about spending overly long in any one at-bat. Vargas kind of needs to hit well because his natural position, let's be honest about it, is DH: he doesn't have natural instints in the field in spite of his speed and he'll often get caught misplaying a single into a double. The speed is for real, although at 29 and playing in the same league as Alvin Romero he's unlikely to lead the league in steals again. He can do the hit-and-run with the best of them and is okay with the bunt.
Unless Vargas rediscovers his Chicago swing, he might not be a good enough hitter anymore to make up for his atrocious fielding (or, if he does become the full-time DH, non-existent glove). Vargas is known around the clubhouse as a "me first" kind of guy; well, Willie, it's time to think of yourself and work on that hitting.
Brad Wagner
DH/OF No. 24
LL, 5'9" 180 lbs.
Born 1949-03-16
Code:
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| yrtmlvl | avg | g | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | bb | so | sb |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
| 1971 PB A | .291 | 16 | 55 | 11 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 0 |
| 1971 MEM AA | .271 | 91 | 321 | 41 | 87 | 20 | 2 | 14 | 34 | 48 | 64 | 0 |
| 1971 NYM MLB | .211 | 33 | 109 | 15 | 23 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 13 | 18 | 22 | 0 |
| 1972 SLC AAA | .204 | 131 | 475 | 67 | 97 | 20 | 2 | 21 | 52 | 68 | 71 | 2 |
| 1973 SLC AAA | .303 | 85 | 287 | 55 | 87 | 21 | 0 | 22 | 60 | 45 | 33 | 2 |
| 1973 CAL MLB | .293 | 42 | 123 | 20 | 36 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 22 | 18 | 23 | 1 |
+ ------------ + -------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------ + ------- + ------- + ------- + -------- + ------- + ------- + ------- +
Wagner was rated the #35 prospect in the majors coming into 1973 and he did little to upset the scouts who'd rated him that highly, belting a career high 27 HRs combined between AAA and the majors. Wagner's your classic dead-pull hitter who loves him some high inside heat but unlike a lot of guys who play like him he doesn't make those big, huge cuts that result in embarrassing strikeouts. Indeed, in the first half at Salt Lake City he actually walked more than he K'ed. The power was very much un display in the majors last year, with 3 of those HRs coming in a September where he got the opportunity to start in 21 games. That month did see a disappointing 9-to-18 walk-to-strikeout ratio but we expect that was just growing pains.
Wagner might not be a good or even an average defensive outfielder but with the level of production he's already shown we could be looking at an All-Star in a couple of years.