Detmers slides back in to Angels rotation
BALTIMORE >> An injury to Michael Lorenzen's shoulder cleared the way for Reid Detmers to return to the Angels' rotation, and he's bringing his slider with him.
Detmers struggled for a month after throwing a no-hitter, so he was sent back to Triple-A Salt Lake last month. While he was there, Detmers said they figured out why he hadn't been able to throw the slider that was his best pitch up until this season.
“We went back and looked at some video and saw this little tweak and mechanics that somehow formed over the past offseason, I guess,” Detmers said. “And so we fixed that. Got back to normal. And then once I did that, the slider came back. Everything is right where I need it to be.”
Detmers then struck out 14 in six innings in his only start at Triple-A.
His next start will be today for the Angels, against the Baltimore Orioles. Lorenzen was placed on the injured list with a shoulder strain. The Angels won't know how severe the injury is until after they get MRI results.
In the meantime, the Angels are optimistic that Detmers earned a return to the big leagues based on what he did in that one start for Salt Lake.
“Not just 14-15 strikeouts, but more the shapes of his pitches, the velocity, the command that he had,” Manager Phil Nevin said. “For him the confidence level coming back here off that start, that was really important.”
Remarkably, Detmers still pitched a no-hitter even without the use of his slider.
He threw 10 sliders in that game, but the Rays made contact on all eight of their swings at the pitch.
Last season Detmers threw his slider an average of 85.6 mph and opponents whiffed at it on 29.1% of their swings. This season the pitch averaged 82.9 mph and generated whiffs 16.2% of the time.
Without that pitch, Detmers had trouble putting hitters away once he got to two strikes, which hurt his effectiveness and his pitch efficiency. He had a 4.66 ERA in 12 starts, and even in the starts when he pitched well, his pitch count forced him out of games early.
“It was my out pitch last year and this year, I haven't really had that out pitch,” Detmers said. “I struggled to get guys out, punching guys out at least. Yeah, to have that pitch back, it's definitely a confidence booster.”
Detmers got the word that he was coming back to the majors on Tuesday, because Lorenzen had felt something in his shoulder when he was doing his between-starts throwing. This came after posting an 8.61 ERA over five starts.
“Obviously he had a couple of tough starts where he threw a lot of pitches in a short number of innings,” Angels head athletic trainer Mike Frostad said. “He went out to throw the other day and just felt that he wasn't going to be able to get loose to throw a bullpen. Couldn't go through his normal routine.
“So we made the decision that we need to investigate it a little bit more and we sent him back to California where he had a chance to see our team doctors. We just made the decision that the best thing right now is that he needs a little bit more rest.”