Walsh shows solid finishing uptick
Budding Angels star works through slump with a hot stretch that restores confidence.
SEATTLE — Jared Walsh cut off the question before it even was finished.
Asked recently about how he “kind of slumped” following the All-Star break, the Angels first baseman jumped in.
“You don’t need to preface with ‘kind of,’ ” he said with a good-natured laugh. “It was a slump.”
Indeed, between July 16 and Aug. 18, Walsh was ice cold. He hit a woeful 12 for 65 in 18 games, collecting one double, no home runs and only five RBIs. He struck out 25 times and walked only six. For the first time since his breakthrough last September, he had to reevaluate his game.
“You naturally try to search,” Walsh said. “I’d go back to video from last September and be like, ‘Well, I was doing this,’ and you try doing different things.”
For some players in Walsh’s position, such struggles become an early career crossroads — the point where initial success in the majors begins to fade, and doubts about consistency and staying power begin to set in.
“A lot of times guys come up in the minor leagues never having struggled before,” manager Joe Maddon said. “And then they have their first one here and it can be destructive in a big way.”
That’s why, for all Walsh accomplished this year — earning an everyday role, his first All-Star selection and a central spot in the Angels’ future plans — the way he’s finishing the year might be among his most important.
Walsh’s late-season tear continued Saturday night as he collected three hits, including a go-ahead three-run homer in the eighth inning. It wasn’t enough for the Angels, as they surrendered three runs in the bottom of the eighth to lose 6-4 to the Seattle Mariners, which kept the Mariners’ playoff hopes alive.
Yet Walsh is batting .319 in his last 38 games, a stretch that includes 11 doubles, six homers, 25 RBIs and a muchimproved 28-to-15 strikeoutto-walk ratio.
He’d also gained a new sense of self-confidence — an affirmation that he could not only produce in the big leagues, but also rebound from inevitable downswings.
“I actually have thought about that,” Walsh said. “When you’re really going through the super tough stretches, I don’t want to say it’s like, ‘Why am I being punished?’ But sometimes, you’re just like, ‘What’s going on?’ But that’s it. You gotta be able to bounce back. And honestly, when it’s all said and done, I think it’s gonna be a very positive thing for me.”
And outside of Shohei Ohtani’s historic season, Walsh’s emergence could have the biggest future implications for the Angels.
“Even when he was going badly, he still exudes confidence. You could feel it coming back at you and you know it’s gonna be OK,” Maddon said. “So actually, I think in a perverse way, it’s really good that he did [struggle] and now that he’s figuring out on a major-league level how to come out on the other side. I think it’s great.”