Maddon is planning to rotate Adell, Rojas

After Jo Adell had a tough game in the season opener, Angels manager Joe Maddon reinforced his confidence in the young outfielder.

Even though Adell was not in the lineup on Friday for the second game, Maddon said he'd already determined before Thursday's game that Jose Rojas and Brandon Marsh would be the two corner outfielders against righthander Jake Odorizzi.

“I'm going to get them all out there,” Maddon said. “For today, I'm going to get Cookie (Rojas) out there. He, among all the group, is probably having as good of at-bats as anybody there in camp.”

Maddon said before Thursday's game that his initial plan after they let Justin Upton go was to have Taylor Ward start in right, and Adell and Marsh platoon in left. Ward then suffered a minor groin strain.

Now, it seems he's going to have Rojas and Adell split time until Ward comes back, perhaps as soon as next weekend.

It's a limited role for Adell, who turned 23 on Friday. The former top prospect opened eyes with improvement at the plate and in the field during spring training.

On Thursday night, though, he struck out in all three of his plate appearances and had two ugly moments in left field. He got a bad jump on a ball that had an 80 percent catch probability, allowing it to go for a double. He also missed the plate by about 40 feet with a throw.

Later in the game, a home run dropped into the first row of the short fence in left, just beyond his reach.

“He's fine,” Maddon said after Thursday's game. “The guy had a great camp. He's ready to roll. You're not going to have your best night all the time, but I've got a lot of confidence in him.”

Maddon also said he likes Rojas, Adell and Marsh in both corner outfield spots.

“There's really no strong reason behind it,” Maddon said of the initial outfield alignment with Adell in left and Marsh in right. “They're both good . ... We just chose to go that way. You could see it the other way too.”

Pitching plans

Maddon said he is going to be reluctant to use his relievers on back-to-back days at the start of the season because of the shortened spring.

“That's why we needed to have 10 (relievers), to really make sure we have enough to cover,” Maddon said. “That's just the way it works right now. You might find a matchup you don't like because of that. That's the way it's going to roll for a little bit.”

Maddon also said he plans to loosen the reins on the starters for their second starts. The first time through, the pitchers are limited to 75 to 80 pitches, and for their second start that will go to 90 to 95.

Notes

Although Kurt Suzuki got the start at catcher in the second game of the season, Maddon said that he has planned a rotation for the catchers that would have Max Stassi catching four of the six games during the season-opening homestand. Maddon said he likes Suzuki as a backup, but ideally, he would play fewer than the 63 games he started behind the plate last season . ... A day after his first regular-season run-through with PitchCom, the electronic sign system, Stassi said there are some kinks to iron out. “I'm going to practice with it a little more,” he said. “We didn't use it much this spring. There are different ways you can navigate the buttons.” ... The Angels claimed Kyle Tyler on waivers from the Padres, and then optioned him to Triple-A. Tyler was with the Angels until a few weeks ago. They designated him for assignment and he was claimed by the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox then let him go and the Padres claimed him, and then the Padres let him go. Tyler, 25, allowed four earned runs in 12-1/3 innings with the Angels last season, walking six and striking out six . ... The Angels moved right-hander Cooper Criswell (shoulder) to the 60day injured list to open a 40-man spot for Tyler.