Rengifo improving, but still struggling
CHICAGO » Luis Rengifo's season has not only been disappointing but also somewhat perplexing.
The Angels infielder had a breakthrough in 2022, hitting 17 home runs and producing a .724 OPS. What he didn't do was draw walks, with a 3.3% walk rate, which was one of the worst in baseball.
This season Rengifo has bumped his walk rate up to 11.3%, which is one of the largest increases of anyone in the majors.
In theory, better plate discipline should have brought Rengifo to an even higher level.
In reality, not so much. Rengifo's OPS has dropped to .569, which is worse than what he'd done prior to last year.
“I feel really good about taking more walks,” Rengifo said. “I have to see more pitches, and if it's a good pitch, hit it. If not, take a walk.”
Asked why he thinks he hasn't been successful at hitting those good pitches, Rengifo said: “I have to figure out what's going on. I am watching my videos to see if I'm doing something different with my hands or my rhythm. I have to make adjustments.”
Manager Phil Nevin said it's possible that the very change that led to Rengifo making better swing decisions has hurt him when he does swing.
He said perhaps Rengifo is “tracking the ball a little too far,” so he's laying off the right pitches but not swinging early enough at the others.
“You want to catch the ball out front,” Nevin said. “That's where you're going to do damage. There's a fine line between the two. I really like the way he's approaching his at-bats. He's just got to do more damage when he gets the ball in the zone.”
A switch-hitter, Rengifo had a .909 OPS from the right side of the plate last season, compared with .629 from the left side. The Angels would like to see him improve from the left side – because there are more right-handed pitchers – but at this point they'd like to at least see him again be productive from one side.
Rengifo has a .674 OPS as a righty and a .525 OPS as a lefty this season.
“He's still really good from the right side,” Nevin said. “Making him better from the left side is a goal of ours.”
Reliever workload
A day after Ben Joyce worked an impressive inning in his major league debut, Nevin said Joyce is available to pitch in backto-back games.
Joyce has never pitched on consecutive days as a professional, but Nevin said he's ready for it.
“It's big boy time,” Nevin said. “We prepared him for this. We brought him at the right time. We felt he was ready for this. Will I be careful with him? Absolutely. But we're here to win games. If my best chance to win a game that night is with Ben Joyce, and he's available, I'm going to use him.”
Nevin said that he still isn't ready to use Sam Bachman on back-to-back days, though. While Joyce was a reliever in the minors, Bachman was a starter.
Nevin said it's something they would “have to graduate toward” with Bachman.
Chase Silseth has also been a reliever throughout his pro career until recently, but Nevin said he's already fine to go back-toback days if necessary.
Also
Third baseman Anthony Rendon (groin) took ground balls on the field for the second straight day. He also did some running in the outfield. There is no timetable for when Rendon will be activated . ... Nevin said he's thinking about when Shohei Ohtani could get a day off. Nevin said Ohtani will play today and “we'll assess after that.” Ohtani is pitching on Friday. Ohtani was 5 for 37 (.135) with a .535 OPS in the 10 games leading into Tuesday's . ... Nevin started right-handed hitting Taylor Ward instead of left-handed Mickey Moniak on Tuesday against right-hander Lucas Giolito because Giolito's changeup makes him better against lefties than righties. Ward was also 2 for 6 with a homer previously against Giolito. Nevin said the decision to start right-handed hitting catcher Chad Wallach instead of left-handed hitting Matt Thaiss was more about which catchers he wanted to work with which pitchers.