Everything that happened in Arizona. Every grade. Every injury. Before the real thing starts Thursday in Houston, here is what we know and what we don't.
Seven pitchers entered camp with some claim on the five rotation spots. Two are on the IL. One has a fingernail that's nearly off. The other four are genuinely encouraging in two cases and serviceable in the rest. Here is where each one stands.
Earned the Opening Day start on merit. Scratched once in spring with illness but Suzuki confirmed him March 17. "Almost started crying" when he heard the news. 4.26 ERA last year was inflated by handful of disasters — the underlying stuff is a legitimate #2. The question is whether Maddux's coaching unlocks consistency over 30 starts.
Forearm scare entering camp cleared with no structural damage. WBC with Japan kept his spring workload limited — 4 innings, 2 appearances, 5 strikeouts. Confirmed full-go for March 27. Best pitcher on this roster by ERA last year. The pitcher this rotation is built around, if he stays healthy.
Rough spring masked by strong underlying metrics. His 3.08 xFIP as a reliever last year is legitimately good — the question is whether he can replicate it as a starter. Suzuki has publicly locked him in regardless of the spring ERA. The faith is either well-placed or the first mistake of the season.
Best pitcher in camp by ERA. Ground ball machine — 57% rate ranks third in the AL. His 2025 was ugly but the stuff was always there. Added a sharper breaking ball and the command followed. Suzuki: "working his butt off and earned it." The sleeper on this staff.
Was at Dallas Baptist University 18 months ago. Added 5 inches of horizontal break to his splitter this offseason — whiff rate went from 0% to 40%. Dominated the A's starting lineup in March. Unknown ceiling, clear command, innings limit will be a factor before June.
Acquired from Baltimore (Taylor Ward trade) and immediately shut down. Last regular-season appearance was July 31, 2024. Bone chip surgery August 2025. Suzuki: "slow play it." No timetable. If healthy, this rotation has a different ceiling. That's the entire caveat.
Signed $1.95M as the fifth starter, lost the job to two pitchers nobody planned on. 13 strikeouts, 14 walks in 15.1 innings. Now dealing with a fingernail that's "practically off" per his own admission. Has two MiLB options — AAA Salt Lake or IL are both live. The reclamation project has stalled.
| Pitcher | GS | IP | ERA | WHIP | K | BB | K/9 | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| José Soriano | 4 | 18.0 | 3.50 | 1.17 | 18 | 5 | 9.0 | OD Starter |
| Yusei Kikuchi | 2 | 4.0 | 6.75 | 1.50 | 5 | 0 | 11.3 | Game 2 |
| Reid Detmers | 4 | 17.1 | 7.27 | 1.56 | 16 | 7 | 8.3 | SP #3 |
| Jack Kochanowicz | 4 | 17.1 | 2.08 | 0.87 | 15 | 3 | 7.8 | SP #4 |
| Ryan Johnson | 3 | 11.2 | 4.63 | 1.11 | 14 | 2 | 10.8 | SP #5 |
| Grayson Rodriguez 15-Day IL | 4 | 12.2 | 4.97 | 1.42 | 11 | 6 | 7.8 | IL — No TL |
| Alek Manoah IL/AAA | 4 | 15.1 | 9.39 | 2.41 | 13 | 14 | 7.6 | IL or AAA |
The closer situation is unsettled three days before Opening Day. Joyce and Stephenson are both on the IL. Yates is the default at 38. If Romano and Pomeranz are healthy, this group can function — but the margin for error is thin enough that one bad week tips it.
Elbow recovery on track, elite splitter working. The most legitimate high-leverage arm available on Opening Day. Suzuki put him in the closer committee alongside Yates and Pomeranz — arguably he should be first in line.
Left knee inflammation — placed on the 15-day IL the day before Opening Day, retroactive to March 22. Suzuki called it cautionary and said he expects Yates back early in the season. Perfectly fine in 3 ST innings but the Angels couldn't risk aggravating it. Romano is now the de facto closer until he returns.
Clean spring outing vs. San Francisco. LH reliever depth is genuinely scarce in this pen. First real MLB work since 2021 — velocity sat 90-91, still using the big curveball. The risk is that the durability questions from three years of injuries aren't gone just because he looked fine in March.
ST ERA is alarming on the surface. Average exit velocity allowed (85.8 mph) tells the real story — he's getting weak contact, the balls are finding holes. Confirmed long reliever. Gives the staff a southpaw option when they need 2-3 innings without leverage.
Labrum surgery May 2025. Threw a full 30-pitch bullpen March 17 with all pitches and "mid-to-upper 90s" fastball. The Angels are the cautious with him given his injury history, which is correct. When he's healthy this bullpen has an entirely different ceiling. Incomplete because we simply haven't seen him pitch.
Threw approximately 10 innings as a Los Angeles Angel. Visited Dr. Meister after a spring setback — sounds like the UCL is damaged again. If confirmed it would be his second Tommy John. The Angels received nothing from this contract. Career in serious question at 32. The grade is for the spring outcome, not the person.
22 years old. Dominican Republic signee. Sinker tops 100 mph and produces elite ground balls. Posted a 4.60 ERA with no homers allowed in 15.2 spring innings. Never pitched above Double-A. His MLB debut is coming this week in Houston. Question mark because nobody knows what he is yet — could be a lot.
Signed the day before Opening Day after the Giants granted his release. Replaces Sandridge (DFA'd). Age 32, low-90s sinker, extreme ground ball profile, 3.76 ERA in 38 relief appearances for San Francisco last year. Third LH arm in the pen alongside Pomeranz and Suter. With Yates on the IL, the Angels needed another reliable veteran arm immediately.
| Reliever | G | IP | ERA | WHIP | K | BB | SV | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jordan Romano | 5 | 4.2 | 0.00 | 0.86 | 6 | 1 | 1 | Closer Committee |
| Kirby Yates | 4 | 3.0 | 3.00 | 1.33 | 3 | 1 | 0 | Default Closer |
| Drew Pomeranz | 3 | 3.1 | 0.00 | 0.60 | 4 | 0 | 0 | Closer Committee |
| Ryan Zeferjahn | 5 | 5.0 | 3.60 | 1.20 | 5 | 3 | 0 | Bullpen |
| Chase Silseth | 6 | 7.0 | 5.14 | 1.43 | 7 | 3 | 0 | Must Make Roster |
| Brent Suter | 5 | 8.2 | 8.31 | 1.73 | 7 | 2 | 0 | Long Reliever |
| Sam Bachman | 5 | 6.0 | 1.50 | 1.00 | 8 | 1 | 0 | High Leverage |
| Walbert Urena | 6 | 15.2 | 4.60 | 1.15 | 14 | 5 | 0 | MLB Debut |
| Ben Joyce 15-Day IL | 0 | 0.0 | — | — | — | — | — | IL — Shoulder |
| Robert Stephenson 60-Day IL | 0 | 0.0 | — | — | — | — | — | IL — UCL |
The lineup came into camp as the team's clear strength. It leaves it the same way. Four players with 25+ homer upside. A shortstop who might be top-10 at his position. The concern is depth — the bench is thin and the second base situation remained unsettled until Frazier forced the issue in the final week.
| Player | Pos | G | AVG | OBP | SLG | HR | RBI | SB | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zach Neto | SS | 14 | .300 | .375 | .480 | 2 | 6 | 3 | Wrist sprain healed, OD confirmed |
| Mike Trout | CF | 13 | .245 | .355 | .432 | 2 | 7 | 0 | HBP Mar 20, X-rays negative |
| Jo Adell | RF | 18 | .265 | .318 | .529 | 3 | 9 | 2 | HR Feb 25 vs SD · Power confirmed |
| Nolan Schanuel | 1B | 19 | .264 | .389 | .396 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 6th-biggest bat speed gain in MLB |
| Logan O'Hoppe | C | 16 | .268 | .333 | .488 | 3 | 8 | 0 | Led team in HRs · Bounce-back year? |
| Jorge Soler | DH | 17 | .216 | .306 | .392 | 2 | 7 | 0 | One prove-it year, spring mixed |
| Josh Lowe | LF | 13 | .231 | .310 | .385 | 1 | 4 | 2 | Oblique, returned to lineup Mar 16 |
| Yoán Moncada | 3B | 8 | .188 | .263 | .281 | 0 | 2 | 0 | Oblique already nagging in spring |
| Adam Frazier | 2B | 19 | .231 | .432 | .321 | 1 | 4 | 1 | Won the 2B job on OBP alone |
| Jeimer Candelario | 3B/1B | 18 | .286 | .340 | .630 | 4 | 9 | 0 | Best NRI in camp — made team on merit |
| Oswald Peraza | IF Util | 16 | .333 | .373 | .583 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 6 doubles, former top Yankees prospect |
| Travis d'Arnaud | C (backup) | 14 | .197 | .255 | .310 | 1 | 4 | 0 | Hometown Long Beach kid · Backup role |
| Vaughn Grissom IL | 2B | 10 | .200 | .268 | .280 | 0 | 2 | 1 | Cortisone shot + illness · OD in doubt |
Candelario and Peraza were both afterthoughts when camp opened. Candelario hit four home runs and slugged .630. Peraza posted a .333 average with six doubles. The Angels' two best stories of spring training were the two players nobody expected anything from.
Four players open the season on the injured list. Two more (Grissom, Manoah) are in limbo. The Angels have been here before — the difference this year is that none of the IL players are core lineup starters. Yet.
Spring tells you something. It doesn't tell you everything. Here are the five questions that will define whether 2026 is a turning point or the twelfth year of the same story.
He's 25, coming off 10.2 bWAR in two seasons, and under team control through 2026. The Red Sox made a run at him this offseason. The Angels have not initiated public extension talks. Every month of delay is a month Neto adds to his résumé, watches another postseason without him, and prices himself further from a hometown discount. The cost is manageable now. It won't be in August.
Acquired from Baltimore for Taylor Ward in November. Zero regular-season innings since July 2024. Dead arm before his first start. When he comes back — if he comes back at a full workload — this rotation is a fundamentally different proposition. A healthy Rodriguez running behind Kikuchi and Soriano is a rotation that can steal a playoff spot. Without him it's average at best.
George Klassen was reassigned to Salt Lake. Tyler Bremner is in Tri-City. Both are legitimately exciting arms — Klassen already struck out Machado, Merrill and France in spring, Bremner K'd Benintendi in his professional debut. The Angels can be patient, and they should be. But if Kochanowicz or Johnson struggle, the calls should come before June.
The Angels stood pat last July. And the July before. The farm system is now in better shape than it has been in years — there are actual pieces to trade. If this team is within five games of a wild card in late July, the calculus changes. A legitimate starter or a high-leverage reliever via trade would tell us something important about whether this organization has actually changed.
155 games in 2025 was his most since 2019. He looked legitimately healthy in Arizona — sprinting at speeds not seen in three years, implementing swing tweaks that produced results. X-rays negative after a March 20 HBP scare. He is 34. Injuries don't stop happening because you want them to. But if he plays 130+ games and hits anywhere near his line, this team is different. It always has been.
The Angels leave Spring Training with a rotation that lost its highest-ceiling arm before it threw a regular-season pitch. A bullpen that has one legitimate closer who's on the IL and another who is 38 years old. A lineup that is genuinely good — maybe top-half of the American League — but too thin at the corners to be a true contender.
The encouraging part: they were supposed to have all these problems in February, and several of them haven't materialized. Candelario made the team on merit. Peraza looks like a real player for the first time. Kochanowicz and Johnson are better than anyone expected in the back of the rotation. The farm system has actual arms.
The discouraging part: Stephenson is done for the year. Rodriguez hasn't thrown a regular-season pitch and has no timetable. The closer situation was supposed to be set, and it isn't. Manoah has a fingernail that's falling off. The Neto extension remains unsigned. Arte Moreno's stated priorities for 2026 still don't include winning.
The window is narrow. Trout is 34. Neto gets more expensive every month. The farm depth is real but it takes time. The 2026 Angels are worth watching — worth caring about, even. Whether they're worth believing in depends on how many of those five questions get answered correctly.