June 16, 2017 Page 1 of 27 Clips (June 16, 2017) June 16, 2017 Page 2 of 27 Today’s Clips Contents FROM LOS ANGELES TIMES (Page 3) Angels' pitching woes continue in 7-2 loss to Royals Angels sign first-round draft pick Jordon Adell FROM ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER (Page 5) Ricky Nolasco has a rough night in Angels’ loss to Royals Angels Notes: Matt Shoemaker improved, but his next step remains uncertain FROM ANGELS.COM (Page 9) Adell wastes little time in signing with Halos Nolasco hit hard as Halos fall to Royals Injury not expected to sideline Shoemaker Cron following in his father's footsteps Halos look to gain ground behind Chavez FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (Page 14) Royals roll to 5th straight win by beating Angels 7-2 FROM ESPN.COM (Page 16) Keith Law's draft recap: American League team-by-team breakdown FROM BASEBALL AMERICA (Page 25) After 60 Years In The Game, Bobby Knoop Shows No Signs Of Slowing Down June 16, 2017 Page 3 of 27 FROM THE LOS ANGELES TIMES Angels' pitching woes continue in 7-2 loss to Royals By Steve Dilbeck Frustration has a new face for the Angels. It looks like Ricky “Long Ball” Nolasco. Nolasco is the Angels right-hander who can look near brilliant one moment and in the next like a pitcher who can never surrender a hit that doesn’t leave vapor trails behind it. Nolasco tried for the ninth time to win for the first time since April 27 and for the ninth time failed, the Angels falling to the Kansas City Royals 7-2 on a warm Thursday night in Anaheim. He was not helped along by a non-supportive offense, but neither did he do much for his own cause, giving up five runs on 10 hits — almost all well struck — and walking two in six-plus innings. Two of the hits were home runs, continuing a troubling theme to his season. He has given up an American League-high 21 home runs. “It’s definitely frustrating,” Nolasco said. “Those two balls just snuck out today. It’s something that really hasn’t been an issue my whole career but for some reason this year it is. I just have to make better pitches.” Nolasco fell to 2-8, his ERA climbing to 5.01. All five Angels currently in the rotation have an ERA of more than 4.00. Angels manager Mike Scioscia blamed Nolasco’s troubles on an inconsistent release point. “He’s missed a lot of spots,” Scioscia said. “Those misses where he’s trying to go away and leaving it over the heart of the plate, guys have had pretty good swings at those.” Meanwhile, the Angels could do little with Matt Strahm. If that’s an unfamiliar name, that is understandable. Strahm is a 25-year-old left-hander who was making the first start of his career after 41 relief appearances. He looked like a veteran starter against the Angels. Strahm (2-3) went five innings, giving up one run on three hits and walking one. He struck out three and benefited from a seeming Danny Espinoza solo homer being overturned from a video review in the fifth. The ball was foul. A 21st-round draft pick by the Royals in 2012, Strahm threw a career-high 68 pitches. The only run the Angels scored against him came in the first on a bloop single by Albert Pujols. But Nolasco gave up RBI doubles to Alex Gordon and Whit Merrifield in the second and the Angels never led again. June 16, 2017 Page 4 of 27 After all the excitement in their comeback victory against the New York Yankees on Wednesday, the Angels went rock-a-bye quiet Thursday. A regular New York hangover. The offense stalling, Nolasco gave up a solo home run to Lorenzo Cain in the third and another to Gordon in the fourth. “I was trying to find a way to grind it and get it to that seventh inning,” Nolasco said. “Just keep grinding. That’s all you can do.” When he gave up a leadoff single to Cain in the seventh, he was finished. Reliever Jose Alvarez did not help the cause, giving up four hits in the inning and allowing three more runs to score. “[Nolasco] was behind a lot of hitters,” Scioscia said. “They were on a lot. They had a lot of traffic out there. He battled to get through six but he’s just not quite where he needs to be.” Yunel Escobar singled in a sixth-inning run, and the Angels’ offense was finished. The Royals finished with 15 hits. Seven went for extra bases. Angels sign first-round draft pick Jordon Adell By Steve Dilbeck Three days after selecting high school outfielder Jordon Adell with the 10th pick in the major league draft — and just a day after the three-day draft ended — the Angels signed the 18-year-old. The deal for the exact $4,376,800 slot was reached Thursday, making Adell the first No.1 draft pick to agree to terms. The Angels made the announcement on the video board at Thursday’s home game against the Kansas City Royals. The agreement came after Adell passed his physical. He was at Thursday’s game. "For me it was a no-brainer. I didn't want to waste any time and wanted to get right to work," he said. He'll start at team's Arizona facility. Adell, a five-tool player, hit 25 home runs, tops among high school players in the United States, and batted .563 with 22 stolen bases at Ballard High in Louisville, Ky. The Angels plan to develop him as an outfielder, but as a pitcher the right-hander can throw a fastball at 95 mph. Shoemaker improved Right-hander Matt Shoemaker, who left Wednesday’s game in the fourth inning with a sore forearm, showed improvement Thursday, manager Mike Scioscia said. June 16, 2017 Page 5 of 27 “He still has a little stiffness, but it’s definitely better,” Scioscia said. “We’ll continue to evaluate and see how it goes.” Scioscia said Shoemaker did not participate in any throwing Thursday. “He’s had these before, and they seem like they go away in fairly short order,” Scioscia said. “How many days that is remains to be seen. Long-range we’re really not concerned with it.” Shoemaker’s next regular start would be Tuesday, though that follows an off-day and the Angels could elect to skip him a turn. If they place him on the 10-day disabled list and need another starter, veteran right-hander Doug Fister is a logical candidate. He’s scheduled to make his third start for triple-A Salt Lake on Friday. Fister, 33, can opt out of his contract if not in the majors by Wednesday. Short hops Reliever Huston Street (triceps) on his first rehab outing in two weeks Wednesday with Class-A Inland Empire: “I came out of it healthy, that’s all that matters. I was terrible as far as the way I pitched.” Street, who gave two hits, three runs and walked one while getting one out, said he is scheduled to pitch Friday and Monday for Salt Lake, and then hopes to be activated. He has yet to pitch this season. … Right-hander Daniel Wright was called up from Salt Lake and Parker Bridwell was optioned to triple-A. FROM ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER Ricky Nolasco has a rough night in Angels’ loss to Royals By Jeff Fletcher ANAHEIM — The Angels are still waiting for the Ricky Nolasco who was so encouraging at the end of last season. This year’s version has been markedly different, pitching inconsistently except for one maddening constant: balls flying over the fences. Nolasco gave up two more homers, increasing his league-leading total to 21, in the Angels’ 7-2 loss to the Kansas City Royals on Thursday night. “With Ricky, it’s pretty simple,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “It’s just his command, being able to repeat a release point.” Nolasco gave up five runs in six-plus innings, raising his ERA to 5.01. He has not been the pitcher who had a 3.21 ERA in the last two months of 2016, after the Angels got him from the Minnesota Twins. June 16, 2017 Page 6 of 27 Scioscia said Nolasco and pitching coach Charlie Nagy have been “working very hard between starts, trying to find that timing, tempo and delivery he had for the last dozen starts last year where he was locked in. He’s working hard. Hopefully he’ll find it, because he’ll give us a big lift.” Nolasco seems as puzzled as anyone as to what’s gone wrong. “Just keep grinding,” he said. “That’s all I can do.” The most mystifying part of his troubles have been the homers. Lorenzo Cainand Alex Gordon took him deep in the third and fourth innings, putting the Angels behind, 4-1. Coming into this season, Nolasco had allowed 1.1 homers per nine innings over 11 seasons in the majors. The most homers he had allowed in a season was 28, back in 2008. This season is not even half over and he’s on pace to shatter that, having allowed 2.4 homers per nine innings. On the positive side, Nolasco has allowed 16 of the homers with the bases empty. Despite his rough outing, the Angels were within reach, if they could have mustered much offensively.