March 21, 2017
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
March 21, 2017 Page 1 of 15 Clips (March 21, 2017) March 21, 2017 Page 2 of 15 Today’s Clips Contents FROM LOS ANGELES TIMES (Page 3) Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs pleased after four-inning outing FROM THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER (Page 4) Angels' Tyler Skaggs gets back on track with minor league outing Pitcher Cody Buckel, his career derailed by the yips, starting over with Angels Angels hope to find a lottery ticket among their cast of former top prospects FROM ANGELS.COM (Page 10) Skaggs 'strong' and 'happy' after Minors start Why the AL West could be the game's most fun division FROM NJ.COM (Page 13) Could former Jackson Memorial star Matt Thaiss get MLB at-bats with Angels in 2017? March 21, 2017 Page 3 of 15 FROM THE LOS ANGELES TIMES . Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs pleased after four-inning outing By Pedro Moura Because he missed a start earlier this month due to a weak shoulder and re-entered the rotation Wednesday, Angels left-hander Tyler Skaggs has no days left to waste this spring. If he wants to break camp on the club’s roster, he has to build up his stamina and prove he can handle a starter’s workload. And because the Angels had their second of two spring days off Monday, Skaggs’ start on regular rest had to come in a minor league game. So, Skaggs faced a group of overmatched Milwaukee Brewers Class-A hitters at Tempe Diablo Stadium. With General Manager Billy Eppler, Manager Mike Scioscia and other club officials in attendance, Skaggs struck out five, walked one, and yielded a triple. Scouts mostly clocked his fastball at 91 and 92 mph, within his standard range, and up to 94 mph. He threw mostly fastballs and curveballs and eschewed his changeup. “I felt strong,” Skaggs said. “My mechanics were finally there where I liked it today.” Skaggs was scheduled to pitch three innings, but he had said since last week that he planned to stretch that into four. Sure enough, he finished his three quickly, and lobbied pitching coach Charlie Nagy for the fourth. “Of course I pushed for the fourth, and I’m happy they obliged,” he said. “It’s one of those games where you want to get your work in now, because come Saturday, I’ll be ready to go.” Asked if he felt he could throw five innings in his next planned start Saturday, Skaggs said he was not the decision-maker. But on Monday, he said, he felt strong enough to do so. Skaggs, 25, made 10 starts for the 2016 Angels in his return from 2014 Tommy John surgery. He missed time in September because of a flexor strain in his elbow but reported to camp feeling great. He has characterized the shoulder weakness as a momentary issue. Lamb cleared to throw Angels left-hander John Lamb was cleared to begin a throwing program Tuesday after a Monday visit with back specialist Dr. Robert Watkins at his Marina Del Rey office. Lamb flew to Los Angeles in the morning, then returned to the Phoenix area in the afternoon. In October, Lamb underwent surgery to repair a herniated lumbar disc in his back. He spent the first month of spring training working out with the major leaguers, but the Angels optioned him to minor league camp Sunday. March 21, 2017 Page 4 of 15 In 24 starts over the last two seasons for Cincinnati, Lamb logged an awful 6.17 earned-run average. But he struck out nearly a batter per inning, while walking fewer than half as many hitters. As a Kansas City Royal in 2011, the Laguna Hills High graduate was a consensus top-20 prospect in all of baseball. He soon required Tommy John surgery, and took two years to return to form thereafter. He began to experience back issues shortly after the Reds acquired him in the Johnny Cueto blockbuster trade, and had his first back surgery — the same surgery he’d later undergo — that winter. The 26-year-old said he believes he can return to pitching in the majors in July, if he continues on his current track. Short hop After Monday’s off day, the Angels return to action Tuesday with a road game against Cincinnati and then split-squad games Wednesday — one at home in Tempe vs. Texas, and one in Peoria, Ariz., against Seattle. FROM THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER . Angels' Tyler Skaggs gets back on track with minor league outing By JEFF FLETCHER TEMPE, Ariz. — Tyler Skaggs tossed four scoreless innings in a minor league game on Monday night, inching back closer to where he would have been if he hadn’t missed a start with shoulder fatigue. Skaggs struck out five and walked one, throwing 37 of 50 pitches for strikes. His fastball was 90 to 94 mph. Facing a team of Milwaukee Brewers Class-A players, Skaggs gave up a triple and an infield hit that could just as well have been an error. Skaggs had been scheduled for three innings and 45 pitches, but when he finished the third with 41 pitches, he campaigned for a fourth and got it. “It was great,” Skaggs said. “I felt good. I felt strong. My mechanics were finally there. I’m really happy about it.” Skaggs said he was particularly pleased with his curve, which he threw more frequently than usual. “It hasn't been coming out like I like, and today something finally clicked,” he said. “The curve was there, so I decided to throw a good amount.” Skaggs said he “assumes” he has enough time still to be ready to be in the Angels rotation for the first week of the season. This time through the rotation, other Angels starters are throwing five innings and March 21, 2017 Page 5 of 15 75 pitches, so he’s still a little behind. He felt fatigued during his first start, so the Angels had him skip his next one, and then he threw only two innings when he returned to game action last week. Pitcher Cody Buckel, his career derailed by the yips, starting over with Angels By JEFF FLETCHER TEMPE, Ariz. – Imagine, asks Cody Buckel, if you woke up one morning and forgot how to walk. Something that had been simple was suddenly a complex series of movements requiring full concentration. And imagine that every time you tried, you feared embarrassment. The shaking heads of sympathetic onlookers. Only then can you begin to understand the yips, which is the sports shorthand for a mysterious mental block that prevents athletes from performing their sport’s simplest tasks. Buckel, a former star right-hander at Royal High in Simi Valley, was a 20-year-old phenom, ticketed for the Texas Rangers rotation. Then he couldn’t throw a strike. Now, after four years, two releases, one trip to Australia, numerous trips to psychologists and other promises of cures from Eastern medicine, he is wearing an Angels uniform. Buckel (pronounced BUE-kel) is 24, but he says he feels like he’s 40 because of what he’s been through. He is in minor league camp, just trying to enjoy the game again and make something of all that talent. “I couldn’t explain it to you unless you go through it,” Buckel said. “I’ve seen guys with the yips. I’ve seen guys who couldn’t throw the ball and I just didn’t get it. I saw numerous guys go through it in my first years in pro ball. You don’t understand it until it happens to you.” Pittsburgh Pirates All-Star Steve Blass saw his career end in the 1970s when he suddenly couldn’t throw a strike. Steve Blass Disease is now the term sometimes used to describe the yips for a pitcher. Catcher Mackey Sasser became infamous for his inability to throw the ball back to the pitcher. Former rookie of the year second baseman Steve Sax had well-chronicled issues simply making the short throw to first. Keith Comstock, the Angels’ fifth-round pick in 1976, struggled with the yips early in his minor league career. His description of the affliction is even more disturbing than Buckel’s: “It’s like being a pilot in a plane going down, without the life at stake.” Comstock got over the yips, he said, by spending eight months throwing at a brick wall. Although it took him eight years to reach the majors, he pitched six years in the big leagues and went on to a coaching career that eventually landed him a job as the Rangers’ minor league rehab coordinator. Which is where he entered Buckel’s life. March 21, 2017 Page 6 of 15 The Rangers picked Buckel in the second round of the 2010 draft. Through his first three seasons in the minors, he posted a 2.48 ERA, with 10.5 strikeouts and 2.7 walks per nine innings. “Cody could throw a baseball wherever he wanted,” Comstock said. “He could put it off a shoelace ... He was on the fast track.” In 2013, still a few months shy of his 21st birthday, Buckel was invited to major league camp. “I tried to take it up to 120 percent,” he said. “I didn’t take what I did in 2012 and just do it again in spring training. I tried to do too much.” In Buckel’s first big league exhibition game, he recorded one out and he walked five. In his second game, he got two outs, hit two and gave up four hits.