Chase Silseth and Sam Bachman Have Found Consistent Roles Out of the Bullpen, Leading to Recent Success
May 17, 2026 - Written by Cade Lalim
That's a slick play made by Sam Bachman 👀 #RepTheHalopic.twitter.com/MnTaArDmIL
— Fireside Baseball (@FiresideBsbl) May 6, 2026
The Los Angeles Angels took a very different strategy to the 2021 MLB Draft where they selected only pitchers. Three players from this class have reached the majors -- Sam Bachman, Ky Bush, and Chase Silseth. However only Bachman and Silseth debuted with the Angels.
Bush was part of the package that sent him along with Edgar Quero to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez. Bush made his debut with the White Sox during the 2024 season but only pitched 17.2 innings before being optioned to the minors. He underwent Tommy John surgery in early 2025 and has not seen action since.
Both Bachman and Silseth were drafted as starting pitchers out of college but have seen a massive leap in success this year out of the bullpen. Since debuting in 2023, Bachman has battled injuries limiting his time in the majors and on the bump. Coming into the 2026 campaign Bachman had just 37.1 major league innings under his belt -- he’s already logged 20.1 innings this season.
Silseth has been in a very similar boat since debuting in 2022, making him the first player from the 2021 draft class to reach the majors. Unlike Bachman who’s only been a reliever while with the Angels, Silseth has started 17 of his career 53 games. He’s had much better results out of the bullpen, hence his 2.88 ERA in relief (40.2 innings) and 5.25 ERA as a starter (73.2 innings).
The Angels added some veteran arms to their bullpen over the winter such as: Kirby Yates, Brent Suter, Drew Pomeranz, and Jordan Romano. Pomeranz just hit the 15-day injured list with left elbow inflammation and Romano was recently designated for assignment and was signed to a minor league deal by the Colorado Rockies. Yates has just recently seen major league action after coming back from injury while Suter has been a solid arm out of the pen all season.
In terms of fWAR, Bachman and Silseth have been two of the four best relievers for the Angels thus far. Ryan Zeferjahn has been good and shaky at times but leads the bullpen with 0.6 fWAR. Bachman is next with 0.2 followed by Suter (0.1) and Silseth (0.0). Bachman and Silseth have both been very reliable and consistent so far.
Sam Bachman
Bachman has been really good so far pitching to a 3.10 ERA and 1.03 WHIP over 20.1 innings. He’s actually been a tad unlucky and could be performing better due to his excellent expected numbers. His 2.55 xERA ranks in the 90th percentile, while batters are hitting just .157 against him. While Bachman's .174 xBA is a little higher than his real ERA, that still puts him in the 95th percentile.
Opponents are having a really hard time getting hits and making quality contact against him. His elite stuff has been generating whiff 33.1% of the time (92nd percentile) leading to a proficient 27.5% strikeout rate. When batters make contact, it's generally been soft contact with an superb average exit velocity of 85.5 mph and he’s got an excellent hard-hit rate of 29.2% (91st percentile).
His sinker has been gross resulting in a great 52.1% ground ball rate, while batters are hitting just .059 against the pitch. He’s been throwing it 31% of the time and grades out to a Stuff+ grade of 100 from TJStats. Bachman’s slider has also been deadly with a Stuff+ grade of 112. It’s his go-to pitch using it 55% of the time. Batters are hitting .149 against his slider with an excellent .237 xwOBA. His changeup has also been really good, but he’s only throwing it 14% of the time. Overall, his breaking pitches have been elite with a run value of five (95th percentile).
Bachman has been amazing to start the season, but if he wants to be elite he’ll have to clean up the walks. He’s currently walking batters at a high 12.5% clip. This has always been a concern area of his game with a career 12.4% mark when league average has been 8.4%. Bachman has proven to be a high-leverage reliever and it would be huge if he’s able to maintain his current production.
Chase Silseth
Silseth hasn’t pitched as much as Bachman, but has still been very effective in relief. He’s logged 15.0 innings, owning a 2.40 ERA and a high 1.67 WHIP. So far he’s been out-pitching his underlying numbers hence his 4.27 xERA and 4.70 FIP. This is largely because he’s got an extremely high 17.1% walk rate and has been striking out a below-average 20.0% of opponents. There will likely be some regression with Silseth as the season continues, but there are some really good things to examine.
His splitter and sweeper have propelled Silseth to get an incredible amount of whiff and chase. Silseth goes to his splitter 39% of the time and has a 106 Stuff+ grade. It’s generated 43.4% of whiff and 37% chase -- both above-average marks. He throws his splitter hard, averaging 87.8 mph. Batters are hitting .130 against the pitch pairing with a .264 xwOBA.
Silseth’s sweeper has been really good generating 39.1% of chase, but only 27.8% of whiff. The good shape has earned a 110 Stuff+ grade, but it’s been getting hit harder than the rest of his offerings. Batters are hitting .375 against Silseth’s sweeper to go with a .354 xBA which is not good. It also has a .500 slugging percentage. Similar to his splitter, Silseth throws his sweeper hard as well, averaging 86.8 mph. To pair with his two offspeed pitches, he features a four-seam fastball and sinker that haven’t seen great results; his four-seam has been better than his sinker.
Looking at his whole profile, Silseth has produced 35.5% of whiff putting him in the 95th percentile). He’s also done a good job of limiting hard-contact (32.5%) and missing barrels (5%). Silseth has been good so far, but definitely has to clean up the walks along with Bachman. He’s done his job so far and his ERA looks great, but once he comes down to earth we’ll likely see his numbers rise a bit.
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