Who’s Hot, Who’s Not #10 (6/7-13)
June 14, 2025 - Written by Kian Behravan & Brayden Zielke
Photo Credit : @Angels - X
Another week has passed, which means it’s time for another Who’s Hot, Who’s Not! Each week, I select a handful of players and determine who has been performing well and who hasn’t. I dive into stats and film and figure out what’s been going on and how these players can stay hot or get out of their slump.
This week will be a little different. I invited fellow InsideHalos writer Brayden Zielke to give his take on this week’s hitters. He’s also going deep into the stats and film to pick out this week's players, as well as analyzing the lineup as a whole.
I also missed last week’s edition as well, so I’ll go over it very quickly. Mike Trout slashed .450 / .522 / .650 with just one strikeout. He saw the ball well, hitting pitches he liked and being patient on ones he didn't. Jo Adell batted just above .200 but hit three home runs, and it seems that the tables turned for him this week. Hunter Strickland was dominant out of the bullpen, pitching four scoreless innings, and giving up one hit and two walks while striking out one. He’s been dominant all year, using his fastball-slider combo (32% and 31% usage, respectively) to miss barrels while also keeping hitters off balance with an occasional changeup (10% usage). Jose Soriano had a bad start on June 4th, giving up seven runs on eight hits and three walks while striking out three in just below four innings of work. He still kept the ball on the ground, but hitters still had a HardHit% of 47%, as many balls got through to the outfield. The appearance was just base-hit after base-hit, balls finding holes, and Soriano not making competitive pitches.
Pitchers: Kian Behravan
The pitching staff as a whole did well this week, posting an ERA of 3.33 while averaging over eight strikeouts per game. They had a strike percentage over 67 percent, which limited walks (2.3 per game) and kept the ball on the ground for a decent amount (69 ground balls overall).
Hot! Yusei Kikuchi
As much as I still want to talk about Hunter Strickland’s 0.00 ERA, Yusei Kikuchi had his game of the season this week. He went 7.1 IP, giving up just one hit, walking one batter, and striking out five. He had his slider working in this outing, with four out of the five strikeouts coming on that pitch. He still hung quite a few in the zone, so breaking ball command is something that still needs to be worked on. His curveball was hit hard, as three of them were hit in play at 94 MPH or above. In those three instances, they were left up in the zone. It’s safe to say that Kikuchi got lucky a few times in this outing, but he rolled with it, delivering an amazing start to propel the Angels to the win.
Yusei Kikuchi hasn’t been the most consistent pitcher in 2025, but when he’s on, he’s on. He had a great outing this week, and Angels fans can only hope he continues it going into the all-star break.
Not… Jack Kochanowicz
It might be time to move on from Jack Kochanowicz. Something has to happen, but he cannot be on this Major League squad anymore. This week, in two starts, he pitched 7.2 innings, giving up six runs (3 HR) on 13 hits. The cycle with Kochanowicz is he gets behind in counts, forcing him to make pitches right in hitters’ wheelhouses, making the ball get crushed. This week, hitters had an average exit velocity of 93.5 MPH, with 13 out of 27 batted balls hitting 100 MPH exit velocity or harder. This translated into a whopping .394 BAA, which is plain horrible. He had a HardHit% of 56%, which is outrageous for any pitcher.
The Angels have much better pitchers in the minors, as well as the bullpen, to take Jack Kochanowicz’s spot in the rotation. He’s still young, so another trip to the minors wouldn’t hurt him one bit.
Hitters: Brayden Zielke
Statistically, the Angels were just okay this week in the batters box. The team only hit .231 (45-195) this week. They combined for 7 home runs and walked 12 times as a team this week. However, I’m of the opinion that numbers don’t really matter if you’re winning. The Angels scored more runs than they gave up and had some really nice victories this week. I’d like to see some of these numbers go up, but as long as the Angels keep winning, you won’t hear me complaining.
Hot! Jo Adell
Jo Adell was on fire this week, hitting .381 (8-21) with 4 home runs, 8 RBIs, and an OPS of 1.387! Adell was clearly seeing the ball well and 3 multi-hit games this week. Even though he has struggled this season and did strike out 7 times this week, it’s nice to see Adell crushing the ball. His season is starting to look up.
Not… Taylor Ward
Ward didn’t produce much this week, despite the Angels finding success and winning 4 games. Ward hit .111 (2-18) and did hit a home run, although unfortunately it came during the Angels 3-2 loss to Seattle. Ward did drive in 4 runs this week but couldn’t find himself on base. Ward struck out 7 times on top of not getting hits.
Overall, it was a good week for the Angels. They came through when needed, and the bullpen did well. There are still a few kinks to figure out with certain players, but it’ll work out as time goes on. See you next week on Who’s Hot, Who’s Not!
Disclaimer : (1) All photos are not owned by InsideHalos and have been given proper credit beneath each photo. (2) Links of players are property of MLB, MiLB, and Baseball Reference. (3) InsideHalos is a fan-made site not affiliated with Angels Baseball.