Who’s Hot, Who’s Not #2 (4/13-26)
April 29, 2026 - Written by Kian Behravan
Jack Kochanowicz' sinker is so filthy LOOK WHERE IT STARTS pic.twitter.com/mfejCqQFUd
— swilly ☻ (@swillysports) April 28, 2026
Hello InsideHalos, and welcome back to Who’s Hot, Who’s Not! Every couple weeks, I look over every stat, game, and play to determine which of your Halos have been hot–and which have not.
Over the last two weeks, the Angels went to New York to play the Yankees, hosted the Padres and Blue Jays, and just wrapped up a three game set in Kansas City. During the stretch, they went a disappointing 4-9, including three walkoff losses. Now, they sit at 12-17 which currently puts them in fourth place in the AL West, 2 games behind the third-place Mariners and one game ahead of the last-place Astros. Right now, the Angels are in Southside facing the White Sox, who have been hot, winning six of their last nine and are two games up in the series currently, then they host the Mets, who recently snapped a 12-game losing streak just to get swept by the Rockies in three right after. Then, it’s the White Sox for three in Anaheim and a trip to Toronto for three to wrap up the stretch. It’ll be a fun two weeks of baseball–let’s get into the numbers.
Hitters:
Over the 13 game stretch, the Angel’s lineup posted an OPS of .784, over 100 points more than the 16 games before. Everything is up: Runs per game, hits per game, home runs per game, and extra base hits per game. The only thing that’s down is strikeouts per game, which is a plus. Hopefully this is a turn in the right direction for the Angel’s offense. The pitching is complimenting the hitting well, but let's dive into who’s been crushing it for the Halos.
Hot! Mike Trout
I’m happy, you’re happy, baseball is happy. Mike Trout is finally starting to look like himself again. Over his last 13 games, he’s slashed .261 / .433 / .739 with seven homers, thirteen RBIs and more walks than strikeouts (14 and 11 respectively). What’s helped him hit so much better? A simple step. Literally, a step. On April 10, Mike Trout showed a new load against the Reds. Before his front-foot stride, he took a small step back with his right foot, which is something unusual for any hitter. However, on that first at-bat, he took an 0-2 heater that he’d usually whiff one and sent it 106 miles an hour to shortstop for a groundout. The contact caught my eye, not the result. In 2025, Trout’s whiff rate was 29.9%. This year so far, it’s 21.4%. That’s a jump from the 16th percentile to the 70th percentile. He bumped his xwOBA up from .358 (86th percentile) in 2025 to a best-in-league .471. In terms of this season, he owned a slashline of .190 / .382 / .357 with 15 strikeouts in 12 games before his stepback load. From that Reds game on, it’s .283 / .440 / .684 with just 11 strikeouts in 16 games. Whatever that big red light machine he was sitting in has been doing to him, it’s working. Baseball loves when Mike Trout does Mike Trout things, no matter what team you root for.
Oswald… Peraza???
Now, I know I’m straying away from the rules on just the second article, but this needs to be brought to light. The Angels might have found their utility guy. Over his last 12 games, Oswald Peraza has a batting average north of .360 and an OPS over 1.000. He’s already collected more hits in 26 games this year than he did in 35 with the Angels last year. Hopefully, this is something that pans out for the Halos, as their need for a utility man is imperative.
Not… Logan O’Hoppe
Logan O’Hoppe has been disappointing this year to say the least. He hit .171 and carried an OPS of only .532 in 13 games before heading to the IL with a fractured wrist, giving Sebastian Rivero a chance. Even with his poor catching ability, not all is lost. It’s early in the season, he’s still young, and he’s already proved himself before. However, it’s hard to be optimistic when his numbers have consistently dropped every year since 2023. His inability to hit breaking pitches is detrimental to the team, especially with the role they intend him to play as a young leader with Zach Neto. Hopefully this recovery can give him some time to look over some mechanics and get himself back on track.
Pitchers:
It was a rough week for the pitching staff, primarily the bullpen. However, as a whole, the staff put up a 5.13 ERA during the stretch, over one point higher than last time. Strikeouts per game are down as well, as they averaged 8.4 this time rather than last stretch’s 9.1. However, they did walk less hitters, as only around four hitters reached base via balls, which is less than the 5.4 hitters on average for the two weeks before April 13th. However, there were some things that happened which took me by surprise. Let’s get into it.
Hot (Besides Soriano, I’ll tally him this week as well.)! Jack… Kochanowicz??
Something’s wrong. This isn’t supposed to happen. Jack Kochanowicz posted a 2.92 ERA in 2 starts (12.1 IP) in which he received no-decisions in, sadly. However, Jack K has been hot prior to the past two weeks. After finishing his first start in normal Jack K fashion (4 IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 5 BB, 3 K), he went on to give up just one run in his next two starts, which totaled 12.2 innings, which leads us to the two starts we’re covering now. If you take away his first start, you leave him with a 1.80 ERA over 25 innings, which is elite. Well, what’s changed? He’s ditched the sweeper and has increased his changeup usage. He’s also added several inches of break to his slider. This hasn’t changed his ground ball rate, which has hovered around 50-60 percent over his career, good enough for the 94th percentile in 2026 (58.8%), but it has helped the barrel rate and hard-hit%. While still high, the numbers show substantial growth. In 2025, K’s barrel rate was 9.3 percent and his hard-hit% was 49.6%. This year so far, those numbers sit at 8.2% and 42.4 percent respectively. It could be sheer luck, or maybe something has clicked, but with his combination of a now-elite fastball and developing breaking pitches, we could see Jack Kochanowicz develop into the pitcher the Angels want him to be.
It’s time for bullpen appreciation! Today’s reliever: Chase Silseth
Chase Silseth has held it down in the bullpen for the Halos as he’s given up just one run in his last 6 games (5 IP). He’s been getting hitters to whiff and chase all year with his deadly splitter-fastball combo. He still throws the sweeper, but it seems like he’s found the most success mixing all three pitches, while primarily using his splitter (40% usage in 2026). Hopefully this could translate to other bullpen arms and end the long curse of the Angels’ Blowpen.
Not… Jordan Romano
Thank the Jordan Romano’s gone. The Angels spent 2 million dollars on an arm that recorded an 8.23 ERA last season, and it went as expected. During the stretch, Romano threw in five games but pitched just three innings, giving up 11 hits, nine runs while walking four. Hitters had a .714 BAbip off him, and his 25 batters faced in the three innings pitched is far from pretty. This year, Romano owns a 10.13 ERA, a WHIP north of two, and is 55 percent worse than the average pitcher according to ERA+. He tried a splitter and it was painfully flat, and the standard fastball-slider combo wasn’t cutting it at all. With Kirby Yates struggling in rehab, however, it’s hard to know who the closer will be now. Angel’s fans are glad its not Romano, though.
Another stint down for the Halos. There are some winnable games down this next two-week stretch, but you never know with this team. The lineup has the talent but needs to learn how to be consistent. The pitching staff is consistent but needs to learn how to be consistently good. Either way, it’s always fun to watch some Angel’s baseball. See you next time on Who’s Hot, Who’s Not!
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