Who’s Hot, Who’s Not #4 (4/26-5/2)
May 3, 2025 - Written by Kian Behravan
Photo Credit : @Angels - X
Welcome back, Angels Fans! It’s week four of Who’s Hot, Who’s Not! Each week I pinpoint two players who did well this week and two who haven’t. Usually, I choose a pitcher and hitter for each category, although last week was different. I dive into the stats, figure out why they’re hot (or not), and pinpoint what needs to happen with these players.
The Halos are amid a six-game losing streak, with teams scoring at least five runs on them every game. It’s been a rough go this season, as they’ve fallen to last place in the AL West, sitting at 12-19, four games back from the 4th-place Texas Rangers. Still, this doesn’t mean that players haven’t balled out recently.
Pitchers:
Hot! Tyler Anderson
This is the second time Tyler Anderson has made this category, and he deserves it. He’s the only pitcher on the Angel’s staff who has it figured out. In his start on April 30, he went six strong, giving up four hits and two earned runs, while striking out five. His walk rate is down from the previous weeks, as he only walked two in his outing. He still needs to perfect his cutter command, but he’s proven to have worked on that since his last couple of outings. It’s not a problem that he’s throwing these pitches out of the zone, as some get swings and misses, but most of these cutters are non-competitive pitches.
Anderson has had an outstanding start to his 2025 campaign. It truly is a shame that it’s going unnoticed around the league due to the atrocious pitching performances the Angels have seen as of late.
Not… Reid Detmers
After getting off to a decent start in early April, Reid Detmers completely imploded this week. In just 2.1 innings, he’s given up ten earned runs, and hitters have a whopping .643 BAbip against him–not to mention he’s responsible for two of the team’s losses this week. A main factor is that he hasn’t been striking out hitters as usual, with his K% on the year at a low 21.2, versus 27.9 last season. Another major contributor is his lack of offspeed production. The Baseball Savant run value on his offspeed is sitting at -3, with his breaking ball run value at -1 (fastball - 0).
Although it’s still early in the season, if Detmers keeps this up, it may be time for another trip to the minors for a full factory reset. Detmers is still young and has time to produce as much as he was hyped up to produce, but if he doesn’t figure something out, he could turn into another Angels prospect flop.
Hitters:
Hot! Zach Neto
Since returning from his shoulder surgery on April 18, Zach Neto has gotten off to a solid start. However, this week he went on a tear. In the six games, he slashed .333 / .360 / .667, making for an OPS north of 1.000 on the week. He mashed two doubles and two homers, including a leadoff bomb against reigning Cy Young Award and Triple Crown winner Tarik Skubal on Friday. His Baseball Savant xSLG is an astounding .718, which, if qualified, would put him in the 100th percentile. His average exit velocity is also up, at 94.7 MPH (over the 90th percentile if qualified).
Neto’s been hitting the ball hard, but he hasn’t particularly been seeing it as well. Although he’s not qualified for percentile rankings yet, Baseball Savant still has the numbers. His average exit velocity is 94.7 MPH. However, his chase and whiff percentages are 32.6 and 27.8, respectively. That would put him well below the 40th percentile if he qualified. The only thing he needs to work on is pitch selection, then that could drive up his numbers and make for a great breakout season.
Not… Taylor Ward
Taylor Ward is usually a solid hitter, but this season has been littered with early struggles. He’s gone hitless in 17 at-bats on the week, nine of which ended in strikeouts. The unusual thing is that it’s not a problem with him chasing out of the zone (18.1% rate in 2025) or whiffing (20.6% rate in 2025). The problem is that he’s looking at strike three too often. Ward is known to be a patient hitter, often waiting for his pitch, and usually crushes it. This may have led to a distorted view of the strike zone, leading him to take pitches in the zone for strike three.
It’s still early for Ward, but maybe a more aggressive approach could lead to him putting the bat on the ball more and, at the same time, having a good pitch selection. Even though he hasn’t drawn a lot of walks this year, he’s still a very disciplined hitter. If he maintains that discipline while being more aggressive on pitches in the zone, he could see success again soon.
It was another rough week for the team, with hitters still not producing. Pitching can only keep the team afloat for so long, and it seems time is running out. Hitters, and the bullpen, have to step up and start to produce or else the Halos could see themselves in an inescapable hole as the season goes on. See you next week on Who’s Hot, Who’s Not!
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