Camila Sosa
For this MLB season, both the Los Angeles Angels and Noah Syndergaard have a lot to lose after going through disappointing campaigns last year, and they will do everything they can to make the most successful in 2022. One of the doubts about the new stage of the 29-year-old pitcher in the team from Los Angeles was about how he would take care of his arm, since he suffered several major injuries in recent years.
The team’s manager, Joe Maddon, met with the right-hander yesterday and defined the way in which he would play in the current harvest, and during the course of the day he communicated it to the SoCal News media group what was discussed with Noah.
“There are no plans (for Noah Syndergaard). It has no difference with the case of Shohei Ohtani (last year). I just wanted to talk to him, I wanted to get to know him better, I think he knows how to combine life and work which is a good thing. He’s excited to be here which I love. Beyond that the plan is that there is no plan. He is confident that he can be (on the hill) and does not want any kind of restrictions either.”
Joe Maddon, manager of the Los Angeles Angels to the SoCal News network.
The team’s star and current American League MVP, Shohei Ohtani, underwent Tommy John surgery during the 2019 campaign, and in 2020 he only pitched one inning and two-thirds in total, but in 2021 he was not imposed any restrictions and reached a great performance, with a 9-2 record, 3.18 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and 156 strikeouts through 130.1 innings. The Angels seem to want to take the same route with Thor, having lost the entire 2020 campaign to the New York Mets due to the same injury, and pitching just two complete innings in his return over the past year.
Similarly, the Anaheim team typically implements a six-starter rotation, which gives more rest and recovery time to its main arms, somewhat limiting its innings passively. With Ohtani and Syndergaard at the helm, the rest of the shifts will be split between Patrick Sandoval, José Suárez, Michael Lorenzen and Jaime Barria (if there are no modifications to the current roster).
The Angels’ newly signed right-hander is under contract for the rest of the season and a $21M salary that represents the highest signing a starter has earned in the organization’s history, surpassing all-time names like Jared Weaver and C.J. Wilson.
Prior to his elbow problems, Syndergaard had compiled a 24-14 record with a 3.67 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 391 strikeouts through 382.1 innings between 2017 and 2019. The hope is that Noah will return to his dominant seasons of at least 150 innings and an ERA that is around 3.20, but the team’s main goal for the 2022 campaing is that his arm does not suffer more physical limitations.
The Angels will try to make it to the postseason for the first time since 2014, and with a relatively close division among all teams (with the Seattle Mariners as favorites on paper and the Oakland Athletics as the presumed owners of the basement), Joe Maddon’s team is aiming to improve on its previous record of 77-85 with Mike Trout healthy for most of the year.
