ANAHEIM – Chase Silseth spent the first three seasons of his career bouncing between the starting rotation and bullpen.
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Now in his first full season as a reliever, the 26-year-old right-hander is thriving.
Silseth entered Saturday with a 3.03 ERA, lowest of any Angels reliever this season. He’s done that while making 42 appearances, most of any Angels reliever this season.
In an Angels bullpen that has blown eight leads after the eighth inning this season, Silseth has emerged as their most consistent and reliable option.
“I’m out there just trying to execute,” Silseth said. “(As a reliever) I can just attack this hitter the way I want to attack him. Not trying to set up how I’m gonna pitch this guy in the second AB and third AB and stuff like that. When you have all that stuff going through your head, it’s different.
“So when you’re out there, and you got your inning to shine, it’s just kind of go out there and attack with your best stuff and what you have that day.”
Silseth came up as a starter, but he showed flashes of his ability in relief when he posted a 1.64 ERA in 10 appearances after returning from elbow surgery last season. It was a stark contrast to his 5.25 ERA in 17 career starts and convinced the Angels to move him to the bullpen full-time in 2026.
The results have been immediate. Silseth’s fastball, splitter and sweeper have all gained at least 1 mph in relief compared to when he was starting. With it, he’s striking out 28.8% of hitters, the highest rate of his career.
“I think coming out of the ‘pen definitely matches his personality more,” Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe said. “You know, foot on the gas and full throttle. It’s awesome seeing the energy he brings to the table, and I think the guys behind him definitely feed off it too.”
Silseth admits it took him a while to make the mental adjustment going from being a starter to a reliever. The biggest change he had to make was in his pregame routine.
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“As a starter, I was stuck to ‘You need to throw this many during this day,” Silseth said. “It took a lot for me to get that in my head, that mental little thing where I could go out and play catch and throw 15 balls and be ready to go.”
Now that he’s made that adjustment, Silseth is flourishing. As the Angels continue to search for reliable high-leverage options, Silseth is increasingly positioning himself to be their go-to reliever in the game’s biggest spots.
“He’s been great,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. “Obviously, I caught him when he was a starter. Now his stuff plays up more and in spurts, right? His fastball, split, sweeper. I think he’s found the spot where he’s running (into) a lot of success.”
NO ANSWER FOR RISP WOES
The Angels went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position in their series-opening loss to the Tigers, continuing a season-long problem.
The Angels entered Saturday batting .240 with runners in scoring position, 22nd in MLB. They have a .709 OPS with runners in scoring position, 23rd in MLB.
Suzuki said he didn’t have an answer for the team’s struggles, although he did emphasize the need for Angels hitters to stay within their approach.
“Obviously, when you get guys in scoring position, I think the national tendency is to try to want to do more and maybe you expand a little bit,” Suzuki said. “But I think at the same time, those pitchers are good too. They make a lot of money too, and they’re paid a lot of money to do what they do, and they execute when they have to.
“I think if we stay with our approach, stay within ourselves, not try to do too much, I think good things will happen. That’s easier said than done, though. We just gotta stay with the approach that we work on.”
UP NEXT
Tigers (RHP Casey Mize, 4-6, 2.79 ERA) at Angels (RHP Ryan Johnson, 1-4, 6.75 ERA), Sunday, 1:07 pm, ABTV, 830 AM
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