ANAHEIM — Tayler Saucedo has emerged from the rubble of the Angels’ embattled bullpen.
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Saucedo, a 33-year-old who has been kicking around professional baseball since 2015, is not an up-and-coming prospect, but he has enjoyed some of the best success of his career over the last two months with the Angels.
Saucedo has a 2.66 ERA and he’s held opposing hitters to a .205 average, with 24 strikeouts and five walks in 20⅓ innings. He has not allowed a run in his last 13 appearances, the longest such streak of his career.
Overall, the Angels bullpen ranks 20th in the majors with a 4.29 ERA. They’ve suffered 29 blown saves, which is fifth most in the majors, and they’ve lost 11 games when leading after eight innings.
Fixing that over the winter will one of the Angels’ most pressing tasks.
Saucedo, who is arbitration eligible, will presumably still be with the team next year. What he’s done this season has been too small of a sample to be certain that he’s part of the bullpen solution next year, but so far his performance has been encouraging.
“I feel like the stuff is ticking up a little bit,” manager Kurt Suzuki said. “The strikeout to walks have been elite. I think everything he’s been doing, coming in and attacking the strike zone, getting righties out, has been definitely a positive. He’s been awesome.”
When the Angels made the change from Mike Maddux to Tim Leveque as pitching coach, there was an emphasis throughout the staff on having pitchers throw their best pitches more often.
In Saucedo’s case, that’s meant using his sweeper more. He’s thrown more frequently that at any previous time in his career in the last month.
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Opponents have hit .115 against Saucedo’s sweeper, and they’ve whiffed on 42% of their swings. He’s thrown it against righties and lefties.
Saucedo used his sweeper to strike out Ryan Kreidler on Saturday night, ending a 1-2-3 11th inning that set the stage for the Angels to win in the bottom of the inning.
After the strikeout, the normally subdued Saucedo was visibly pumped up as he strutted off the mound.
“That caught me off guard,” Suzuki said. “He’s a guy that kind of never shows any emotion. For him to do that, I think it fired the guys up. It was a big moment. He came up and did a great job and was fired up. That emotion, this time of year, is great.”
NOTES
With one week to go in the regular season, Suzuki said so far he’s heard nothing about his job status beyond the season. Suzuki is coming to the end of his one-year deal as manager. …
Since the start of August, Angels catchers have thrown out 31% of would-be base-stealers, leading the majors.
UP NEXT
Angels (LHP Yusei Kikuchi, 1-6, 5.02) at Athletics (LHP Brady Basso, 1-3, 4.50), Tuesday, 6:40 p.m., ABTV, 830 AM
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