Angels on the left Patrick Sandoval in left field tonight's start against the Dodgers in the third inning. After his teammate left Shohei Ohtani, Sandoval started shaking his arm and called the trainer. The Halos announced the initial diagnosis as arm stiffness.
It seems fair to assume that Sandoval will take a snap in the next few days. While it's too early to know if he's dealing with a significant absence, the southpaw's reaction on the mound and diagnosis are cause for concern.
Sandoval worked 2 1/3 scoreless innings tonight. He still has an uninspiring 5.08 earned run average over 79 2/3 frames on the season. The 27-year-old's indications are very promising. Sandoval struck out 23% of the batters he faced while keeping the ball down 45% of the time. He threw very few feet (9.9% rate), but looks like a very high-quality swing arm. Sandoval owns an above average 11.7% strikeout rate heading into tonight's game.
During 2022-23, Sandoval was one of the best starters in the league. He went 140 innings in both seasons, compiling a 3.50 ERA over 55 starts. While Sandoval was more active in '22 than the year before, he has tended to be a bright spot during a difficult few years in Orange County.
As MLBTR's Steve Adams surveyed the Front Office subs this week, Sandoval looked like a very attractive trade candidate. Steve noted the similarities between the Angels hurler and Miami's Jesus Luzardowho is considered one of the best (if not i top) is the first controllable pitcher who is likely to leave this summer. The Angels haven't shown the same willingness to deal with key players as the Marlins' new front office has, yet Los Angeles manager Perry Minasian would find no shortage of calls on a healthy Sandoval.
Tonight's injury at least makes that difficult. A long absence can eliminate the deadline altogether. The Angels control Sandoval through arbitration for two seasons beyond this one. He made $5.025MM this season in his second of four years of arbitration after becoming eligible for the Super Two in 2022.
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