Angels hold meeting to address pitching issues

This story was excerpted from Rhett Bollinger's Angels Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CINCINNATI -- Throughout Spring Training, pitching coach Barry Enright and bullpen coach Steve Karsay emphasized the importance of getting ahead of hitters and throwing first-pitch strikes.

But Angels starting pitchers have yet to put that into practice this year, as they’ve thrown a first-pitch strike just 54.2 percent of the time, which ranks as the worst mark in the Majors. Halos starters have posted a combined 4.12 ERA, which ranks 19th in MLB despite the fact that lefties Reid Detmers (1.19 ERA in 22 2/3 innings) and Tyler Anderson (1.42 ERA in 25 1/3 innings) are off to strong starts.

So Angels manager Ron Washington is holding a special meeting on Monday to get the club’s five starters in a room with catchers Logan O’Hoppe and Matt Thaiss as well as the club’s pitching coaches. It’ll be on the pitchers to explain why they’ve gotten away from throwing first-pitch strikes, and then they can discuss as a group how to fix the problem and learn from it.

“We're going to have each one of them explain to us why they've gotten away from what we talked about in Spring Training,” Washington said. “When you’ve got a young [pitching] staff and you see things not going the way you want it to go, you have to have conversations with them and you have to let them talk. Because maybe it's something we're not doing as a [coaching] staff to help you do what we promised to each other we were going to do.”

The numbers bear out the importance of getting ahead, as MLB batters are hitting .210/.260/.322 after an 0-1 count and .253/.377/.413 after a 1-0 count this season.

The league average for first-pitch-strike percentage is 61.3 percent. Among Angels starters, only José Soriano (63.5 percent), Anderson (62.2 percent) and Detmers (61.6 percent) are above that mark. Patrick Sandoval is at 55.3 percent, Griffin Canning is at 53.4 percent and Chase Silseth was at 47.4 percent before being placed on the 15-day injured list with right elbow inflammation.

Canning, who has an 8.05 ERA through four starts, and Sandoval, who has a 6.75 ERA in four outings, both expressed frustration at their inability to get ahead of hitters consistently this season.

“Starting people in a hole, 1-0, is a not a recipe for success,” Sandoval said. “It’s something I need to work on.”

Canning explained it’s a mentality, and it’s something he’s working on, as he said it’s about throwing with conviction and being more assertive. He had trouble in the first inning on Friday, yanking his fastball instead of trusting it. But he started to pitch better once he stopped being tentative.

“You see the numbers when you get ahead of guys and obviously it’s a focal point for us. We want to get better, but at the same, it’s early and we’re working on it,” Canning said. “I think most of it probably just boils down to a mindset, just being aggressive. Throwing through the zone and trusting your stuff.”

Washington said Monday’s meeting will have an informal tone, and the goal isn’t to yell at the players or make them feel badly about the way they are performing. It’s about finding out why they’ve gotten away from being aggressive early in the count like they were in Spring Training.

The pitchers understand that throwing early strikes can led to success, so Washington just wants to know what he and his coaching staff can do to help them put that into action. He also wants the catchers to speak up and find out if the pitchers have any issues with pitch calling or how catchers are setting up behind the plate.

“We did it in spring and it was successful, but since the season started we haven’t done it, so they’re getting the chance to check themselves,” Washington said. “They’re going to get the chance to go inside themselves and find out who they are. And we’re going to get a chance to find out why they’re not doing it. So it’s going to be a conversation with everybody in that room. It’s not going to be us on them. When we come out of that room, we’ve got to come up with a solution, because this can’t continue.”