Detmers, Yan picked for Futures Game

NEW YORK -- Left-hander Reid Detmers, the club’s No. 2 prospect, will represent the Angels in the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game at Coors Field on July 11, along with fellow Angels pitching prospect Hector Yan, Major League Baseball announced Wednesday.

Detmers, ranked as the No. 57 overall prospect by MLB Pipeline, has been pitching well at Double-A Rocket City, posting a 3.95 ERA with 76 strikeouts in 41 innings over nine starts. Detmers, who was selected as the No. 10 overall pick in the 2020 Draft, has seen his velocity increase from his time at the University of Louisville, touching as high as 97 mph, while mostly sitting 92-94 mph. The 21-year-old has been on a roll recently, as he's struck out a combined 30 batters in 12 innings over his last two starts.

“He's really been improving," Angels manager Joe Maddon said. "It started out tough in the beginning of the year, but he's really catching on fire. A lot of strikeouts. The fastball is playing up. I guess he's given up some homers, but if you challenge with your fastball, that's going to happen. But his curveball is good and I think he's working on a slider, kind of a smaller breaking ball. But everything is moving in the right direction."

Detmers remains more likely to make his Major League debut in 2022, but if he continues to pitch as well as he has recently, there’s at least an outside chance he could reach the Majors this season. Maddon had no timeline for Detmers’ ascendance to the big leagues, but the manager had nothing but praise for what he’s been doing this year.

"I'm a big fan of the kid himself,” Maddon said. “I like his makeup from when I've spoken to him in person. And I like the idea that he's picked it up as much as he has with the strikeouts. It's interesting because he was not a mid-90s pitcher. When we got him, I was told high 80s, maybe touch 90-91, and now he's become something else. I think he's learning to how to deal with that, plus the addition of the new breaking ball. So it's all looking good. But more than anything, I like his makeup."

Yan, 22, joins Detmers and is on the club’s 40-man roster. The club's No. 9 prospect has posted a 6.41 ERA with 47 strikeouts and 29 walks in 39 1/3 innings with High-A Tri-City this year, but the lefty has a career 3.85 ERA in five Minor League seasons.

"I love it,” Maddon said. “Things like that can really help catapult a player when you go to a game like that where all the other good players are involved. It's good to get out there. You see the best competition around you. And to be recognized like that, it does mean something. It's always an honor to be considered for that."