Righty reliever Robert Stephenson and the Angels are in agreement on a three-year, $33 million contract, the team announced on Tuesday.

Stephenson, who had a 3.10 ERA over 60 appearances between the Pirates and Rays last season, should help steady an Angels bullpen that ranked 26th with a 4.88 ERA in 2023. The right-hander immediately becomes one of the club's top high-leverage options, along with incumbent closer Carlos Estévez.

Estévez had a dominant first half last season, posting a 1.80 ERA, 21 saves and 43 strikeouts in 35 innings over 36 appearances. It was a different story following the All-Star break, however, with the veteran right-hander putting up a 6.59 ERA in 27 outings down the stretch.

Meanwhile, Stephenson's 2023 campaign unfolded in the opposite manner. After struggling out of the gate with the Pirates, the right-hander turned into one of the game's more dominant relievers following a June 2 trade to the Rays.

In 38 1/3 innings with Tampa Bay, Stephenson had a 2.35 ERA while striking out a whopping 60 batters and walking just eight. From June through the rest of the season, he boasted an absurd 37.1% strikeout-minus-walk rate -- second-best among all pitchers (min. 30 innings) behind only Félix Bautista’s 37.6% mark.

After bouncing around teams with mixed results for the previous few seasons, the timing of Stephenson’s breakout couldn’t have been better in the stretch run of his walk year. A big part of Stephenson’s improvements boiled down to altering his most-utilized pitch with help from the Rays.

As documented by MLB.com’s Rays beat writer Adam Berry, Stephenson and Tampa Bay pitching coach Kyle Snider adjusted the grip on the righty’s slider and saw the pitch turn from a mid-80’s offering to a sharper upper-80’s offering. Labeled as a cutter by Statcast, Stephenson still referred to it as a slider, but regardless of the pitch classification, it had monstrous results in Tampa Bay.

From June onward, no pitcher had a higher whiff rate on a single pitch (min. 100 swings) than Stephenson’s cutter/slider, which generated whiffs on a remarkable 59.9 percent of swings. With this new elite swing-and-miss offering at his disposal to pair with an upper-90’s heater, good splitter and improved command, Stephenson looks like a real late-innings threat (reliever volatility may apply).

It remains to be seen exactly how he'll be used in the Angels' bullpen, but he certainly figures to factor into the mix when it comes to closing out games.