Angels to promote top pitching prospect

The Angels are set to promote pitching prospect Sam Bachman for his Major League Baseball debut, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (Twitter link). Bachman, the ninth overall selection in the 2021 draft, will be used out of the bullpen to begin his big league career, Sam Blum of The Athletic adds. Bachman isn’t on the 40-man roster and will need to be added.

The 23-year-old Bachman ranks seventh in the Angels system at Baseball America, fifth at MLB.com and fourth at FanGraphs. Scouting reports on the 6-foot-1 righty tout a potent fastball/slider combo, with the heater capable of reaching triple digits and the slider giving him a potentially plus pitch with which to miss bats. Command is the most oft-cited question mark with Bachman, as is often the case with power-armed hurlers of this nature, and he also dealt with back and biceps injuries since being drafted.

Bachman has gotten out to a tough start in Double-A this season, posting a 5.81 ERA in six starts — a total of just 26 1/3 frames. He’s fanned nearly a quarter of his opponents but also issued walks at an ugly 16.9% clip. That work has come exclusively out of the rotation, however, and the Angels will now take a look at how Bachman fares in shorter stints when he can air out his already plus heater at max intensity. Baseball America’s scouting report on Bachman notes that his velocity has a tendency to begin dropping after around three innings anyhow, which could certainly point to a future in the bullpen.

The Angels bullpen has been a top-heavy unit in 2023, ranking seventh in the majors with a 3.57 ERA that’s largely due to dominant performances from Carlos Estevez, Matt Moore and Jaime Barria, who all sport sub-2.00 ERAs. Righties Andrew Wantz and Chris Devenski have been sharp as well, but the Angels have cycled through several less-successful options to round out the relief corps. Anaheim has already moved on from veteran righty Ryan Tepera, and the Angels received ugly results from fellow veteran Aaron Loup. They’ll hope Bachman’s high-octane arsenal can help to solidify the group and take some pressure off the likes of Estevez and Moore, who are tied with a team-leading (by a wide margin) 22 appearances apiece.