(april 15, 2017) - mlb.com...april 15, 2017 page 4 of 18 duffy, a lompoc, calif., native, blended...
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April 15, 2017 Page 1 of 18
Clips
(April 15, 2017)
April 15, 2017 Page 2 of 18
Today’s Clips Contents
FROM LOS ANGELES TIMES (Page 3)
JC Ramirez struggles early during debut as Angels starter in 7-1 loss to the Royals
Angels ace Garrett Richards needs more tests to determine cause of his biceps injury
FROM THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER (Page 5)
Still looking for quality starting pitching, Angels lose to Royals
Angels Notes: Matt Shoemaker looking for better results
FROM ANGELS.COM (Page 8)
Halos unable to pick up Ramirez, fall to KC
Rough night for Calhoun on bases, in field
Marte, Cron platooning at 1B for now
Shoemaker faces KC on Jackie Robinson Day
Hard knocks: Results betray Pujols' contact
FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (Page 15)
Duffy pitches gem as Royals beat Angels 7-1
FROM ESPN.com (Page 17)
Angels right-hander Garrett Richards (biceps) to remain on DL
April 15, 2017 Page 3 of 18
FROM THE LOS ANGELES TIMES .
JC Ramirez struggles early during debut as Angels starter in 7-1 loss to the Royals
By Pedro Moura
Angels right-hander JC Ramirez had pitched in 111 major league games before Friday night at Kauffman
Stadium. But this gusty Midwestern night marked his first career start, so he quickly noticed when an
Angels reliever began to warm as he struggled along in the third inning.
“Oh, starting is not easy,” Ramirez said he thought. “Because I’m in the bullpen, I know that it sucks for
us when the starting pitcher doesn’t go that far.”
He told himself then to trust his breaking balls, and finished two more innings without trouble. But by
then it was far too late. He had given up five runs in the first third of the game, and the Angels fell 7-1 to
Kansas City. The 28-year-old’s starting debut was a failure.
“Too many fastballs,” Ramirez said. “I know I’ve got good velocity, but they’re good hitters, too.”
Two pitches into his first inning, Ramirez served up a single to Alex Gordon. Mike Moustakas hit
Ramirez’s next pitch, a middle-middle fastball, for a two-run home run.
Then, in the second inning, a walk, a single, a sacrifice bunt, and a wild pitch produced a run. In the
third, a walk, a double, a groundout and a sacrifice fly produced two.
Ordinarily, right fielder Kole Calhoun would have caught the double, but he took an indirect route to the
baseball, hopped, and missed it by a few feet. The mistake by the typically elite defender cost the Angels
two runs.
“It was windy, but it’s not like I don’t know that,” Calhoun said. “I didn’t think he hit the ball as well as
he did. I saw it the whole way. I took a couple hard steps in, and before I knew it, I’ve gotta jump and the
ball’s over my head. It fooled me.”
The Angels managed little against Kansas City ace left-hander Danny Duffy, and what little they did was
early. To begin, Yunel Escobar singled through the middle, Calhoun walked on four pitches, and Mike
Trout singled. Escobar scored, but Lorenzo Cain threw out Calhoun trying for third.
“You kinda want to push the envelope early in the game,” Calhoun said. “He had to make a great throw,
and he did.”
Said Trout: “That’s one of those times where you take a chance and you get thrown out.”
April 15, 2017 Page 4 of 18
Duffy, a Lompoc, Calif., native, blended his sharp slider with a changeup and two fastballs. He struck out
six Angels and walked two. After the first inning, the Angels produced only two more hits, both singles.
At one point, the Royals had set down 13 consecutive men.
Behind Ramirez, right-hander Deolis Guerra served up a solo shot to Salvador Perez in the sixth inning.
Kansas City native Mike Morin handled the seventh and the eighth, as the Angels’ relievers continued to
pitch better than their starting brethren. Through 11 games, Angels starters have logged a 6.27 earned-
run average, worst in the major leagues.
Ramirez is one of three native Nicaraguans in the majors, and one of the others, infielder Cheslor
Cuthbert, is a Royal. That the two players could match up in Ramirez’s first career start was a big deal in
the Central American country of 6 million people.
“Everyone back home is waiting for that moment, for Nicaraguans to face each other,” Cuthbert said
before Friday’s game. “They’re excited for that.”
The moment did not happen. Cuthbert did not start, and Ramirez did not last long enough to face any
pinch-hitters. But the two are friends dating to a decade ago in Managua, the country’s capital and
Ramirez’s hometown. At 15, Cuthbert moved from a remote island to the capital to train and attract
attention from scouts. There, he met Ramirez, then a 19-year-old Seattle Mariners pitching prospect. He
was a starter then, but moved to the bullpen after 2011, and didn’t start another game until this spring,
at the Angels’ request.
Now, improbably, he’s in their rotation, replacing the injured Garrett Richards.
“I’m really excited for him, for this opportunity the Angels are giving to him,” Cuthbert said.
Angels manager Mike Scioscia said he expects the opportunity to continue. The club does not have any
other obvious candidates to start major league games. Ramirez would next face Houston on Wednesday
at Minute Maid Park.
Angels ace Garrett Richards needs more tests to determine cause of his biceps injury
By Pedro Moura
Ailing Angels right-hander Garrett Richards underwent a second MRI examination Thursday in Southern
California, General Manager Billy Eppler said. On the disabled list with a biceps strain uncovered by an
April 7 MRI exam, Richards reported a continued lack of strength within the muscle, which prompted the
additional testing.
The results on his cervical spine ruled out cervical disc or brachial nerve issues, according to Eppler. Still,
the need for more tests and the dearth of answers for what he is feeling are cause for concern. The 28-
year-old Richards is the anchor of the Angels’ rotation.
April 15, 2017 Page 5 of 18
“We will continue to evaluate him on a daily basis,” Eppler wrote in a text message.
Returning from a rare stem-cell treatment that repaired his torn elbow ligament last May, Richards
exited his first start of the 2017 season with what was first diagnosed as a biceps cramp, and eventually
as a strain. Sources said he had irritation in the nerve within the muscle.
He said he hoped to be pitching this weekend in Kansas City. Instead, he has remained in Orange County
for this seven-game road trip, and there is no plan for him to resume throwing on a particular date.
“I don’t think anything else is planned,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “We’re moving in the right
direction.”
Trout’s takeover
It took fewer than two weeks for Mike Trout to emerge once again as the most valuable player in
baseball. Both fangraphs.com and baseball-reference.com’s Wins Above Replacement calculations had
Trout tied or alone in the lead as of Friday, for the first time this season.
Since his first full season in 2012, Trout has been worth 47.8 wins per fangraphs.comand 48.9 per
baseball-reference.com, which use slightly different methods to produce the figures. His totals are 25%
and 29% better than the next-best player, Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw.
Short hops
The Angels purchased the contract of right-hander Deolis Guerra from triple-A Salt Lake and flew him to
town Friday to replace right-hander Daniel Wright on the roster. Wright was designated for assignment
after he logged four innings Thursday. Guerra spent most of 2017 in the majors and recorded a 3.21
earned-run average in 53 1/3 innings. …Jefry Marte started Friday at first base and has started over C.J.
Cron on all three occasions the Angels have faced a left-handed pitcher. When Luis Valbuena is activated
from the 10-day disabled list, he’ll presumably play against right-handers, which could force Cron’s
demotion to triple-A.
FROM THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER .
Still looking for quality starting pitching, Angels lose to Royals
By JEFFREY FLETCHER
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — J.C. Ramirez had waited a long time to finally walk to the mound as a major league
starting pitcher.
Three pitches later, one thought went through his head.
April 15, 2017 Page 6 of 18
“Oh, starting is not easy,” Ramirez said later, recalling the two-run homer he gave up in the first on the
way to allowing five runs in the Angels’ 7-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals on Friday night.
Ramirez, a reliever in the first 111 games of his big league career, got an opportunity to start because of
the injury to Garrett Richards. What he learned, he said, is that he needs to use more of his pitches.
Mike Moustakas hit Ramirez’s third pitch of the game, a fastball, for a two-run homer. The Royals tacked
on another run in the second and two more in the third, although those were partly because of a
mistake by Gold Glove outfielder Kole Calhoun.
In any event, Ramirez did learn from his experience, which he says will help if he starts on Wednesday in
Houston. That’s the Angels’ plan at the moment.
“Those guys were aggressive,” Ramirez said. “If I keep pitching, my next outing will be Houston and they
are aggressive too. I need to throw more of my curveball and slider.”
Ramirez retired the final nine batters he faced to get through five innings, which was some consolation
for him: “I proved to myself I can do better.”
The Angels need improvement from all their starters. Since winning four in a row — with ninth-inning
rallies to get the last two — the Angels have now lost three in a row, each time falling behind early.
Angels starters have finished the sixth inning just once this season, and none has thrown a pitch in the
seventh. They have a 6.43 ERA. Only once in 11 games has a starter earned a victory.
It’s only because of the success of the overworked bullpen and the late-inning heroics of the hitters that
the Angels are keeping their heads above water, with six victories in the first 11 games.
Ramirez didn’t bear all the burden for this loss, though. In the third inning, with a runner at first and one
out, Lorenzo Cain hit a drive to right field, and Calhoun misjudged it. It went over his head for a double,
which the Royals parlayed into two more runs with productive outs, turning a 3-1 lead into 5-1.
“I made a bad read on it,” Calhoun said. “That’s a ball I should catch. It comes back and costs us two
runs. I should have had that ball. … I saw it the whole way. Just fooled me I guess.”
While Cain’s drive eluded Calhoun, the same two players were on opposite sides of another key moment
early in the game.
Yunel Escobar singled and Calhoun walked to start the game, and then Mike Trout singled to center to
drive in Escobar. Cain, the Royals center fielder, made a perfect throw to nail Calhoun at third. Had
Calhoun been safe, the Angels would have been in good shape for a two- or three-run inning before
Ramirez threw a pitch.
Instead, they got nothing else that inning, and only had one more runner in scoring position through the
rest of lefty Danny Duffy’s seven innings.
April 15, 2017 Page 7 of 18
“It’s a tremendous throw,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “He put it right on the money.”
Angels Notes: Matt Shoemaker looking for better results
By JEFFREY FLETCHER
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Matt Shoemaker will get the ball again on Saturday with a chance to reverse what
the Angels are hoping isn’t a trend.
Neither of Shoemaker’s first two starts have gone as well as the Angels would hope, based on the lofty
standard he set for himself last season.
Although he gave up just two runs in his first start, he walked three and required 99 pitches to grind
through five innings. Then on Sunday he gave up seven runs in 4-1/3 innings, an outing that could be
glossed over because the Angels won that game with a remarkable seven-run ninth inning.
Given an extra day before Saturday’s outing, Shoemaker said there’s nothing specific he can put his
finger on for the frustrating start.
“Just better pitch execution,” he said. “You could say this every game, but take a couple pitches out of
the other game and it’s fine. You are always working on stuff, not one specific thing. Just a bunch of little
things.”
Manager Mike Scioscia said Shoemaker has had “some pitch selection issues.” The only difference from
last year so far is that Shoemaker has thrown his slider more often and his splitter less often, although
it’s still too small of a sample to be truly instructive.
“You can say you want to throw this pitch and this pitch and this pitch, but if two of them aren’t
working, you are backed into a corner,” Scioscia said. “It comes down to pitch execution, which will
enhance his pitch selection. I think Shoe is going to be fine.”
Shoemaker’s performance bears close attention because he is coming off the best season of any of the
Angels starters. Also, he’s a pitcher who has been historically streaky. He was outstanding in 2014, then
struggled so much in 2015 that he was briefly demoted to Triple-A. He was sent down again in April
2016 before returning and becoming the Angels’ best starter.
“Some of his streaks are streaks of brilliance,” Scioscia said. “If you take that out, he still gives you
chances to win games.”
ALSO
Scioscia said the team medical staff administered further tests to Garrett Richards on Thursday and
“everything was good.” The Angels are still unsure when Richards will be cleared to resume throwing,
though. Richards is on the disabled list because of a biceps strain. He is eligible to be activated on
Sunday.
April 15, 2017 Page 8 of 18
Jefry Marte and C.J. Cron now appear to be part of a full-fledged platoon at first base, with Marte
starting against lefties. Scioscia said Cron could take over full time if he gets hot. “We’re looking to see
where this evolves,” Scioscia said. “When it’s a lefty, you’ll most likely see Jefry getting some looks.”
The Angels recalled right-hander Deolis Guerra, essentially putting him in the bullpen to replace J.C.
Ramirez, who is starting, at least temporarily. Guerra was not on the 40-man roster, so the Angels
moved Andrew Heaney to the 60-day disabled list to create a spot for Guerra. Guerra is out of options,
so if the Angels try to send him down later, he’ll be exposed to waivers. …
Mike Morin, a native of the Kansas City area, said he left 42 tickets for friends and family for Friday’s
game. …
Angels broadcaster Mark Gubicza, one of the star pitchers for the Royals in the 1980s, is still a big deal in
Kansas City. Gubicza said he went to a Starbucks on Friday morning and, as word got out on social
media, fans showed up with 1985 World Series items for him to sign.
FROM ANGELS.COM .
Halos unable to pick up Ramirez, fall to KC
By Jeffrey Flanagan and Maria Guardado / MLB.com
KANSAS CITY --- Left-hander Danny Duffy turned in his third straight strong start to open the season,
handcuffing the Angels on three hits and one run over seven innings as the Royals won their second
straight, 7-1, on Friday night at Kauffman Stadium.
Duffy (2-0) walked two and struck out six while lowering his ERA to 1.80. He retired 20 of the last 22
batters he faced.
Full Game Coverage
"He was outstanding," Royals center fielder Lorenzo Cain said. "He was lights-out. We've had back-to-
back great performances from Vargy [Jason Vargas] and Danny."
• After an early break, Duffy handcuffs Halos
Added Royals manager Ned Yost: "When you're not hitting, you need guys like Danny and Vargy to hold
the fort down. ... But I feel like the bats are starting to wake up."
Mike Moustakas hit his fourth homer and Salvador Perez hit his fifth for the Royals.
April 15, 2017 Page 9 of 18
Angels right-hander JC Ramirez made his first Major League start after 111 career relief appearances in
place of Garrett Richards, who landed on the disabled list last week with a right biceps strain. Ramirez,
who last started in Double-A in 2011, gave up five hits and four runs over five innings, though he
finished strong and retired the last seven batters he faced.
"I think the first three innings were rough innings," Ramirez said. "They were aggressive to me. I could
have been putting a better combination of my pitches. I think that's all."
Angels manager Mike Scioscia said he expects Ramirez to stay in the rotation for at least one more turn,
with his second start scheduled for Wednesday against the Astros in Houston.
"If nothing changes, we're anticipating it," Scioscia said. "The way he came back the last couple of
innings, hopefully he can grow with it. As of right now, we have him on the board and we'll see where it
is."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
The ambush was on: It didn't take long for the Royals to pounce on Ramirez. After the Angels took a 1-0
lead, the Royals needed to see just three pitches to take the lead themselves in the first. Alex Gordon
ripped a single to right on an 0-1 count. Then Moustakas clobbered a belt-high fastball into the right-
center-field seats for his fourth home run. Moustakas' homer traveled an estimated 425 feet and its exit
velocity was 104.4 mph, according to Statcast™.
"It's nice to get some action going early," Yost said.
Moustakas had seven home runs before his 2016 season ended in early May because of an ACL injury.
"I feel good again at the plate," Moustakas said, "but the key is to maintain it."
Tough night: Angels right fielder Kole Calhoun had a rather tough night in the field and on the bases.
Calhoun misjudged a Lorenzo Cain liner in the third with Moustakas on first and none out. Moustakas
froze, thinking Calhoun had it easily, but the ball sailed over Calhoun's head for a double -- the Catch
Probability according to Statcast™ was 81 percent.
"When I hit it, I thought he would make a diving catch," Cain said. "Then it went over his head and I
started thinking three, but Moose had to hold up in front of me."
The Royals made Calhoun pay for the mistake as a groundout by Eric Hosmer and a sacrifice fly by Perez
plated both runners, making it 5-1.
April 15, 2017 Page 10 of 18
In the first, Calhoun was cut down trying to go from first to third on a nice throw by Cain in center field.
QUOTABLE
"It was nice. I've been there before. I'm not trying to sound full of myself. But when you hit that kind of
groove, it's definitely not a bad feeling." -- Duffy, on retiring 20 of the last 22 hitters he faced
SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
When Perez clubbed his team-leading fifth homer in the sixth, it was the Royals' 12th solo home run out
of the 14 they've hit this season. Perez's shot went an estimated 425 feet, according to Statcast™, and
its exit velocity was 106.2 mph.
WHAT'S NEXT
Angels: Right-hander Matt Shoemaker will make his third start Saturday -- Jackie Robinson Day across
Major League Baseball -- when the Angels play the middle game of their three-game series with the
Royals at 4:15 p.m. PT at Kauffman Stadium. Shoemaker has posted a 7.71 ERA over his first two outings
and allowed seven runs (six earned) over 4 1/3 innings against the Mariners on Sunday.
Royals: Right-hander Nathan Karns takes the mound for the Royals in Game 2 of the series at 6:15 p.m.
CT on Saturday. Karns worked 5 2/3 innings Sunday against the Astros, giving up one run.
Rough night for Calhoun on bases, in field
By Maria Guardado / MLB.com
KANSAS CITY -- Friday proved to be an uncharacteristically tough night for Angels right fielder Kole
Calhoun.
Calhoun found himself at the center of two bad plays that factored into the Angels' 7-1 lossto the Royals
in their series opener at Kauffman Stadium.
Full Game Coverage
In the first inning, Calhoun drew a walk off Royals starter Danny Duffy to put runners on first and second
with no outs for the Angels. But he then undercut a potentially big inning for the Halos when he tried
advancing from first to third on Mike Trout's RBI single to center field and was thrown out by Lorenzo
Cain for the first out.
April 15, 2017 Page 11 of 18
"I thought I had a good shot, and you kind of want to push the envelope early in the game," Calhoun
said. "He had to make a great throw, and he did."
Added Trout: "It was just a good throw. You can't take it away from Kole. He was being aggressive. You
can ask anyone, we're going to be aggressive and sometimes you take a chance and you get thrown
out."
Duffy subseq"He had three pitches and he was mixing them up well and getting them for strikes," Angels
manager Mike Scioscia said of Duffy. "He used his changeup a lot, just kept us off balance with his
fastball. He pitched a good game. We didn't get too many good looks at him."
Calhoun, who won a Gold Glove Award in 2015, also made a costly defensive miscue in the third when
he misread a line drive off the bat of Cain and allowed it to sail over his head for a double, giving the
Royals runners on second and third with no outs. The ball had a catch probability of 81 percent,
according to Statcast™.
Duffy subsequently retired the next two batters to limit the damage to one run, and the Royals quickly
erased the deficit on Mike Moustakas' towering two-run home run off JC Ramirez in the bottom half of
the inning, which gave Kansas City a 2-1 lead. The Angels trailed the rest of the way, as Duffy settled in
and shut them out over the next six innings.
"When I hit it, I thought he would have it," Cain said. "I thought he would make a diving catch."
Kansas City capitalized on Calhoun's miscue, adding a pair of runs on Eric Hosmer's groundout and
Salvador Perez's sacrifice fly to build a 5-1 lead.
"I had a bad read on it," Calhoun said. "It's a ball I should catch, and it comes back and cost us two runs. I
should have had that ball. Just a bad read, and I couldn't make up for it.
"It was windy, but it's not like I don't know that. I didn't think he hit that ball as well as he did, and I saw
it the whole way. It's not like I lost it. I took a couple hard steps in, and before I know it, I've got to jump
and the ball is already over my head. It just fooled me."
Marte, Cron platooning at 1B for now
Halos' Richards yet to be cleared to resume throwing
By Maria Guardado / MLB.com
April 15, 2017 Page 12 of 18
KANSAS CITY -- Expect to see Jefry Marte draw most of the starts at first base when the Angels face a
left-handed starter.
Marte has been in the starting lineup for all three of the Angels' matchups with southpaws this season, a
trend that continued Friday when he started at first against the Royals' Danny Duffy at Kauffman
Stadium. Manager Mike Scioscia seems to be treating first base as a bit of a platoon between Marte and
C.J. Cron, though he left open the possibility of deploying Cron against southpaws down the road.
Full Game Coverage
"I think Jefry is settling in and is really matching up well against lefties," Scioscia said. "I think we'll
continue to take a look at that. When C.J. Cron gets hot, he hits anybody, so we're still looking to see
where this evolves to. But I think if it's a lefty, most likely you'll see Jefry get some looks there."
Marte, 25, was batting .250 (4-for-16) entering Friday and has hit .200 (2-for-7) with one home run and
two walks against lefties. Cron, 27, was hitting .304 (7-for-23), but has yet to produce an extra-base hit.
He also has reverse splits over his first three years in the Majors, batting .273 against righties and .254
against lefties.
The Angels will have an interesting call to make when Luis Valbuena comes off the disabled list, as they
will likely have to option either Cron or Marte to Triple-A Salt Lake to clear a roster spot. Valbuena, a
left-handed hitter, is expected to earn most of his at-bats at first against right-handed pitching, and
Marte appears to be better suited to be platooned with him there.
Valbuena has been out since March 22 with a strained right hamstring and will have to complete a
running program before beginning a rehab assignment.
"Right now, it's just going to be on how he feels," Scioscia said. "I think the encouraging thing is he's
been in baseball activities for over a week and taking ground balls aggressively. I think by this weekend
he should have maybe a little more clarity as far as what the timeline will be, but the hurdles he has to
clear are definitely running 100 percent straight ahead, getting on the bases and repeating it."
Worth noting
• Right-hander Garrett Richards continues to experience a lack of strength in his strained right biceps,
which led the Angels to conduct an MRI on his cervical spine on Thursday, general manager Billy Eppler
said. The results of the examination ruled out cervical disc or brachial nerve issues for Richards, who will
continue to be evaluated on a daily basis.
April 15, 2017 Page 13 of 18
Richards had said that he hoped to resume throwing Tuesday, though he still has not been cleared to
pick up a baseball.
• The Angels called up right-hander Deolis Guerra from Triple-A Salt Lake on Friday and transferred left-
hander Andrew Heaney to the 60-day disabled list to clear a spot on the 40-man roster. Right-hander
Daniel Wright had been optioned Sunday after throwing four innings in relief against the Rangers.
Shoemaker faces KC on Jackie Robinson Day
By Maria Guardado / MLB.com
Right-handers Nathan Karns and Matt Shoemaker will face off Saturday night as the Angels and Royals
play the second game of their three-game series at Kauffman Stadium.
The Royals, Angels and all on-field personnel will wear No. 42 on Saturday to honor the 70th anniversary
of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in baseball. Kauffman Stadium also will join all other
ballparks with Jackie Robinson Day jeweled bases and lineup cards.
Full Game Coverage
Karns fought through a tough start last Sunday, giving up five hits to the first seven hitters he faced in
Houston. But Karns managed to get through 5 2/3 innings while giving up just one run.
"I got a lot of help from my defense," Karns said. "And that was a big confidence booster early on. Then I
was kind of able to settle in after that."
Shoemaker has logged a 7.71 ERA over his first two outings, though he came away with no-decisions
after the Angels managed to win both of his starts. The 30-year-old allowed seven runs (six earned) on
five hits over 4 1/3 innings on Sunday against the Mariners.
"I think there are some things he's still kind of getting his feet settled as far as pitch execution," Angels
manager Mike Scioscia said Friday. "There's certainly some pitch selection issues that he needs to
expand, but only if that pitch execution is there. He can say, 'I want to throw this pitch, this pitch, this
pitch,' but if two of them aren't working, you're kind of backed into a corner. So it comes down to pitch
execution, which I think enhances pitch selection. I think he's going to be fine."
Things to know about this game
• Shoemaker is 0-3 with an 11.34 ERA in four career starts against the Royals. It marks his highest ERA
against any opponent. Karns has faced the Angels three times in his career, going 0-1 with a 5.82 ERA.
April 15, 2017 Page 14 of 18
• C.J. Cron will likely be back at first base for the Angels on Saturday. Cron sat out Friday's opener
against Danny Duffy, as Scioscia prefers to deploy Jefry Marte against left-handed starters.
Hard knocks: Results betray Pujols' contact
By David Adler / MLB.com
On Opening Day, Albert Pujols squared up his first ball of the 2017 season. Off the bat at 104.6 mph,
launched at a 21-degree angle -- a barrel, by Statcast™'s measurement -- it had an 82 percent chance of
going for a hit. But deep in Oakland Coliseum's expansive center field, Rajai Davis had no problem
tracking it down.
Little changed in the following days. Through five games, Pujols was 1-for-20. He had four batted balls
with exit velocities of 100 mph or higher; all had gone for outs. For reference, since Statcast™ started
tracking exit velocity in 2015, the overall Major League batting average on 100-mph batted balls is .625.
Pujols did break out with five hits over the weekend, including his first home run and a two-out game-
tying single in the Angels' wild seven-run ninth-inning rally on Sunday. He followed that with another
two-out game-tying hit in the ninth inning on Tuesday. Still, the shadow lingers: Pujols has now hit 10
balls at 100-plus mph, which only 17 others have done this season. Of those 10, he has just three hits.
This is not new. In recent seasons, as Pujols ages, he's had increasingly less to show for his hard-hit balls,
which he continues to accumulate even after 17 years of ironman play and the accompanying wear and
tear on the lower half of his body. He still has his power -- Pujols hit 72 home runs from 2015-16, with
his 84 barreled balls ranking 23rd in the Majors -- and he still doesn't strike out much. But his slash line
over the past two seasons was .256/.315/.469, nowhere near what he posted in his prime.
When Pujols has gone through cold streaks during the past few years, he and manager Mike Scioscia
have often maintained that he has hit the ball better than the results, the box scores, have shown. (Last
May, for example, Scioscia told reporters of a slumping Pujols, "You guys are misreading this if you don't
think he's hitting the ball much better than his numbers show.") There is a disconnect, or so it goes,
between Pujols' talent in hitting and the outcomes he's produced.
Now, Statcast™ shows this to be true. Isolating Pujols' underlying contact quality for 2016, Statcast™ can
generate an expected batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS. Based on his
combinations of exit velocity and launch angle, those estimates far exceed what Pujols' numbers
actually turned out to be.
April 15, 2017 Page 15 of 18
Last season, Pujols hit .268/.323/.457. Statcast™ estimated his slash line at .298/.351/.544. That's 30
points of batting average, 28 points of on-base percentage and 87 points of slugging missing from the
back of his baseball card.
Pujols' 2016 OPS was .780, ranking 86th of the qualified Major League hitters. His Statcast-estimated
OPS was .894, the 18th-highest expected OPS in baseball. The gap between Pujols' expected and actual
OPS was 114 points, the third-largest difference among qualified hitters, with only Kendrys Morales and
Miguel Cabrera having larger deficits.
An exit velocity of 95 mph is a good general approximation for a "hard-hit" ball. Pujols had 228 batted
balls above that mark a year ago, the fifth most in the Majors. He batted .476 on those balls, which
might seem like a high average -- except, of the 187 hitters who had at least 100 balls with 95-plus-mph
exit velocities, it ranked 176th. MLB as a whole batted .538.
The point of looking at Pujols' expected numbers in comparison to his actual ones is not to say that he
will start producing again at the level he did with St. Louis. There are good reasons that account for at
least a chunk of the gap. Pujols' slow baserunning is one; his ground balls into the shift are another. Even
though Pujols hit 228 balls at least 95 mph, for example, 102 of them were on the ground. It's hard to
get those grounders through an overloaded infield, and Pujols is unlikely to leg out many hits with his
lack of speed.
What the quality of his contact shows, though, and what is so impressive about Pujols is how skilled of a
hitter he remains.
FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS .
Duffy pitches gem as Royals beat Angels 7-1
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Royals' starting rotation continues to be a strength.
Danny Duffy allowed three hits over seven innings and Mike Moustakas hit a two-run homer as the
Kansas City Royals beat the Los Angeles Angels 7-1 Friday night.
Duffy's performance came one night after Jason Vargas threw 7 2/3 scoreless innings to beat Oakland.
The Royals' rotation has an American League-best 2.70 ERA after 10 games.
"I'm just trying to follow Vargy, I guess," Duffy said. "He did a great job. They say hitting is contagious,
pitching is too."
Duffy (2-0) gave up a run on Mike Trout's single in the first, but retired 15 of the last 16 batters he faced.
He allowed just one hit after the first, striking out six and walking two while lowering his earned run
average to 1.80 and improving to 8-0 in his past 16 Kauffman Stadium starts.
April 15, 2017 Page 16 of 18
"It took him an inning to get settled in," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "He just threw the ball extremely
well, good fastball, really good changeup and some really good sliders. He did a great job of keeping
those guys off balance."
Salvador Perez also homered, his fifth of the season, and drove in two runs for Kansas City.
Moustakas homered in the first and the Royals added a run in the second when Paulo Orlando scored on
a wild pitch by JC Ramirez (2-1).
Kansas City scored twice in the third. Moustakas led off with a walk, advanced to third on Lorenzo Cain's
double and scored on Eric Hosmer's grounder. Cain scored on Perez's sacrifice fly.
Ramirez, making his first start in the majors after 111 relief appearances, was pulled after 75 pitches and
five innings, both career highs. His last start was Sept. 2, 2011, for Double-A Reading.
"I was kind of excited to start, and then I got those first two innings and I said `oooh," Ramirez said. "I
thought `I can do this.' They were just being aggressive to me."
Ramirez, who retired the final nine batters he faced, allowed five runs and four hits, two walks, a
sacrifice fly and a wild pitch.
"I think those guys jumped him out of the gate," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "He threw three
pitches and he was down two to one."
The Royals upped their lead on a Perez's homer off Deolis Guerra in the sixth. Cain, who had his third
straight multi-hit game, scored in the eighth when Perez grounded into a double play.
ROSTER MOVE
The Angels purchased the contract of Guerra from Triple-A Salt Lake, where he worked 3 2/3 scoreless
innings. RHP Daniel Wright, who threw four innings Thursday, was optioned to the Bees.
April 15, 2017 Page 17 of 18
MOYLAN'S NO HITTER ENDS
Royals RHP Peter Moylan yielded a two-out single to Albert Pujols in the ninth, ending his streak of 9 2/3
hitless innings. It was the first hit he had allowed since Sept. 23 over 11 appearances. The Angels loaded
the bases after Pujols' single, but failed to score. He has not allowed an earned run in his past 12
outings, covering 11 innings.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Angels: LHP Andrew Heaney (rehabbing from elbow surgery) was moved to the 60-day disabled list to
make roster space for Guerra.
UP NEXT
Angels: RHP Matt Shoemaker has allowed nine runs on nine hits, including three home runs, five walks
and a hit batter in 9 1/3 innings in his first two starts.
Royals: RHP Nate Karns is making his first Kauffman Stadium start with the Royals after being acquired in
a January trade with Seattle.
FROM ESPN.COM .
Angels right-hander Garrett Richards (biceps) to remain on DL
By ESPN.com news services
Los Angeles Angels right-hander Garrett Richards hasn't been cleared to resume throwing, and the team
does not plan to activate him from the 10-day disabled list on Sunday when he's eligible to come off.
Richards was diagnosed with a strained right biceps last week. When doctors clear him to throw,
Richards could need a minor league rehab assignment to build arm strength.
"They'll let us know when he's ready to pick up a ball," Angels manager Mike Scioscia told reporters on
Thursday. "The longer he's out, obviously, there would be more rehab involved."
Richards missed most of last season because of a partially torn elbow ligament but chose rest and stem-
cell injections over Tommy John surgery. He made it through spring training solidly but left his season-
opening start at Oakland in the fifth inning on April 5 because of pain in his arm.
He won 28 games over the 2014 and 2015 seasons but was limited to six starts last year.
April 15, 2017 Page 18 of 18
Right-handed reliever JC Ramirez will replace Richards in the rotation. He will start Friday against the
Kansas City Royals.