The Los Angeles Angels are playing some decent baseball in 2025 following an extremely disappointing campaign last year. Still, they require strong reinforcements in several parts of their roster to be challenging for a playoff berth.
Angels’ Reliever Makes Team Debut More Than 14 Months After Signing Three-Year Deal
The Angels activated reliever Robert Stephenson from the 60-day IL ahead of their 1-0 loss at home to the New York Yankees on Wednesday night. The 32-year-old right-hander finally made his debut more than 14 months after signing for the team.
Meanwhile, the Angels had also called up utility man Scott Kingery from Triple-A. Two-time All-Star infielder Tim Anderson was designated for assignment, with reliever Jake Eder optioned to Salt Lake to make room on their roster.
Stephenson had joined the Angels ahead of the 2024 season on a three-year, $33 million contract. He was left out of their Opening Day roster due to an elbow injury before undergoing Tommy John surgery last May that ended his season before it began.
Robert Stephenson, who signed a 3-year, $33M deal with the Angels about 17 months ago, is finally going to pitch for the Angels. He’s spent nearly 14 months rehabbing from TJ.
Also, notes on Trout, Kingery, T.Anderson, Fermin.https://t.co/vCWoOXXeib
— Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) May 29, 2025
The former Cincinnati Reds and Tampa Bay Rays pitcher made five rehab starts in the minors, with the last three coming for Triple-A Salt Lake. His fastball velocity averaged 97.2 mph in his last outing, which had sat at 96.2 mph back in 2023.
Yusei Kikuchi started on the mound for the Angels on Wednesday night and allowed just one through five innings against the vaunted Yankees lineup. They hooked the Japanese southpaw in the sixth, paving the way for Stephenson to make his long-awaited debut.
The veteran reliever marked the occasion by posting a scoreless inning without giving up any base hits or walks. He also recorded strikeouts against Jasson Dominguez and DJ LeMahieu in his impressive debut performance.
“Honestly, to me, this is up there with making my (big league) debut, you know?” he told Jeff Fletcher, the beat writer covering the Angels for the Orange County Register, before the game. “I feel like it’s going to be pretty special for me. It felt different walking into the clubhouse. Like, I can actually contribute something.”
“These outings that I’ve had on the rehab assignment, I felt everything’s been pretty much right where I want it to be. I’m happy with it. I just need a little more time getting the split dialed in, but the main pitches that I need are the slider and the fastball, and those have been great.”
Ryan Zeferjahn, Reid Detmers, and Brock Burke also followed up with scoreless innings for the home team to hold the visitors to a one-run lead. However, their hitters failed to back up the pitching staff as they succumbed to their fifth straight defeat.
Meanwhile, the Halos’ bullpen has a 6.31 ERA this year, the worst among all 30 teams in the MLB. Moreover, flamethrowing setup man Ben Joyce is out for the season, so manager Ron Washington might deploy Stephenson in the same role later on.
“I would hope that we give him a chance to get settled in,” Washington said. “But you know, if the opportunity presents itself, and he’s the best we have at the time, (pitching in a high-leverage spot) will happen. But that’s not our intention right now.”
The Angels have also been dealing without Mike Trout in their lineup since the start of the month. The team is currently in fourth spot in the American League West with a 25-30 record and a 5.5-game deficit to the division leaders.
- Source: NEWHD MEDIA
