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Angels pitching coach Mike Maddux preaches patience with bullpen

April 29, 2026

CHICAGO — In 24 years as a major league pitching coach, Mike Maddux has seen just about everything.

So, it’s no surprise that he’s treating what has transpired lately with the Angels’ bullpen as just a blip, rather than a crisis.

“Give it time,” Maddux said on Tuesday. “We were here 10 days ago and everybody’s bragging about how good everything was going. And that gets swept under the rug when people are doing their jobs. When the job is not getting done, now all of the sudden it’s bigger than it needs to be.”

Maddux, also not surprisingly, said he still likes the talent in the bullpen.

“I like the guys,” Maddux said. “They like themselves. We keep them positive. Our job is to motivate and instruct and teach, and we continue to do that. And all we need is a good bounce and things get back on a roll.”

In the previous two days, the Angels lost games when they had leads of six and four runs. Earlier in the month they blew a pair of ninth-inning leads at Yankee Stadium.

Jordan Romano, the 33-year-old pitcher who was tagged with the blown saves in New York, has subsequently been released. Drew Pomeranz, 37, blew the saves on Sunday and Monday, although in both cases the work of the relievers that preceded him was also not good.

Given that the veterans have faltered, could it be time for more of the high-leverage work to go to the hard-throwing young pitchers, like Sam Bachman, Ryan Zeferjahn and Chase Silseth?

Maddux pushed back on the notion that those pitchers are ready to be handed new roles.

“People grow into roles,” Maddux said. “You don’t just anoint somebody when they come up. ‘You’re going to do this. Here’s your role.’ Eventually, players tell you what their role is. We give them opportunities and they solidify it and say ‘I’m your ninth-inning guy’ or ‘I’m your eighth-inning guy’ or ‘I’m your seventh-inning guy.’”

Some of the bullpen solutions could be found in pitchers who are in the organization but not yet in the major league bullpen.

The most prominent of those, of course, is Ben Joyce. The right-hander with the 105 mph fastball is working his way back from shoulder surgery. He threw an inning an in extended spring training game on Monday.

He’s been facing hitters in increasingly formal settings for a couple of weeks. The next step would be to pitch in a regulation minor league game. Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said it’s “possible” he would do that the next time he pitches.

“I don’t want to say that 100%,” Suzuki said. “He’s almost a guy you’ve gotta pull back the reins because he’s such a freak of nature in the sense of physical strength. We’ll see how he feels. Talking to the training staff and (General Manager Perry Minasian) to determine what’s the best progress moving forward.”

Veteran closer Kirby Yates was set to pitch in Arizona on Tuesday night. Yates has thrown in one Class-A game and two Triple-A games. He has reported that he feels fine, but his velocity is not where it needs to be, and the results have been poor.

“He’s getting his legs back under him,” Suzuki said. “He’s a guy who knows, ‘I know what I have to feel like to get big league hitters out. I’m not going to come back too fast.’ I think he did that last year and it kind of bit him, so he just wants to make sure he’s ready to go.”

The Angels also have three starters who are moving closer to return: right-handers Grayson Rodriguez, Ryan Johnson and Alek Manoah. Manoah pitched in a game in Arizona on Monday. Johnson is pitching on Tuesday and Rodriguez is pitching on Thursday.

It’s possible the Angels could put Johnson or Manoah directly into the bullpen, and it’s possible that putting any of those pitchers into the rotation could bump someone like Walbert Ureña to the bullpen.

NETO’S SLIDE

Zach Neto put a scare into the Angels’ dugout – and Angels fans – when he came up gingerly after a head-first slide into second base on a stolen base on Monday night.

Neto told Suzuki that he was fine, but it still raised the discussion once again about the way Neto slides. He’s been hurt three times on head-first slides, although two of them were only for a few days.

“Obviously, we’d like for him to slide feet-first,” Suzuki said. “But we don’t want him thinking about it. (Baserunning coach Adam Eaton) has been working with him on sliding feet-first, but when it’s a habit you’ve been doing your whole life, it’s hard to change.”

The play in which Neto slid was also notable because Bryce Teodosio took off from third and was thrown out easily at home. Suzuki said Teodosio was supposed to read the play and then decide whether to go. Suzuki said Teodosio just decided too late.

NOTES

Right-hander Shaun Anderson elected free agency. The Angels had designated Anderson for assignment on Sunday, and he cleared waivers. The Angels tried to outright him to Triple-A, but Anderson had the right to refuse. He refused an outright in a similar circumstance last year and still ended up eventually coming back to the Angels. …

Catcher Logan O’Hoppe did some throwing, with a trainer catching the return throws. O’Hoppe still had a glove on his left hand, which has a small fracture. O’Hoppe said he’s hoping to be back in about two weeks, although that might be optimistic. …

Left-hander Yusei Kikuchi posed for pictures with Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami before Tuesday’s game. Kikuchi will get a chance to pitch to him in Wednesday’s series finale.

UP NEXT

Angels (LHP Yusei Kikuchi, 0-3, 6.21 ERA) at White Sox (RHP Erick Fedde, 0-3, 3.42 ERA), Wednesday, 10:10 a.m. PT, FanDuel Sports Network, 830 AM

Orange County Register

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Angels pitching coach Mike Maddux preaches patience with bullpen

NETO’S SLIDE

NOTES

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