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Angels Q&A: Who is the No. 5 starter?

March 12, 2026

TEMPE, Ariz. — The Angels reached the off day in their Cactus League schedule Thursday, exactly two weeks from Opening Day.

Their reclamation projects – Camp Comeback – and unproven young players have predictably been a mixed bag. Until the Angels start playing real games, they can’t do anything to convince anyone that this will be the year that they end their streak of losing seasons.

The best you can say about them right now is that they’ve managed to avoid any serious injuries through a month of workouts in Arizona.

At this point, the fans’ questions mostly reflect skepticism, with some looking for any reason to be optimistic. We’ll start with the two biggest roster questions.

Q: What’s the 5th rotation spot looking like, is (Alek) Manoah still the most likely guy and are (George) Klassen/(Sam) Aldegheri competing for that spot? — @keyfr0mwaste

A: Manoah came into camp looking like the No. 5 starter, and he didn’t allow a run in either of his first two starts. Since then, though, he’s given up nine runs in 6⅓ innings.

His outing Wednesday was better than the one before – three of the runs came on one bad pitch – and Manoah and manager Kurt Suzuki seemed satisfied with the progress.

Manoah still could be optioned, though, so the job isn’t his.

Klassen has been the most impressive of the young starters in camp. He has allowed two runs in eight innings, with nine strikeouts. He almost got called up from Double-A last season.

Jack Kochanowicz has also had a nice spring, allowing two runs in 8⅔ innings. Notably in his last outing, he pitched four scoreless innings against the same team that had just lit up Manoah. Aldegheri has pitched only 4⅓ innings with the Angels this spring, but he added 4⅔ scoreless innings, with eight strikeouts, for Italy in the WBC. That game was against an overmatched Brazil team. If Aldegheri gets the ball again and pitches well against a much better team, the Angels will have to take notice.

Q: Who is the leading contender for 2B? — @marialoventime.bsky.social

A: This is the other intriguing battle that seems wide open.

Christian Moore was the leading candidate coming in. He’s hitting .189 (7 for 37), but he’s hit the ball much better than that, and he’s cut down his strikeouts. The Angels may ultimately decide that he’s the long-term answer so they should just give him the job now.

If not, the most likely candidate would probably be Adam Frazier, a veteran non-roster invitee. Frazier is hitting .353 (6 for 17). He’s solid defensively, puts the ball in play and hits left-handed, which are all attributes the Angels need.

At this point, I assume Frazier makes the team either way, as a starter or off the bench. He has an out in his contract allowing him to leave if he’s not in the majors.

Oswald Peraza, who is hitting .344 (11 for 32) with five doubles and two homers, is also a candidate. He’s also out of options, so he’ll be on the team.

Non-roster invitee Nick Madrigal (.333, 7 for 21) is less likely but worthy of mention. The Angels could stash him at Triple-A, unlike Frazier or Peraza.

Vaughn Grissom (.185, 5 for 27) is also out of options, so he’ll probably be on the team, but at this point it looks like he’s more likely to be a bench player.

Q: Considering Mike Trout’s health, in camp and exhibition games, does he look better now than the previous 5 years at the same point of time? — @iminoc11

A: Spring training is so meaningless that I can’t honestly say I remember how Trout has looked at this point in other springs. Usually the only question about him in spring training is his health, and he hasn’t been hurt in spring training.

That said, he’s clearly running better than he has during either of the past two regular seasons, when he had knee problems.

That’s important because Trout will probably be a better hitter if his legs are feeling better. Also, if his legs are strong and he can play center field regularly, that allows them to put everyone else at their best position: Jo Adell and Josh Lowe in the corners and Jorge Soler at designated hitter. That’s a much better team that one with, say, Soler in right field, Adell in center and Trout at DH.

Q: Who is leading for the Angels closer job? — @HaloFanChris112

A: Veteran closer Kirby Yates was probably the leader coming into spring and I haven’t seen anything that would change that.

Right-hander Jordan Romano also has significant closer experience, and he’s pitched well this spring, so he could take the job if Yates struggles. Right-hander Robert Stephenson also looks like he’s going to be ready for Opening Day.

Right-hander Ben Joyce, who had surgery last year, is not going to be ready when the season starts, but it could be sometime in April. If he’s not the closer by the end of the season, something has gone wrong.

Q: Last year the Angels used starting pitching prospects to fill in middle relief innings – possibly stunting their development. Are the Angels more willing to use their starter prospects this year as starters? And is Mike Maddux in charge of the organization’s pitching development? — @brokos

A: When a pitcher gets called up to provide length for the bullpen, it’s usually going to be a starter, because those are the pitchers who can throw the most pitches. Sometimes that’s going to be Jake Eder and sometimes it’s going to be Caden Dana. It depends who is fresh at the time of the need. Those same pitchers also get called up when they need a start, which also happened last year.

I think sitting in the bullpen for weeks (like Ryan Johnson did) could stall a starter’s development, but not coming up for a day or two and then going back after he pitches. Aldegheri was actually much better in the minors after his brief big league call-up, and he said it was because that rough outing convinced him that he needed to make some adjustments.

As for Maddux, big-league pitching coaches don’t have the time to coordinate a whole organization’s pitching development. He’ll certainly have input when they get close to the majors, though.

Q: Do you think any of the big name performers from the WBC will get extra looks from the big league staff or maybe even skip a couple levels in the minors? (Ramirez, Aldeghari, Natera, etc.) — @ClarkCam27

A: The Angels liked the potential of outfielder Lucas Ramirez and pitchers Samy Natera Jr., Najer Victor and Aldegheri even before they showed the world what they could do in the WBC. Performances like those will certainly help the confidence of the individual players.

Aldegheri is probably the only one of that group whose immediate future could be impacted by the WBC, because of the volume of his work in the WBC and the fact that he was already on the big-league radar.

Natera and Victor barely pitched in the WBC. As impressive as it was, the sample was too small to meaningfully impact the Angels’ plans.

Ramirez is also just 20 years old and has barely played in a full-season minor league, so he needs to show more in the minors.

Q: Can Angels fans expect to see new team President Molly Jolly make systemic and organizational changes necessary to see improvement in the Angels Minor League system? — @richardguisinger.bsky.social

A: All of the important baseball decisions, especially those that involve big spending, go through owner Arte Moreno. That’s not going to change, regardless of who is sitting in the No. 2 position.

Orange County Register

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Angels Q&A: Who is the No. 5 starter?

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