LOS ANGELES ANGELS NOTES:
LEADING OFF: 2023 represents the Angels 63rd MLB season…Today marks the 9,816th regular season game in team history…LAA holds an all-time record of 4,885-4,927-3 (.498)…On Opening Day, Halos are 31-31 overall, (19-17 at home and 12-14 on the road all-time).
OPENING DAY TRENDS: Last year, Angels were defeated by Houston on Opening Day, marking Halos eighth Opening Day loss in the last nine years…LAA defeated Chicago White Sox on Opening Day in 2021 to snap streak of seven consecutive Opening Day losses (2014-20)…Prior to the seven game losing streak, Angels won each of five previous Opening Day games (2009-13)…The seven-game season opening skid from 2014-20 is the longest in team annals.
A TRADITION UNLIKE ANY OTHER: The Angels are starting the season at the Oakland Coliseum for the fifth time in the last seven years…This is the first time in MLB history that any team begins a season in the same road ballpark at least five times in a seven-year span (ELIAS)…Halos opened four straight years (2017-20) at the Coliseum before playing the last two Openers at home.
SETTING THE ROSTER: Yesterday, the Angels made a series of transactions to set the final Opening Day roster at 26 players… LAA selected the contract of INF Jake Lamb and placed C Max Stassi (10-day; left hip strain), INF Jared Walsh (10-day; headaches & insomnia), RHP Chris Rodriguez (15-day; right shoulder surgery in 2021), RHP Griffin Canning (15-day; left groin strain) and RHP José Marte (60-day; right elbow stress reaction) on the injured list.
OAKLAND OPENERS: Angels are 2-6 all-time against Oakland on Opening Day (2-1 at Angel Stadium & 0-5 at the Coliseum)… The A’s have won four straight Opening Day’s against LAA (2017-20) since Halos last victory in the 2009 Opener…Only team Angels have faced more often on Opening Day is Seattle (11 times).
OPENING ROAD SKID: Halos are looking to snap a franchise record five-game road losing streak on Opening Day…Last road win on Opening Day came in 2013 at Cincinnati in the first Interleague Opening Day game in MLB history.
BABY BACKSTOP: With a start today, Logan O’Hoppe (23 years, 49 days) would become the youngest Opening Day catcher in Angels history (previous was Buck Rodgers – 23 years, 237 days in 1962)…First Angels rookie catcher to start on Opening Day since Bengie Molina in 2000.
INTERNATIONAL SHO: Shohei Ohtani was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2023 World Baseball Classic…Ohtani made three appearances (two starts) on the mound for Japan, going 2-0 with a 1.86 ERA and 11 strikeouts and earned the save in the Championship Game against the United States…. At the plate, he hit .435 (10/23) with four doubles, one home run, eight RBI and nine runs scored…Among all players in the
WBC, no player hit a longer home run (448 ft.), had a higher exit velocity (118.7 MPH) or threw a faster pitch (102.0 MPH) than Ohtani.
VETERAN ROSTER: The Angels Opening Day active roster features just one rookie: Logan O’Hoppe.
IN THE DUGOUT: Phil Nevin begins his first full season as Angels Manager after serving as the Interim Manager for the final 106 games of the 2022 season…A Fullerton, CA native, Nevin signed a one-year contract on Oct. 5 for the 2023 season.
ON THE HILL AGAIN: Shohei Ohtani will become the 15th pitcher in Angels history to make multiple Opening Day pitching starts.
OPENING DAY STAPLE: With a start today, Mike Trout would become the fourth player in Angels history to make 11+ Opening Day starts, joining Garret Anderson (14), Tim Salmon (13) and Brian Downing (11)…With a start in center field, Trout would match franchise record with 11 consecutive Opening Day starts at one position, joining Tim Salmon, who made 11 straight in right field from 1993-2003.
MAN ON THE MOUND: RHP Shohei Ohtani is scheduled to make his second MLB Opening Day start as a pitcher today… He has started as the Angels Opening Day DH in 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022…Will become the second player since 1900 to have multiple Opening Day starts as a pitcher and nonpitcher, joining Babe Ruth (15 as a non-pitcher and 3 as a pitcher). (ELIAS)
ANGELS RECENT OPENING DAY STARTING PITCHERS:
2022-23: Shohei Ohtani
2021: Dylan Bundy
2020: Andrew Heaney
2019: Trevor Cahill
2018: Garrett Richards
2017: Ricky Nolasco
2016: Garrett Richards
2010-15: Jered Weaver
THE NEW GUYS: Angels Opening Day roster features eight players new to the organization in 2023: LHP Tyler Anderson, INF Brandon Drury, RHP Carlos Estévez, INF Jake Lamb, LHP Matt Moore, OF Brett Phillips, OF Hunter Renfroe and INF Gio Urshela.
TODAY’S STARTING PITCHER – RHP SHOHEI OHTANI
• SHO TIME: Making first start of the season and second Opening Day pitching start of MLB career…Also made two Opening Day pitching starts in Japan for Nippon-Ham Fighters in 2015-16, going 1-1 with a 2.13 ERA (12.2 IP – 3 ER) and 15 strikeouts…First Angels pitcher to start consecutive Opening Days since Jered Weaver (2010-15).
• WBC MVP: Named Most Valuable Player of the 2023 World Baseball Classic…Made three pitching appearances (two starts) for Japan, going 2-0 with a 1.86 ERA and 11 strikeouts and earned the save in the Championship Game against the United States…Marked first relief appearance since October 16, 2016 in Game 5 of the Final Stage of the 2016 Pacific League Climax Series for Fighters.
• LAST TIME ON THE MOUND: Last pitching appearance came in a minor league Spring Training start against Arizona Diamondbacks minor leaguers last Friday…Struck out eight batters across 4.2 IP, while allowing one run.
• VS. OAKLAND: In 10 career games vs. A’s, is 4-4 with a 2.50 ERA (57.2 IP – 16 ER)…Last season, was 2-2 with a 1.09 ERA (24.2 IP – 3 ER) and 28 strikeouts in four starts…Came within four outs of a no-hitter in start vs. A’s on Sept. 29, 2022 at Angel Stadium…On Apr. 8, 2018 vs. A’s at Angel Stadium, carried a perfect game into the 7th inning (W; 7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 12 SO).
• AT OAKLAND COLISEUM: In six career games at the Coliseum, is 2-3 with a 3.72 ERA (29 IP – 12 ER)…Last season, was 1-1 with a 0.82 ERA (11 IP – 1 ER) in two starts at the ballpark…Made first big league pitching start on April 1, 2018 (W; 6 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 SO) in Oakland.
• ONE AND ONLY: Last season, became only player to ever qualify for the league leaders as both a hitter and a pitcher in one season…Was the first A.L/N.L. player since Babe Ruth (1918) with 10+ wins and 10+ HR in the same season and the only player in MLB history with 10+ wins & 30 + HR.
• 2022 ON THE MOUND: Was the runner-up in 2022 A.L. MVP voting after winning the award in 2021…Finished 2022 with a 15-9 record, a 2.33 ERA (166 IP – 43 ER) and 219 strikeouts in 28 pitching starts, while holding opponents to a .203 average (124/610)…Led A.L. with an 11.87 SO/9 innings rate…Allowed two-or-fewer runs in 22 of 28 starts…Ranked among league leaders in strikeouts (219; 3rd), whiff% (33.0%; 4th), ERA (2.33; 4th), wins (15; T4th), WHIP (1.01; 5th) and opponent batting average (.203; 6th)…In last 19 games of 2022 season, pitched to a 1.67 ERA (118.2 IP – 22 ER) with 154 strikeouts.
• 200K: Was the first Angels pitcher to reach 200 strikeouts since Jered Weaver in 2010 and the only player in MLB history with 200+ pitching strikeouts and 8+ home runs in one season.
• STRIKEOUT RECORDS: Making 64th career pitching start today…Has recorded 441 career strikeouts, which is a Club record through 63 career games as a pitcher, and rank 10th all-time through 63 career games.
• 10 K, 10x: Recorded 10+ strikeouts in 10 starts last season, which was the most such games in the A.L…Ohtani joined Nolan Ryan as the only pitchers in franchise history with 10+ strikeouts in at least six consecutive games.
• BRINGING THE HEAT: Last season, was only A.L. starting pitcher to throw 40+ pitches at 100+ MPH.
• M V P: Was unanimously named the 2021 American League Most Valuable Player…Marked Angels sixth MVP award in franchise history, following Don Baylor (1979), Vladimir Guerrero (2004) and Mike Trout (2014, 2016 & 2019)… He is the second Japanese-born player to receive MVP honors in the Major Leagues, joining Ichiro Suzuki (2001).
• JAPANESE HALOS: Is one of five Japanese-born players to play for Angels, along with Shigetoshi Hasegawa, Hideki Matsui, Hisanori Takahashi and Junichi Tazawa.
• PITCHING CAREER IN JAPAN: In 85 career games (82 starts) as a pitcher for Nippon-Ham Fighters in Japanese Pacific League, went 42-15 with a 2.52 ERA (543 IP – 152 ER) and 624 strikeouts.
• THE OHTANI RULE: In the event the starting pitcher will bat for himself, the player will be considered two separate people…If the starting pitcher is replaced, he can continue as the Designated Hitter, and if the Designated Hitter is replaced, he can continue as the pitcher (but can no longer hit for himself)…Was the Angels DH in all of his pitching starts in 2022…The term “Ohtani rule” was added to Dictionary.com in 2022.
• MLB CAREER NOTES: Signed with Angels as international free agent, Dec. 10, 2017…Made Major League debut as a DH on March 29, 2018 at Oakland and had first start as a pitcher on April 1, 2018 at Oakland…Named the 2018 American League Rookie of the Year and unanimous 2021 American League Most Valuable Player…First MLB player to ever be selected to the All-Star Game as both a pitcher and position player (2021 & 2022).
OAKLAND ATHLETICS NOTES:
ABOUT THE A’S: The A’s open their 56th season in Oakland where they have won 17 American League West titles, four AL Wild Cards, six AL pennants and four World Championships…only the Atlanta Braves (22), New York Yankees (20) and Los Angeles Dodgers (20) have more division titles than the A’s…since the A’s moved to Oakland in 1968, only the Yankees (11), Cardinals (8) and Dodgers (8) have more league championships and only the Yankees have more world championships (7)…have a 4495-4182 (.518) record over the previous 55 seasons in Oakland…only four teams have won more games over that span (New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston, St. Louis)… this is the Athletics franchise 123rd season in the American League…since 1901, the A’s have 17 AL West titles plus 15 AL pennants and nine World Championships…only the Yankees (27) and Cardinals (11) have won more World Championships…the A’s are 9210-9654 (.488) in their previous 122 seasons…that includes a 3886-4248 record from 1901-54 in Philadelphia and 829-1224 from 1955-67 in Kansas City.
DURING THE SPRING: The A’s went 11-17-3 (.355) this spring, which was the worst record in the Cactus League and third worst in the majors ahead of Pittsburgh (9-18-4) and Miami (7-16-4)…it was the fifth lowest spring winning percentage in Oakland history…went 5-10-3 last spring and have back-to-back losing springs for the first time since 2016-18 when they had three straight…the A’s led majors in on-base percentage (.367), walks (153), hit by pitches (26) and lowest strikeout-to-walk ratio (1.83)…the walks were second most by an A’s team during the spring since 1990, the earliest year spring stats are available (had 154 in 1997)…the hit by pitches were the most since 2009 (28) and the on-base percentage was the best since 2013 (.367)… tied for second in the CL in triples (9), ranked fourth in OPS (.783) and plate appearances per strikeout (4.45) and tied for fourth in runs (171) and doubles (64)…had the most grounded into double plays in the majors (32)…had the second fewest home runs in the CL (27) and the fifth lowest slugging percentage (.416)…the pitching staff had the highest ERA (6.35), opponents
OPS (.849) and on-base percentage (.385) in the majors, the third highest batting average (.283) and fifth highest slugging percentage (.465)…the ERA was the highest by an A’s team during the spring since at least 1990 (previous: 6.22 in 1999)…also led the majors in runs (209), walks (171) and wild pitches (36)…the walks are the most by an A’s team during the spring since at least 1990…tied for the second most home runs allowed in the CL (40)…were one of two teams in the majors without a balk (Cardinals)…the A’s defense had the fourth fewest errors in the CL (23) and tied for fifth in outfield assists (4)…had the most passed balls (7).
THE RULE CHANGES: The A’s stole 40 bases this spring, which was third most in the Cactus League…it was the most by an A’s team during the spring since at least 1990 (previous: 39 with the 1995 replacement players)…tied for the fourth fewest caught stealing (6) and had the fifth best stolen base percentage (87.0)…the A’s average time of game was 2:46, compared to 3:07 from last spring…however, had the highest average time of game in the majors (Phillies, 2:43)…league-wide, the average time of game was 2:35 compared to 3:01 last spring.
FOR OPENERS: The A’s have lost two straight and three of their last four openers after winning three of their previous four…are now 8-21 on Opening Day dating back to 1994…will open at home for the 13th time in the last 14 years, which includes two games in Tokyo (2012, 2019) as the home team…the lone exception was last year when the A’s opened at Philadelphia…will face the Angels on Opening Day for the fourth time in the last seven years and the eighth time overall…have won each of their last three openers against Los Angeles and are 5-2 overall…have not lost since April 6, 2009 at Anaheim… are 4-0 in Oakland and 1-2 on the road…since moving to Oakland in 1968, the A’s are 24-31 on Opening Day, including 20-15 in Oakland, 4-12 on the road, 0-3 in Tokyo and 0-1 in Las Vegas…all-time, the Athletics are 56-66 in openers.
OPENING DAY STARTING LINEUPS: Two players return from last year’s Opening Day starting lineup (Brown, Kemp), which are the fewest by an A’s team since 2015 when they also had two…Ramón Laureano will be making his fourth Opening Day start with the first three (2019-21) coming in center field…Conner Capel will be the A’s fourth different designated hitter in the last four years (Davis, Moreland, McKinney)…Kyle Muller will be the A’s third different Opening Day starting pitcher in the last three years (Bassitt, Montas) and the fifth in the last six (Fiers, Graveman).
ROSTER NOTES: The A’s open the season with 13 pitchers and 13 position players…this marks the sixth time in the last seven years Oakland begins the season with at least 13 pitchers (has 12 in 2019 in Japan)…seven players return from last years Opening Day roster (Acevedo, Brown, Jackson, Jiménez, Kemp, Moll, Oller), which matches the fewest returning players by an A’s team since Opening Day rosters are first available in 1992 (also 2012)… eight other players on the roster played for the A’s at some point last year (Allen, Capel, Kaprielian, Langeliers, Laureano, Martínez, Sears, Waldichuk)… two were acquired in trades (Muller, Ruiz), one was selected in the Rule 5 draft (Noda) and one was claimed off waivers (Rooker)…seven were signed as free agents, including six to a Major League contract (Aguilar, Díaz, Familia, Fujinami, May, Peterson) and one to a minor league contract (Perez)…those are the most free agents on an A’s Opening Day roster since 1995 when they had eight.
TENURE: Of the 26 players on the A’s Opening Day roster, only four have played for Oakland in at least each of the previous three seasons: Ramón Laureano (2018-22), Seth Brown (2019-22), James Kaprielian (2020-22) and Tony Kemp (2020-22)…only Kemp, who has been on each of the A’s last four Opening Day rosters, has a streak of more than two consecutive Opening Day rosters with the A’s…Laureano is on his fourth Opening Day roster with Oakland (2019-21, 23)…Seth Brown, who was drafted on June 10, 2015 has the longest tenure in the A’s organization…he is followed by Nick Allen, who was the A’s third round pick in 2017, and James Kaprielian, who was acquired from the Yankees on July 31, 2017…18 of the 26 players were acquired by Oakland since the conclusion of the 2021 season (all but Acevedo, Allen, Brown, Jackson, Kaprielian, Kemp, Laureano, Moll).
ROOKIE AND VETERANS: The A’s have six rookies on the Opening Day roster (Capel, Fujinami, Muller, Noda, Ruiz, Waldichuk)…five players have six or more years of service: Familia (10 years, 8 days), May (8 years, 12 days), Peterson (6 years, 142 days), Díaz (6 years, 100 days) and Aguilar (6 years, 82 days).
THE YOUNG AND THE OLD: The average age on the A’s Opening Day roster is 28.50 years, which is the A’s youngest since 2015 (27.92)…Esteury Ruiz, who is 24 years and 43 days, is the youngest…he is followed by Nick Allen (24 years, 173 days), Ken Waldichuk (25 years, 81 days) and Shea Langeliers (25 years, 132 days)…Trevor May is the oldest at 33 years and 188 days and he is the youngest oldest player on an A’s Opening Day roster since Mark Ellis in 2010 (32 years, 303 days)…he is followed by Jeurys Familia (33 years, 171 days), Jace Peterson (32 years, 325 days), Jesús Aguilar (32 years, 273 days), Aledmys Díaz (32 years, 241 days) and Carlos Perez (32 years, 154 days).
THE INJURED LIST: The A’s begin the season with five players (Blackburn, Piña, Rucinski, Snead, Tarnok) on the injured list after starting the season with three last year…used the IL 31 times last year, which broke the Oakland record of 27 set in 2016 and matched in 2021…however, used the IL nine times for Covid in 2022 and three times in 2021.
TODAY’S STARTING PITCHER: Kyle Muller (1-1, 8.03 ERA in 2022)
FOR STARTERS: Is scheduled to become the first rookie pitcher in Oakland history to make a start on Opening Day…the last Athletic rookie to start an opener was Eddie Smith on April 19, 1937 for the Philadelphia A’s…Muller has just 11 career starts and the only Opening Day starting pitchers in Oakland history with fewer career starts entering the game are Sonny Gray (2014), Carlos Reyes (1996) and Vida Blue (1971), who all had 10 career starts…at the age of 25 years and 174 days, Muller will be the youngest Opening Day starting pitcher for the A’s since Sonny Gray in 2015 (25 years, 150 days)…is scheduled to become the A’s third different Opening Day starting pitcher in the last three years (Montas, Bassitt) and the fifth in the last six (Fiers, Graveman)…begins his third season in the majors and is on his first Opening Day roster…was acquired from Atlanta in the three-team, nine-player trade on Dec. 12, 2022 that sent Sean Murphy to the Braves.
SPRING TRAINING RECAP: Was 1-3 with a 6.50 ERA in five games, including four starts…allowed a .370 opponents batting average and 1.032 OPS but
walked just four batters in 18.0 innings…tied for second in the Cactus League in most hits (30) and losses and tied for third in runs (18)…the 30 hits are the most by an A’s pitcher during the spring since 2013 when Bartolo Colón and Dan Straily had 31 each…also made a start in the exhibition game against Colombia on March 8, a no decision (3.2 ip, 5 h, 2 r, 2 er, 1 bb, 3 so).
2022 RECAP: Spent most of the season with Triple-A Gwinnett where he was named to the International League Postseason All-Star team after going 6-8 with a 3.41 ERA and .694 OPS in 23 starts… also went 1-1 with an 8.03 ERA and .782 opponents OPS in three starts over three stints with Atlanta. WITH ATLANTA: Allowed a .260 opponents batting average…right-handed hitters batted .295 (13-for-44) and left-handers were 0-for-6 with three walks…opponents hit .143 with runners in scoring position and he has allowed a .159 (7-for-44) average with RISP in his career.
