HOUSTON — Angels manager Ron Washington was crystal clear in his assessment of Carlos Estévez and his current role with the team.
“He’s our closer,” Washington said before Tuesday’s game against the Houston Astros.
Estévez has been shaky for most of the season, carrying a 5.06 ERA through his first 16 games. He picked up the save on Monday night, but he allowed a run and he would have allowed another if not for right fielder Jo Adell robbing a homer.
“We just haven’t gotten to the point where we’re thinking about changing our closer,” Washington said. “He’s our closer, and when the game predicts that he has to be in there, we’re going to give it to him.”
Estévez has seven saves and three blown saves. He also took the loss on Tuesday night when he entered in a tie game in the 10th and allowed the Astros to push home their automatic runner for an unearned run. That didn’t change Washington’s assessment of Estévez, who he said was “throwing the ball well” even in the loss.
When asked why he remains so confident in Estévez, Washington said “Because I’m around him every day, and I know how much he cares. I know how hard he works. We all hit areas in the game of baseball through a season where things don’t go the way you want it to go. And it’s not time to pull the plug. It’s time to show more confidence, and that’s what we’re going to do, continue to show confidence.”
If the Angels did want to make a change, right-hander Hunter Strickland would be the most likely alternative. He has a 2.25 ERA and experience as a closer.
Estévez, 31, is in his second full season as a closer. The Angels gave him his first extended opportunity at the role last season, and he rewarded them by pitching well enough in the first half to be an All-Star. Estévez, however, slumped in the second half, and he’s now gotten off to an inconsistent start in 2024.
Estévez didn’t allow any runs in his first five games of the season, but since then he’s allowed at least one run in six of his 11.
Although he was somewhat shaky on Monday in Houston, he got through two scoreless innings – starting with an automatic runner – on Saturday in Texas. (Again, Adell threw out a runner at the plate to help him.)
Estévez said he’s optimistic about getting better results, mostly because he has not been walking hitters.
“I’m throwing strikes,” he said. “I’m just going to throw more quality strikes.”
Estévez issued his first walk of the season on Monday, and it was a semi-intentional walk to dangerous slugger Yordan Alvarez. Although it put the tying run on base, it brought up Alex Bregman, who Estévez retired on a fly ball. Estévez issued an intentional walk to Alvarez in the 10th on Tuesday.
“I’m not going to let (Alvarez) beat me,” Estévez said. “Bregman is a really good hitter, but I have a better chance with him.”
Estévez acknowledges that some things are going wrong, however. He said his fastball “is a little off.” The average velocity of his four seamer is now 96.3 mph, which is slightly down from last year’s 97.1 mph.
Opponents have hit .256 with a .442 slugging percentage against his fastball and .286 with a .643 slugging percentage against his slider.
The velocity and whiff rate on his slider are both just about the same as they were last year.
Estévez said another issue has been that his workload has been so inconsistent. The way the rest of the team has performed has made the save situations sporadic. Estévez has been summoned for a save situation in just 10 of 49 games. Six of his 16 outings have been with at least four days of rest.
“I’m the type of guy that if I pitch more I pitch better,” he said. “Both extremes are bad.”
He said he’s still trying to figure out strategies to adapt to whatever amount of work presents itself.
“I’m in my ninth season and I’m still learning things,” he said. “Whoever says they know everything, they are lying.”
NOTES
A day after Adell robbed a homer, he said Estévez promised to buy him a dinner as a thank you for his defensive gem. …
Before Monday night, the last time the Angels overcame a deficit of at least five runs to win was on July 15, 2023. They came back from a six-run deficit in that game. Coincidentally, it was also against the Astros and the starting pitchers were Reid Detmers and Framber Valdez, the same matchup as Monday. …
The Angels are 7-2 in games against a left-handed starting pitcher, including Monday’s.
UP NEXT
Angels (LHP Tyler Anderson, 4-4, 2.72 ERA) at Astros (RHP Hunter Brown, 1-4, 7.71 ERA), Wednesday, 11:10 a.m. PT, Bally Sports West, 830 AM
