The Angels expected a lot more from Jimmy Herget.
While the Los Angeles Angels had all sorts of trouble building a competent bullpen in 2022, Jimmy Herget was one reliever the team could seemingly rely on to get key outs. He went from a guy the team used in low-leverage spots all the way up to the eventual closer for the last month of the season.
After his breakthrough season in 2022, Herget was anticipated to be a vital component of an enhanced Angels bullpen. With Carlos Estevez and Matt Moore in town, Herget wasn’t going to be required to finish games or even serve as the starting set-up man, but Phil Nevin was anticipated to have a go-to arm in Herget. It appears that he was unable to build on his fantastic year.
This previous season, Herget struggled right away and alternated between the majors and minors the whole time. Though there were more terrible moments than good, he was effective for brief periods of time.
I would give Jimmy Herget’s 2023 season a C-.
Herget has a 4.66 ERA for the Angels in 29 appearances and 29 innings pitched this season. He limited walks and even struck out a fair number of batters, as usual, but the quirky right-hander’s biggest problem was the long run ball. Despite working 40 less innings, he let up three more longballs this season—seven this season—than he did the whole previous season.
Herget had a clear home run problem, but he also struggled to strand runners that he inherited. He performed admirably in those positions the previous season, allowing just 35% of runners to score; this year, that percentage skyrocketed to 65%. For whatever reason, Phil Nevin kept putting his faith in him when there were runners on base, and the majority of the time, it backfired on him.
Herget had a stretch of ten consecutive scoreless games to start September, so it wasn’t all negative, but he finished the season poorly by giving up four runs in his final two games.
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