24-year old righty swinging CF Peter Bourjos have been ice cold at the plate for the Angels in May. He has played in 27 games so far for the Angels in May and he is 16 for 93 (.172 avg, .507 OPS) with 13 runs scored, 0 homers, 2 RBIs and 3 stolen bases as he has whiffed 30 times this month. He has now played in 54 games for the Angels so far this year and he is 45 for 187 (.241 avg, .679 OPS) with 24 runs scored, 2 homers, 11 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. Bourjos is probably the best defensive CF in all of baseball, but, the Angels do need him to hit a little better. Bourjos has great speed but he only has 5 stolen bases so far this year because he can’t steal first base.

The Angels have signed 35-year old lefty swinging 1B/DH Russell Branyan. Branyan played in 31 games earlier this year for the Diamondbacks and he was 13 for 62 (.210 avg, .629 OPS) with 4 runs scored, 1 homer and 2 RBIs. Branyan has now played in 1,022 games in his first 14 years in the majors and he is 670 for 2,869 (.234 avg, .816 OPS) with 398 runs scored, 190 homers, 455 RBIs and 14 stolen bases. He has also whiffed 1,097 times in his major league career to date so his power comes with a price as he has a few holes in his swing. The Angels needed some offensive help so I like this pickup for them.

The Angels have placed 27-year old righty swinging starting 2B Howie Kendrick on the 15-day disabled list due to a right hamstring strain. Kendrick has played in 45 games for the Angels so far this year and he is 57 for 177 (.322 avg, .908 OPS) with 30 runs scored, 7 homers, 18 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. Maicer Izturis will slide over to 2B to replace Kendrick.

The Angels knew they really had something with righty reliever Troy Percival during his rookie year. He pitched in 62 games (0 starts) for the California Angels in 1995 and he was 3-2 with 3 saves, a 1.95 ERA and a 0.85 WHIP. He only gave up 37 hits in 74 innings in 1995 and he had 94 whiffs. The Angels thought enough of him to make him the closer in 1996 and the rest is history. Percival’s best season came back in 2002 when he worked in 58 games (0 starts) for the Angels in which he was 4-1 with 40 saves, a 1.92 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP. He only gave up 38 hits in his 56 1/3 innings that year while whiffing 68 batters. Percival pitched in 579 games (0 starts) in his 10 years with the Angels and he was 29-38 with 316 saves, a 2.99 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP. He whiffed 680 batters in only 586 2/3 innings with the Angels while only allowing 393 hits, which shows just how dominating he was. Percival is still the Angels’ all-time leader in saves (316) and games pitched (579.

47-year old Bo Jackson was a freak of nature for a while as he was a good baseball player with the Royals and an outstanding running back with the Raiders…..at the same time. Eventually, though his body gave out in 1990 when he took a hit on the hip against the Cincinnati Bengals. He wound up needing a hip replacement. He fought his way back to the majors, but he never played football again. The last season of his major league career was spent with the California Angels and he did a good job for them. He played in 75 games for the Angels in 1993 and he was 56 for 201 (.279 avg, .851 OPS) with 23 runs scored, 13 homers, 43 RBIs and 1 stolen base. Jackson proved that he could overcome all odds to get back to the majors and that is something that has always stuck in my mind about him.