23-year old righty reliever Jordan Walden has had an excellent rookie season working as the Angels’ closer. Walden has pitched in 58 games (0 starts) for the Angels so far this year and he is 5-3 with 31 saves, a 2.41 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP. He has only given up 42 hits (1 homer) while whiffing 63 batters in his first 56 innings, which is impressive. Walden has now pitched in 74 games (0 starts) for the Angels in his first two years with them and he is 5-4 with 32 saves, a 2.40 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP. The future is very bright for Jordan Walden and the Angels are very excited about him.

29-year old righty starting pitcher Jerome Williams has been solid since replacing rookie Tyler Chatwood in the starting rotation. Williams has pitched in 7 games (4 starts) for the Angels so far this year and he is 3-0 with a 3.90 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP. He has only given up 30 hits and 9 walks in his first 30 innings while also whiffing 23 batters, and those are impressive numbers. The baseball world has to be surprised at Williams’ success as he hasn’t pitched in the majors before now since the 2007 season with the Nationals.

The Angels just gave Jered Weaver a big contract, but 30-year old righty starting pitcher Dan Haren has almost matched him in performance. Haren has pitched in 28 games (27 starts) for the Angels so far this year and he is 13-6 with a 2.98 ERA and a 0.98 WHIP. He has given up 161 hits in his first 190 1/3 innings so far this year, which is pretty darn impressive. He has also whiffed 156 batters while only walking 26 batters, as he is a bulldog on the mound who pounds the strikezone with his good stuff. Haren is one of the most underrated pitchers in all of baseball.

The Angels are deciding between moving 36-year old lefty reliever Hisanori Takahashi from the pen to the rotation or promoting 23-year old righty starting pitcher Garrett Richards to replace Pineiro in the rotation. Takahashi has pitched in 43 games (0 starts) for the Angels so far this year and he is 3-2 with 1 save, a 3.35 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP. He has now pitched in 96 games (12 starts) in his first two years in the majors and he is 13-8 with 9 saves, a 3.54 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP. The Angels might deem Takahashi too valuable out of the pen to move him into the rotation. Garrett Richards came into this season as the Angels’ #7 prospect according to Baseball America. He has started 21 games in AA-ball so far this year and he is 12-2 with a 3.06 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP. He has now pitched in 55 games (all starts) in his first three years in the minors with the Angels and he is 27-8 with a 3.10 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP. Richards has pinpoint control as he has only walked 87 batters in his first 319 1/3 innings in the minors. Richards might have more of an upside than Takahashi does, but experience does matter in a playoff race. It will be interesting to see which way the Angels go here.

28-year old righty starting pitcher Ervin Santana threw a no-hitter against the Indians yesterday in Cleveland. He only walked 1 batter and he allowed an unearned run due to an Erick Aybar error in the first inning. Santana was in complete control yesterday as he struck out 10 Indians, often making them look awful at the plate. He threw 76 of 105 pitches for strikes (72.4%) as he was coming right after the hitters yesterday. Santana improved to 6-8 on the season, which doesn’t tell the whole tale about how well he has pitched so far this year. Santana has started 22 games this year and he has a 3.47 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP. He has only allowed 132 hits while whiffing 123 batters in his first 148 innings this year. He has also been in total control on the mound as he has only walked 40 batters so far this year. Santana was brilliant yesterday in Cleveland.