TEMPE, Ariz. — The Angels are going to take their time with Luis Rengifo, which has put his availability for Opening Day in question.
The infielder was scratched from the lineup because of left hamstring tightness twice in the last week, and on Sunday manager Ron Washington said he’s not sure if the latest setback would prevent him from being ready when the season opens on March 27.
“I don’t know,” Washington said. “I don’t want to make that statement right now. He’s behind. We’ll see how it works out the next couple days with the hamstring.”
Washington said the Angels will be “backing off him for a few days. He’s already behind and we don’t want to push him and cause a problem. So we’re going to be very cautious with Rengifo the next couple days.”
Rengifo figured to the be the Angels starting second baseman on Opening Day. However, he missed a week of games at the start of spring recovering from an illness. He played just one game, on Feb. 28.
Rengifo was in the lineup on Monday, but he was scratched because of hamstring tightness. Then he was in the lineup on Friday, but the game was rained out. They tried again Saturday, and the hamstring was an issue again.
Rengifo missed the end of the 2023 season with a torn biceps muscle and he missed the last half of last season with a wrist injury that required surgery.
If Rengifo isn’t ready for Opening Day, that opens the door for one of the other infielders in camp.
Kevin Newman was already likely to be the Opening Day shortstop, with Zach Neto starting the season on the injured list. That leaves Tim Anderson, Scott Kingery, Christian Moore and Kyren Paris as the options to play second. If Rengifo is on the injured list, at least two of those four would make the Opening Day roster, one as the starting second baseman and one as the backup middle infielder.
The Angels could be reluctant to use Moore if they think it would be a short-term opening, because they would need to add him to the 40-man roster and then burn one of his options by sending him back when Rengifo was ready.
RULE 5 UPDATE
Left-hander Garrett McDaniels, who was a Rule 5 selection, has made a good impression on Washington.
“I like what he brings,” Washington said. “I’m on the same mantra about being efficient with his pitches, and I thought he did a good job of efficiency yesterday. Just want to keep him going in that direction.”
McDaniels faced three batters with 11 pitches on Saturday. He gave up a double and an infield single, but no runs. In five games this spring, he’s allowed one run in 5 ⅔ innings, with no walks.
The Angels are particularly intrigued with McDaniels’ slider, although McDaniels said it’s been a little too big and slow lately.
“Just working on getting back to the bullet slider I had last year, getting a bunch of swing and miss on it,” McDaniels said on Sunday. “I think I figured it out last night. I did a deep dive (on video) and noticed something with it.”
McDaniels had been in low levels of the Dodgers system. Last season he had a 3.19 ERA across three levels, with 84 strikeouts in 73 ⅓ innings.
Because the Angels took him in the Rule 5 draft, the Angels have to keep him in the majors or offer him back to the Dodgers.
“Right now he’s put himself in position where he’s still alive,” Washington said. “He’s still alive.”
NOTES
Outfielder Nelson Rada, 19, was among the 16 players the Angels sent to minor league camp this weekend, but not before he demonstrated to Washington that he’s making progress in his development. “He showed a lot of maturity,” Washington said. “He had some huge at-bats against left-handers in some huge situations, and he has handled it. We’ve just gotten to the point where he needs to be seeing pitches and playing and reacting to the game every single day. That’s why we sent him out.” …
Left-hander Reid Detmers and right-hander Chase Silseth, two of the three pitchers left in the race for the No. 5 starter job, will flip roles this week. Detmers had been starting and Silseth had been coming out of the bullpen, but on Monday Silseth will start and Detmers will come out of the bullpen. Washington said not to read anything into that besides wanting to “change it up” to give Silseth a chance at starting. Right-hander Jack Kochanowicz is also in the race for the spot.