ARLINGTON, Texas — This weekend Willie Calhoun is enjoying his career revival in the place where his big-league career started … and then got derailed.
Calhoun, a 29-year-old the Angels signed to a minor-league deal over the winter, had four hits Friday night to raise his average to .365 and his OPS to .959 in his first 13 games with the Angels.
“Willie Calhoun, when he was a youngster, was a pretty good hitter,” Angels manager Ron Washington said. “And for some reason, along the way, he lost his way. Hopefully we found the Willie Calhoun that everyone thought he was when he was a baby.”
Calhoun was a top prospect coming up in the Dodgers’ system and became the key piece in the 2017 trade that sent Yu Darvish from the Texas Rangers to the Dodgers.
Around that time, though, Calhoun was just starting to hit for more power in the minors, which may have turned out to be a curse.
“I was always a gap-to-gap guy,” Calhoun said. “I lost that approach when I got (to the majors with the Rangers) and started trying to chase power instead of letting it naturally flow … It really obviously never worked out for me.”
Calhoun hit 11 homers in the Dodgers’ system in 2015, but that jumped to 27 in 2016. His slugging percentage actually was lower in 2016 than 2015, though, the result of a much lower batting average.
Calhoun hit 31 homers in the minors and majors in the season when he was traded. Although he peaked with 21 homers in the majors in 2019, Calhoun was largely a disappointment in his Rangers years. His OPS was .707 with the Rangers.
He bounced around the majors over the past few years. When he signed with the Angels over the winter, he was reunited with hitting coach Johnny Washington, who worked with him in the Dodgers’ system.
“He knew my swing from when I was coming up, so I sat down with him right away in spring training and told him I wanted to get back to that guy I was coming up in the minor leagues,” Calhoun said. “I viewed myself a doubles guy. I never viewed myself as a power guy, but I kind of got suckered into trying to chase it.
“When you get up here, you want to do so good and take off right away, but everyone’s timing is different. Some people find out later in their careers, as they get older, what works for them. I feel like that’s what’s been clicking for me, even down in Salt Lake.”
EYES ON SORIANO
Right-hander José Soriano, who has thrown 38 2/3 major-league innings this season, is likely to surpass last year’s big-league innings total Sunday, when he makes his eighth start of the season.
Within a month, he will pass last year’s total, including the 23 1/3 minor league innings.
For a pitcher who had his second Tommy John surgery in 2021, all of that could be a cause for concern.
General manager Perry Minasian said the Angels aren’t ready to talk about any sort of innings management for Soriano, though.
“We’re still a long ways away from that,” Minasian said Saturday. “For us, it’s monitor every start, monitor in between starts, the side work, what he’s doing in the weight room, how he’s recovering. We do that with all of our guys. So it’s nothing special just for him.
“But he’s pretty diligent with his work. We’ll go start to start. Just kind of see where he’s at.”
Minasian said that he doesn’t have a general opinion on the wisdom of innings limits.
“I’ve been in places where we’ve been very, very protective of guys and limited and done everything we could to keep guys healthy and it still didn’t work,” he said. “I don’t necessarily think it’s black and white. I think it’s more individually based. We’ll continue to communicate with him and monitor him and see where it goes.”
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NOTES
Right-hander Zac Kristofak recently underwent Tommy John surgery. His injury was the reason the Angels, by rule, had to release him instead of outrighting him and keeping him in the organization. Minasian said it was all procedural, and they are working on bringing Kristofak back on a minor-league deal. …
Ron Washington said he was critical of Luis Rengifo for not being out for early work Friday, which was his first day off the injured list. Rengifo assured Washington that he was prepared, and then had a double and a walk. “I had to eat it,” Washington said with a smile.
UP NEXT
Angels (RHP José Soriano, 1-4, 3.72) vs. Rangers (RHP Michael Lorenzen, 2-2, 3.75) at Globe Life Field, 11:35 a.m. PT Sunday, Bally Sports West, 830 AM.
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