DeLoach Opening Angels’ Eyes

LOS ANGELES—You won’t find Tyler DeLoach on any top prospect lists. The 6-foot-6, 240-pound lefthander’s stuff, which consists of an 89 mph fastball, sweeping slider and changeup, doesn’t warrant that kind of attention.

You will, however, find DeLoach in big league camp with the Angels this spring, which is as much a testament to his performance and resolve as his potential to pitch in a major league rotation.

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“What he’s done year after year is prove to people he belongs,” Mike LaCassa, the team’s director of minor league operations, said. “You see that on the mound in his attitude and his understanding of how to pitch.”

DeLoach was a 26th-round pick out of UNC Wilmington in 2012, and he didn’t make an affiliate out of his first professional camp in 2013.

He made 25 starts for Double-A Arkansas and Triple-A Salt Lake in 2015, going 5-8, 4.97 and averaging 8.6 strikeouts and 3.7 walks per nine innings, and he pitched to a 2.38 ERA in five starts for La Guaira in the Venezuelan Winter League.

DeLoach’s fastball won’t overpower hitters, but he throws it from a funky, almost sidearm angle that gives it some natural cut and deception.

His slider can be a weapon when he’s ahead in the count and trying to expand the zone, and his changeup, which he delivers from the same arm slot as his fastball, has emerged as his best pitch.

DeLoach is not afraid to pitch inside, as shown by his minor league-leading 22 hit batsmen in 2014. With improved command, he could develop into a backend starter.

“He’s not a guy who pitches in the upper-90s, but he understands what he has and has figured out a way to use it,” LaCassa said. “He makes adjustments really well. He asks a lot of questions. He’s very inquisitive, a student of the game.”

ANGEL FOOD

• Lefthander Christian Friedrich, claimed off waivers from Colorado, was returned to the Rockies because of an unspecified medical issue.

• With the acquisition of third baseman Yunel Escobar from Washington, third base prospects Kyle Kubitza and Kaleb Cowart will both work out extensively this spring at second base with an eye toward possibly unseating incumbent Johnny Giavotella.