The Angels put their left hand Drew Pomeranz on the 15-day injured list today due to left elbow inflammation. The right hand Ryan Johnson returned to IL in a parallel move.
Halo hasn’t released many details about Pomeranz’s injury, but it’s notable given his history. Continuing problems with his pitching arm, including multiple surgeries, kept Pomeranz out of the majors from 2022 to 2024. He had a bounceback season in 2025, posting a 2.17 earned run average over 49 2/3 innings with the Cubs.
That prompted the Halos to sign Pomeranz to a one-year, $4MM deal through the 2026 season. That gambit hasn’t worked so far, as the 37-year-old has a 7.20 ERA through 15 innings. His 16.7% strikeout rate and 11.4% walk rate are both worse than last year, when he struck out 28.1% of opponents and walked 7.4%.
For now, Johnson will apparently take his place in the bullpen. The Halos have treated Johnson strangely so far in his career. He was drafted in the summer of 2024, 74th overall, but did not pitch in the minors that year. He then broke the club’s major league roster to open the 2025 season, despite having no professional experience. He struggled out of the bullpen for a few weeks before being optioned down to High-A. He finished the year playing well at that level as a rookie.
Here in 2026, he made it to the big leagues out of camp but then hit the IL with a virus after just one start. He recently started a rehab assignment, throwing 3 1/3 innings on May 3, followed by five innings on May 8.
It looks like Johnson is now available in the big league bullpen. “I see him as a guy who can do both,” the manager Kurt Suzuki said Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. “I think if we need him as a starter, we can keep him as a starter. If we need him in the bullpen, he can do that. I think the comfort of having RJ can do everything.”
From the outside, it seems to be a very unusual method, something that has come up with other pots in small degrees. Alec Manoah started the season in IL because of a finger problem. He made an official rehab appearance of 4 1/3 innings in early May. He was soon put on the big league roster. His first appearance for the Halos was a one-inning outing. In his next outing, he pitched five innings of long relief. Grayson Rodriguezwho started the season in IL with shoulder inflammation, has made two recent rehab appearances. The first was five innings and the second 4 2/3. He may be quickly brought back to the big league level for his next appearance.
All of these sound like quick fix assignments and activations. If a club breaks convention and has a strong reputation for being on the cutting edge, that would be interesting. The Angels have a different reputation, so it sounds like they’re just busy. Considering Manoah and Rodriguez both have extensive injury histories, that doesn’t seem like a smart move. The Halos haven’t been good in a while and currently have the worst record in baseball 16-28, so maybe they’re trying to do whatever they can to stop the bleeding.
Yusei Kikuchi he is currently on the injured list and will be sidelined for a few weeks. José Soriano firmly fixed to the front of the circuit. Reid Detmers, Jack Kochanowicz again Walbert Ureña should have spots behind Soriano for now. Maybe a combination of Manoah, Rodriguez and Johnson will cover the last spot.
Turning to the position player group, a separate column on Fletcher notes that Vaughn Grissom he has been finding work in the left field, with Oswald Peraza so that he can quickly join him. Both defenders hit well while playing outside Josh Lowe He has been struggling. Lowe has a .160/.211/.283 line this season so far. Part of that is due to a .188 batting average on balls in play but his 5.2% walk rate and 29.6% strikeout rate are also below the league average and his career stats.
Grissom is currently sporting a .264/.353/.431 line while Peraza has a .279/.344/.477 line. The Angels did it Zach Neto at shortstop most days, with Yoan Moncada for the third time Nolan Schanuel in the beginning. That leaves Grissom and Peraza scrambling to play second base, in addition to drafting the names of other linebackers. Neither player has paid experience on the field, except for Grissom’s winter football game. If one or both of them can go to left field, it could give Suzuki more flexibility in setting up his plan.
Photo courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski, Imagn Images
