For the Angels, the bullpen has been a revolving door for years. The club has tried to paper over the problem with unpredictable veteran free agents and bargain-bin pickups, and the result has been a late-inning mess. Now, with the organization shifting toward young, cost-effective power arms, the answer might already be in-house.
That matters because the Angels need help in both volume and impact. There are still plenty of roster holes to fill, so finding internal relief options would let the team spend more carefully on a proven bullpen anchor for 2027. It would also give the younger arms a veteran presence to lean on as they get established.
If the Angels do turn inward, three names stand out.
Nicolo Pinazzi has the loudest numbers of the group. The left-hander from Italy logged the longest scoreless streak in organized baseball this season, and he was a major part of a Rocket City Trash Pandas bullpen that helped power a Southern League championship and ranked among the best in minor league baseball. His path has been anything but ordinary: he was once in the Reds organization, got released, pitched in independent ball, and then resurfaced with the Angels.
His season was flat-out electric. Pinazzi went 31 straight appearances without allowing an earned run, covering 43.0 innings across three levels with 76 strikeouts and a .169 opponent average. It’s MiLB’s longest such streak since 2016, and the longest by a left-handed pitcher since 2007. pic.twitter.com/MQTWBYlmaa
Across his breakout run with Rocket City and the other affiliated levels, he posted a 0.84 ERA and struck out more than 100 batters in 64 innings while stringing together over 30 consecutive outings without giving up an earned run. At 6-foot-2, he gets strong extension, drives the ball to the plate in the mid 90s with cutting action, and pairs that with a quality slider and a developing curveball. He struck out 38.9% of the hitters he faced this season.
If the secondary pitches keep coming, Pinazzi has the stuff to become a dominant reliever. Even if they don’t, his fastball-slider mix could still make him a middle relief option as soon as next season.
Then there’s Chase Shores, the arm with the highest-end closer upside. The 2025 second-round pick was the one who recorded the final out in LSU’s College World Series title run, and he already brings a 100 mile per hour fastball to the table. The challenge has been building his fading change up enough to remain a starter.
Shores was drafted by Perry Minasian, who liked to convert relievers into starters, but that approach has failed almost every time. Austin Gordon is the lone exception, and even his major league future remains uncertain. Under a new front office, every prospect is getting reevaluated, and there’s a strong chance the Angels’ new brass sees Shores the way many prospect evaluators already do: as a closer.
His 60 grade fastball, 55 grade slider, and 50 grade comand give him the look of a pitcher who could move quickly if the Angels choose that path. Of the relief arms in the system, he is the one to dream on most. If the Angels get him into their pitching lab and pair him with the new pitching coaches and analytics, there’s a real chance they can turn that talent into a quality back-of-the-bullpen weapon.
The third name is another college closer from the previous regime: Ryan Minacci. He finished games at Wake Forest, a perennial ACC power, and went in the sixth round of the 2023 draft. He also teamed with Pinazzi on Rocket City’s championship bullpen and has long looked like a high-strikeout reliever.
Minacci made a noticeable leap in 2026 under Tim Leveque. His ERA dropped by more than a run to 3.59, and his WHIP fell to 1.280. He struck out 61 batters in just 47.2 innings, though the 21 walks in that span still leave room for improvement.
Unlike Pinazzi and Shores, Minacci’s best pitch is his 60 grade slider, which he uses to set up a mid 90s fastball. Control was his biggest issue coming into the season, and while it has gotten better, there is still work to do.
Still, with Leveque now on the Angels’ big league staff and Minacci moving in the right direction, he looks like a strong candidate for Major League Spring Training. He has a shot to win a job out of camp, especially with openings available. The raw stuff is there, and so is the kind of coachability that can get a pitcher over the line.
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For the Angels, the appeal is not just upside in the abstract but a profile that feels easier to project. Bremner already works effectively with a fastball, slider and cutter, and evaluators see him as a safer pitching prospect with the chance to work deep into games. In an organization that has spent plenty of time chasing answers on the mound, that kind of foundation can look almost as valuable as pure velocity. [Read more 🡒]