Ben Joyce is starting to look like himself again, and the Angels have every reason to like what they’re seeing.
The right-hander logged his first save in nearly two years on Wednesday night, closing out the Rangers in the Angels’ 5-2 win at Angel Stadium. It was his fifth career save and his first since Sept. 1, 2024, coming just four months after surgery to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder in May 2025.
Since returning to the big league mound on Aug. 5, Joyce has stacked up four straight scoreless appearances. In four innings, he’s given up one hit, issued one walk and struck out four.
“It felt great,” Joyce said before Thursday’s series finale. “It was exciting.
I've been working toward that for a while. I was probably not as nervous as my first one, but I definitely had some extra adrenaline getting out there in that situation again, for sure.”
The stuff is still loud. Joyce has touched as high as 105.5 mph with his fastball in 2024, and the surgery hasn’t dulled the edge much at all. His four-seamer has gotten up to 103.4 mph since his return and is averaging 101.3 mph, only a hair below the 102.1 mph average he carried when healthy in 2024.
“It's been good,” Joyce said. “I feel like I've been in a good groove throwing-wise, and even in between games.
Like, kind of figuring out my rhythm in between everything. So, I feel like I'm in a good spot and the stuff is feeling good.”
From center field, Mike Trout has gotten a front-row look at the heater and the rest of Joyce’s arsenal. Trout saw him in Spring Training while Joyce was working through rehab and came away convinced the stuff was still there.
“That's electric stuff,” Trout said. “That sinker and the four-seam at 101 to 103 [mph].
I know it's a tough at-bat. I faced him in live BP in spring.
I know what it looks like up there. It’s electric.”
Kurt Suzuki has reason to lean on Joyce, especially after the Angels dealt relievers Ryan Zeferjahn, Chase Silseth, Kirby Yates and Brent Suter before the Trade Deadline. Joyce is expected to keep working in high-leverage spots and could get save chances depending on matchups, alongside rookie lefty Samy Natera Jr.
“Just impressive,” Suzuki said. “And just very happy that he's back.
He was like, ‘Man, it's been a while since I got [a save]’ last night. A lot of hard work and time spent rehabbing, and for him to come out and have that outing, and have the last few outings here, it’s been pretty impressive.”
One thing the Angels still need to figure out is how Joyce responds on consecutive days. Suzuki said that’s the next test, and the club may choose to be cautious and keep him away from back-to-backs. Joyce, though, sounded willing to see how it goes before the season ends.
“I guess we'll find out when it happens,” Joyce said. “Like, obviously I feel good.
I feel like I could -- it's just, like, I don't really know until it happens, I guess. We'll see, but I’m happy with where it's at.
Like, it feels good right now.”
For Joyce, the focus is still on sharpening the full mix. He’s throwing his 95.8 mph sinker about 38 percent of the time and his 87.3 mph slider about 10 percent of the time. The slider stood out against Wyatt Langford on Wednesday, when it helped set up a strikeout looking with a 100.9 mph fastball after a swing and miss and a foul ball.
Joyce said the sinker took the longest to come back after rehab, and the slider followed a similar path because he spent so much of the process rebuilding fastball command first.
“The sinker was the last one to come back, feel-wise, throughout the whole rehab process,” Joyce said. “It’s just getting more reps with it, throwing it more.
Same with the slider. I just didn't throw it as much because I was really trying to get the fastball command back throughout the whole process.
But once I did that, I feel like I opened up everything with my stuff, so I feel like I'm in a good spot with the sinker and slider right now.”
Joyce, the Angels’ third-round pick out of the University of Tennessee in 2022, remains under team control through 2029, making his health and effectiveness a major priority for the organization.
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