Ben Joyce knows the numbers look decent. The feel, though, is still catching up.
Since coming back from shoulder surgery to repair a torn labrum, the Angels reliever has posted a 3.38 ERA with five saves and 15 strikeouts in 13 ⅓ innings. But the rough edges are still there: two blown saves, plus eight walks over his last 7 ⅓ innings.
“I do,” Joyce said when asked if he feels he’s still working on getting back to himself. “It's been a hard two years.
It's been a long time away from the game, a lot of situations I haven't been in in two years. From recovery, whatever in-game situations, it's just trying to get that feel back and get more experience in those situations.
It's a roller coaster, for sure. There's ups and downs.”
For Joyce, the biggest gap isn’t necessarily velocity or results. It’s the stuff around the edges - the command of his offspeed pitches and the pressure-packed moments that can’t be recreated in rehab.
He said his slider and splinker, the splitter-sinker hybrid, have both given him command issues, which has limited how often he can use them. That has pushed him toward the fastball, which he’s thrown 67% of the time. His splinker sits at 25%, and the slider just 8%.
“When you're doing rehab, your whole throwing program is fastballs and getting feel for that,” Joyce said. “I think (sliders) was the last step for me.
Obviously, it's hard to work on something in that situation. You're doing whatever you can to put up a zero, get a save, whatever it might be.
I think that's definitely the last step that I feel like I need to get over.”
The challenge goes beyond pitch mix. Joyce pointed to the adrenaline of late-inning big league work as something rehab outings simply can’t match.
“Runners on first and second, one out in the ninth inning, I haven't felt that in a long time,” Joyce said. “Getting your feet back under you in those situations, for sure. You can't really simulate that in a rehab outing.”
Joyce said he “feels pretty good” physically, though he’s dealing with the normal good days and bad days that come with a comeback from major shoulder surgery. He’s also leaned on other pitchers who’ve gone through the same operation.
“It's a long process,” Joyce said. “They say 12 to 18 months for a reason.
The tissue is completely different in there. It's just getting used to it and getting wins every day, whatever that might be.
“Getting out of that situation (runners on first and second in the ninth), for me, that was a win. I didn't have my best stuff.
I ended up getting the job done. If I worry about the walks every time or being in the zone with my slider, I think that's a slippery slope.
It's just get the wins every day and try to go out there and do my job and help the team win.”
He’s also looking ahead to an offseason that should give him a cleaner runway to keep refining things for next year.
Elsewhere around the Angels, shortstop Zach Neto was announced Monday as the team’s nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award. Each club submits one player, and the honor goes to the player who best reflects baseball through character, community work, philanthropy and positive impact on and off the field.
“It means the world,” Neto said. “Me and my family talk about it all the time.
This game is bigger than just itself on the field. There's a way bigger story outside.
And to me personally, I think this award in general is the most important award out of every single award there is in the major leagues.”
As part of Roberto Clemente Day on Tuesday night, Neto will wear Clemente’s No. 21 for the Angels.
The organization also revealed its eight Arizona Fall League participants, who will play for the Mesa Solar Sox in October: right-handed pitchers Peyton Olejnik, Kyle Robinson, Sam Tookoian, Yeferson Vargas and Najer Victor; third baseman Jake Munroe; shortstop Arjun Nimmala; and first baseman Ryland Zaborowski.
Nimmala is the biggest name in the group. The Angels acquired him in the José Soriano trade at the deadline, and he’s now ranked 37th on MLB Pipeline’s top 100 prospects list as the club’s best prospect.
Since joining Double-A Rocket City, Nimmala has hit .260/.389/.577 with a .966 OPS and eight home runs in 27 games.
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