ANAHEIM — When Bryce Teodosio reached base on a bunt single Tuesday night, it was a significant moment for his development.
Teodosio is an elite defensive center fielder, but the Angels have been trying to get more out of him at the plate. They believe that bunting for hits regularly could be a key boost toward making his bat playable.
So far he’s attempted to bunt for hits only twice. He was thrown out when he tried it in Houston a couple of weeks ago. He also had a sacrifice bunt last month. Teodosio squared to try a bunt on Monday night, but he missed the pitch.
“I’ve been working on it really hard every day,” Teodosio said Wednesday. “So it was cool to have it show up in the game. It felt really good to get it down last night and kind of create something on the bases.”
Teodosio said he’s been working 10 to 15 minutes a day on bunting, with first-base coach Eric Young Sr. as his primary tutor.
Teodosio was hurt when he tried to bunt last year because his hand was wrapped around the bat. The Angels have worked to correct the technique. Mostly, though, Young said it’s a matter of simply getting him comfortable enough and confident enough to try it.
“He doesn’t have to be perfect with the bunts,” Young said. “I’m just trying to build the confidence up based on where he came from last year. … Not too many third basemen can make that play with Teodosio’s speed. He’s got to come in and bare-hand it, and not too many third basemen can come make that play consistently.”
Young also said that if Teodosio does it enough that third basemen will always play in against him, which opens more possibilities of him getting hits past them when he swings.
Teodosio is currently hitting .208 with a .250 on-base percentage and a .552 OPS. Obviously those aren’t viable numbers to be an everyday player in the majors. However, Teodosio’s defense in center field is so good that the standard he needs to reach offensively is fairly modest.
How much more productive could he be simply by becoming more proficient at bunting?
Cincinnati Reds center fielder T.J. Friedl leads the majors this season with 10 bunt hits.
Since 2008, there have been 21 instances of a player getting at least 15 bunt hits in a season. In recent Angels’ history, the most successful bunters were Erick Aybar, who three times had at least 15 bunt hits, and Peter Bourjos, who had 17 bunt hits in 2011.
In 2009, Aybar had a .529 average on 46 bunts, which doesn’t include the 12 times he was credited with a sacrifice. He hit .296 when he didn’t bunt, but his overall average was .312, indicating a 16-point gain from bunting.
Bourjos raised his average 18 points by hitting .548 on his bunts in 2011.
In reality, the benefit is even bigger than that, because a player who bunts will also sometimes reach on errors and sometimes get an extra base on the error. (Teodosio was credited with a single Tuesday night, but he ended up at second after the third baseman threw the ball away.)
“The more comfortable I get with it, it’ll definitely help me at the plate,” Teodosio said. “It’ll bring the third baseman in and give me more hits to that side of the field too. With my speed, if I’m able to get it down and get it in the right spot, there’s nobody that’s going to be able to throw me out. It’s a good weapon. It’s definitely something I want to have in the toolbox.”
ROTATION SHIFT
The Angels made a late change to their rotation, pushing all of the pitchers back a day and having right-hander José Ureña start Wednesday afternoon against the Minnesota Twins.
Right-hander José Soriano, who was scheduled to pitch Wednesday, will now start the opener of a four-game series in Seattle on Thursday night.
Interim manager Ray Montgomery said the primary motivation for the move was to simply give the pitchers an extra day at the end of a long season. Soriano is already well past his previous career-high in innings.
Montgomery said the difference between Soriano’s 5.90 home ERA and his 2.47 road ERA was not a factor. The switch also gives Soriano the chance to pitch against the contending Mariners instead of the last-place Minnesota Twins.
“That’s coincidental, but a nice byproduct of this happening,” Montgomery said. “If we’re going to do what we’re going to say we’re going to do as we go forward, he’s going to be a guy who’s going to get starts like that. That should be good, because (the Mariners) have obviously a lot going with every game that they play at the end. We can influence that maybe a little bit. So it’ll be a good environment for him.”
NOTES
First baseman Nolan Schanuel (wrist contusion) said hitting flips went well, so he’s now scheduled to head to Arizona for the weekend to ramp up his activity. Schanuel said he’s hoping to be activated sometime next week. …
Outfielder Jo Adell was back in the lineup after missing two games with vertigo. …
The Arizona Fall League rosters were released Wednesday. The Angels will send eight players to play for the Salt River Rafters. Pitchers Ryan Costieu, Brandon Dufault, Will Gervase, Fulton Lockhart and Victor Najer; catcher Juan Flores, infielder David Mershon and outfielder Raudi Rodriguez will be the Angels’ participants.
UP NEXT
Angels (RHP José Soriano, 10-10, 4.07 ERA) at Mariners (RHP Bryce Miller, 4-5, 5.53 ERA), Thursday, 6:40 p.m., FDSN West, 830 AM