The Angels announced a trio of roster moves, including the news that right-hander Michael Darrell-Hicks’ contract was selected from Triple-A Salt Lake. In corresponding moves, the Angels released right-hander Hans Crouse and optioned righty Caden Dana to Triple-A.
Darrell-Hicks wasn’t selected during his draft year in 2022, but he signed a free agent deal with the Angels and is now in the majors less than three years after his college career came to an end. The 27-year-old became a full-time reliever in 2024 and had a 2.60 ERA, 26.44% strikeout rate, and a tiny 4.98% walk rate over 62 1/3 combined innings at the Double-A and Triple-A levels. Most of that success came in Double-A as Darrell-Hicks’ ERA spiked upwards in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, and the righty has a 4.15 ERA in four appearances and 4 1/3 innings of Triple-A ball this year.
MDH’s first taste of big league action will give the Halos a bit of extra bullpen depth. Dana threw 56 pitches in a three-inning relief outing on Friday, and Ryan Zeferjahn also made an early exit from Friday’s game with hamstring tightness. With two pitchers likely unavailable today, optioning Dana and calling up Darrell-Hicks gives Los Angeles a fresh arm to utilize in today’s game with the Guardians.
To add Darrell-Hicks to the 40-man roster, the Angels parted ways with Crouse, which is a little surprising given that the righty seemed to be facing an injury scare of his own. Crouse left a Triple-A outing on Thursday after just four pitches, and there hasn’t yet been any word on his status.
Crouse made his MLB debut in the form of two games with the Phillies in 2021, and didn’t return to the Show until he posted a 2.84 ERA over 25 1/3 relief innings for the Angels last season. His impressive bottom-line results were augmented by a strong 31.8% strikeout rate, though Crouse also had a 15.9% walk rate and some batted-ball luck in the form of a .231 BABIP. His control issues continued into Spring Training this year and might’ve cost Crouse a shot at the Opening Day roster.
A second-round pick for the Rangers in the 2017 draft, Crouse was a prospect of some note during his time in the Texas farm system, cracking the MLB Pipeline and Baseball America top-100 prospect rankings prior to the 2019 campaign. Crouse had big strikeout totals in the minors but his walk rate spiked big in 2023 before somewhat normalizing with Triple-A Salt Lake in 2024, which was his first year in the Angels’ organization. Assuming first and foremost that he is healthy, Crouse figures to draw some attention from a team interested in his ability to miss bats.