Reid Detmers Is Finally Looking Like a Finished Product
This year’s version of Reid Detmers is the best we’ve seen yet. What’s led to the southpaw’s career season?
The Los Angeles Angels entered this summer’s trade deadline as a definite seller with possibly the most players on the trade block. The organization traded away seven players from their active roster while receiving nine players in return, making them one of the more active teams at the deadline.
Starting pitchers Jose Soriano and Reid Detmers were two of the more sought-after players at the deadline, but only one of them wound up with a different organization. Soriano was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays while the Angels elected to keep Detmers for the time being, even after false reports surfaced that he had been moved to the Chicago Cubs.
Detmers has been one of the more consistent arms in the Angels rotation since making his major league debut back in 2021, and his second-half performance thus far is proving why the Angels decided to hold on to him past the trade deadline.
Did Detmer’s Move To the Bullpen Spark His Career Turnaround?
While Detmers has never made an All-Star appearance, he’s certainly proved to be a dominant starter when he’s at his best and already has a no-hitter and immaculate inning on his resume. Detmers, 26, is in the midst of his sixth major league season and owns a 4.45 ERA and 1.29 WHIP across 604.1 total innings.
He was primarily a starter through his first four major league seasons, but ran into some hiccups during his 2024 campaign. Detmers split that season between the Angels and Triple-A Salt Lake, but ultimately struggled. He pitched to a 6.70 ERA over 87.1 major league innings and a 5.54 ERA over 78 minor league innings.
Detmers’ 2024 struggles prompted the Angels to move him into a relief role in 2025, where he excelled with a 3.96 ERA across 61 games out of the bullpen. He was one of the more reliable relievers in the Angels bullpen last year, making him a great high-leverage option.
Even though Detmers had mentioned that he was content with his role out of the bullpen, returning to the starting rotation had to have been in the back of his mind. While Detmers could’ve played a huge role out of the bullpen this year, it was ultimately the best decision for him to move back to the rotation.
Since rejoining the rotation this year, he’s putting together his best major league season so far, pitching to a career-best 3.54 ERA and 1.07 WHIP while logging a season-high 155 innings. Maybe his move to the bullpen sparked some anger and has played a bit of a mental role in his success this year.
Detmers has been excellent from every angle you look at this season, and he’s gotten even better since the All-Star break. It’s been a tale of two halves for Detmers this season, hence his 4.39 ERA in the first half and 1.55 ERA in the second half.
Zooming in, across five starts since the trade deadline, Detmers has been great with a 1.50 ERA. He’s been even better over his last four starts dating back to August 10, as his 0.69 ERA trails only Clay Holmes’ 0.36 ERA.
We’ve gone over how Detmers is in the middle of his best major league season thus far, but what’s been the key factor contributing to his overall success?
Limited Baseruners Has Driven Detmers’ 2026 Success
Pulling back the curtain, the biggest reason for his success this season has been his ability to limit runners on the basepaths, leading to a career-best WHIP as previously mentioned. High amounts of traffic on the basepaths have hurt Detmers in the past, but he’s improved upon that in 2026, and it’s working out for the best.
The easiest thing to examine with Detmers cutting down baserunners is purely the amount of hits he’s allowing. His current 7.1 H/9 ratio is a career best, outperforming his previous best 7.7 H/9 ratio back in 2022. This is a result of batters not being able to hit for a very good average against Detmers’ offerings, as backed by a pair of career-best marks: his .215 opponent batting average and .219 expected batting average.
Detmers has maintained an above-average strikeout rate for a majority of his career, and he’s continued to do so in 2026 with a 27.8% clip, placing him in the 84th percentile. Staying in the same sector, he’s limited walks to a 7.1% rate this season, which is above average and a career best for Detmers. Between his exceptional H/9, BB/9 and K/9 ratios, it has fueled an eye-catching career season for him.
Why Didn’t the Angels Trade Detmers?
The Angels certainly had the chance to trade Detmers, but either they weren’t happy with the trade packages they were being offered, or they viewed Detmers as a piece to build around for the foreseeable future. It likely came down to those two reasons as to why Detmers remains in an Angels uniform today.
Even though the Angels didn’t trade him this summer, he very well could be moved over the offseason for a greater price after teams witnessed his excellent second-half showing. If they don’t move him, he’s under club control through the 2028 season and could be an anchor in the rotation for the next few years while the club essentially begins its rebuild toward the future.
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Cade is a recent high school graduate. He currently writes for Just Baseball while also contributing to InsideHalos. He has previous experience writing for Grand Central…