The Angels have acquired 26-year old righty reliever Ernesto Frieri from the Padres for 23-year old 2B/OF Alexi Amarista and 22-year old righty starting pitcher Donn Roach. Frieri pitched in 11 games (0 starts) for the Padres this year and he was 1-0 with a 2.31 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP. He has an amazing 18 whiffs in only 11 2/3 innings so far this year. Frieri has pitched in 105 games (0 starts) in his first four years in the majors and he is 3-3 with a 2.33 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP. He has only allowed 78 hits while whiffing 137 batters in his first 108 1/3 innings in the majors, and those are really impressive numbers. Frieri has walked 56 batters in his career so far, so he’s going to need to tighten up his control to have success in the A.L. Frieri will be pitching at the back end of the Angels’ bullpen.

Alexi Amarista came into this season as the Angels’ #19 prospect according to Baseball America. He played in 18 games in AAA-ball for the Angels this year and he was 21 for 77 (.273 avg, .692 OPS) with 11 runs scored, 0 homers, 12 RBIs and 1 stolen base. Amarista also played in 1 game for the Angels as a pinch runner and he scored a run but didn’t bat. He played in 24 games in his two years with the Angels and he was 8 for 52 (.154 avg, .432 OPS) with 3 runs scored, 0 homers and 5 RBIs. Donn Roach came into this season as the Angels’ #22 prospect according to Baseball America. He pitched in 6 games (all starts) in A-ball for the Angels this year and he was 5-0 wit a 2.16 ERA and a 0.94 WHIP.

Ernesto Frieri didn’t come cheap, but I like the move for the Angels as they needed bullpen help pretty badly.

22-year old righty swinging SS Jean Segura came into this season as the Angels’ #2 prospect according to Baseball America. Segura has played in 25 games in AA-ball so far this year and he is 24 for 94 (.255 avg, .690 OPS) with 10 runs scored, 2 homers, 12 RBIs and 8 stolen bases. Segura has now played in 322 games in his first six years in the minors and he is 392 of 1,260 (.311 avg, .809 OPS) with 217 runs scored, 21 homers, 175 RBIs and 110 stolen bases. He appears to have been placed on the fast track this year by the Angels.

36-year old lefty reliever Scott Downs has bumped 24-year old Jordan Walden from his closer’s job. Downs has pitched in 10 games (0 starts) for the Angels so far this year and he is 0-0 with 2 saves, a 0.00 ERA and a 0.86 WHIP. He has only given up 6 hits and 2 walks in his first 9 1/3 innings this year as he has been electric this year. He might keep the closer’s job for a while. Jordan Walden saved 32 games last year, but he appears lost so far in 2012. Walden has pitched in 6 games (0 starts) for the Angels so far this year and he is 0-1 with 1 save, a 8.31 ERA and a 2.08 WHIP. He will have to earn the closer’s job back by pitching well in middle relief.

The Angels jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the first four innings last night, to ease pressure on starting pitcher Jered Weaver. Weaver then went out and finished up the 10th no-hitter in Angels’ history. He walked only 1 batter and he whiffed 9, as he was simply downright nasty last night. He threw 77 of 121 (63.6) pitches for strikes as he was pounding the strike zone all night long. He is now 4-0 on the year. Howie Kendrick led the way offensively for the Angels last night as he was 4 for 4 with 3 runs scored, 1 homer and 3 RBIs. It was nice to see that Jered Weaver’s parents were at the game and his dad was sucking down a beer in the 9th inning as he appeared more than a little nervous. It was a special night for all involved in Anaheim last night!