Angels shed top prospect Caden Dana after back-to-back rough starts – Orange County Register

ANAHEIM — Caden Dana will have to wait until next year to show he’s better than the 10.45 ERA he had after three major league starts.

The Angels announced Monday that they had optioned Dana, ending the 20-year-old right-hander’s season.

“He’s had a long season and we don’t want him to have any negative vibes about his performance when it’s not going the way he wanted it to,” manager Ron Washington said. “So we felt like we had to go ahead and take that position away from him.”

The Angels’ top prospect, Dana was promoted to the major leagues from Double-A. He became the youngest pitcher to start a game for the Angels in more than 50 years when he pitched on September 1 against the Seattle Mariners. He pitched six innings and allowed two runs in that game, earning a win.

However, in the next two starts he allowed 10 runs in 4⅓ innings.

Dana’s last two starts would have been against the same teams he just faced, the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros. He said Sunday he was “excited to show them my best game, which they haven’t seen yet.”

Washington suggested Monday that Dana was “not at his best because of the year he’s had and the amount of work he’s put in.”

Including the 23 starts he made in Double-A Rocket City, Dana pitched 145⅔ innings this season, which was just his second full professional season after being drafted in 2022. He pitched 68⅓ innings last season.

“He took it like a pro,” Washington said. “He knows what we’re doing is in his best interest. He’s a young baby. He follows our lead. We decided to shut him down, and that was the end of it.”

The Angels recalled left-hander Kenny Rosenberg to take Dana’s spot, but Rosenberg will move to the bullpen.

The Angels will return to a five-man rotation for the remainder of the season, featuring left-handers Reid Detmers, Tyler Anderson and Jose Suarez, and right-handers Griffin Canning and Jack Kochanowicz.

REMARKS

The Angels moved second baseman Christian Moore to the instructional league after the Double-A season ended Monday. There was speculation that Moore, who was just drafted in July, could be in the major leagues before the end of this season, but that is no longer likely, according to a source. Moore had a .984 OPS in his first 25 professional games. He missed two weeks with a knee injury before returning to action Saturday for a final Double-A game.