The 2026 MLB regular season is about to begin after a long month of spring training games. In the Cactus League, the Los Angeles Angels had a chance to see what some of their newest additions had with some limited availability from some players. Due to some injuries, the Angels will have a slightly different roster than originally planned in some areas such as their pitching staff. But most of the big names are available and healthy for the Halos, who will open up their season on Thur, Mar 26 against the Houston Astros at Daikin Park. The opening road trip for the Angels will have them play a four-game series in Houston before going to the north side of Chicago to play at Wrigley Field against the Cubs. Then, they return home for their opening homestand against the Seattle Mariners and Atlanta Braves for three games each. With Kurt Suzuki set to make his official debut as a big league manager, the roster that he’ll manage to start the season is missing a couple of key players. Let’s see who they are and in what positions.
The Starting Rotation Is Missing A Couple of Key Additions, Forcing Two Arms Who Were On The Opening Day Roster Last Year To Make The Cut Once Again
The Angels starting pitchers are seeking a better season in 2026. With a couple of key additions, the Halo hurlers are looking to have a better balance with the bullpen in improving stats such as ERA, WHIP, and strikeout-to-walk ratio. But Mike Maddux will have to coach a very young staff to start out the season with a couple of key veterans. José Soriano is the opening day starter and will be followed by Yusei Kikuchi(last season’s opening day starter) and Reid Detmers, who is back in the starting rotation following his time in the bullpen last year. The only drawback is that Grayson Rodriguez and Alek Manoah are both dealing with injuries, with Rodriguez having a “dead arm” ailment and Manoah dealing with a fingernail injury. Both Rodriguez and Manoah will start the season on the 15-day injured list.
Those injuries clear a couple of spots for Jack Kochanowicz and Ryan Johnson, who were on last season’s Opening Day roster. Kochanowicz is penciled in as the number four starter while Johnson is the fifth starter for now. Last season, Kochanowicz made a load of starts until he got sent down to the minor leagues and was called back up for a couple of additional starts. Some bad numbers in ERA and WHIP otherwise tainted a good groundball pitcher in Kochanowicz, who had a lot of double plays turned behind him. Johnson was the first pitcher in modern history to make his first big league appearance without making a prior appearance in the minors. After a few relief appearances, Johnson was sent down to the minor leagues and stayed there for the rest of the season. He did make 12 starts for the High-A Tri-City Dust Devils affiliate for the Halos, so he has some experience as a starter. But his first big league start is set to come at Wrigley Field on Mon, Mar 30. So, while they await the return of Rodriguez and mull what to do with Manoah when he is feeling better, the Angels are going to have to deal with this mixed rotation in the first couple of weeks of this season.
The Infield Remains Mostly The Same, With A Veteran Mix at Second Base Instead of Christian Moore, Who Starts This Season In The Minors
The infield for the Halos continues to have some good players such as Zach Neto at shortstop(making his second Opening Day start after he began last season on the injured list), Nolan Schanuel at first base and Logan O’Hoppe as the catcher. Other infielders who are back from last season’s roster are Travis d’Arnaud as the backup catcher and Yoán Moncada at third base(re-signed with the Angels after exploring free agency). But a surprise switch is at second base as Christian Moore will start the season in the minor leagues. Instead, it will be a mix between two veteran options at second base with Oswald Peraza and Adam Frazier set to have playing time at that position.
Peraza was acquired at the trade deadline last season from the New York Yankees and can play at any infield position. Frazier is an experienced veteran with almost a decade of playing time with the Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres and Kansas City Royals. With Vaughn Grissom starting the season on the injured list with a left hand ailment, a non-roster invitee made the Opening Day roster for the Angels. That would be infielder Jeimer Candelario, who also has veteran experience with the Detroit Tigers and Cincinnati Reds. Candelario had himself some good numbers in Cactus League play as he hit quite a few home runs and was an efficient hitter overall while playing at third base, second base and first base. Being a backup option behind Schanuel and Moncada, Candelario is lucky to have a roster spot on a big league team to start this season. Hopefully this mix of veteran knockoffs can do better than last season’s Opening Day mix of Tim Anderson, Kevin Newman and Nicky Lopez, who were all designated for assignment in-season. The injury bug hopefully won’t bite off as much of the infield as it did last year. Let’s hope that’s the case with the entire roster in spite of the early ailments.
Angels In The Outfield: Trout Returns To Center Field, Josh Lowe Is New Left Fielder And Bryce Teodosio Serves As A Good Defensive Backup In CF
As for the outfield in Anaheim, the Angels have a couple of adjustments for this year’s roster. The big one is that Mike Trout is returning to center field on a more regular basis following his attempt to play in right field in 2025. That attempt didn’t last long after he suffered a knee injury that required a trip to the injured list. After only missing one month of action, Trout returned to be a designated hitter as he finally surpassed 400 career home runs. With a strong finish offensively to the season last year, Trout will look to stay healthy over the course of a full season for the first time in a long time. Jo Adell is moving back to being a corner outfielder, specifically in right field, following career highs in home runs and RBIs in 2025. Jorge Soler can be a good plug-in guy at right field and DH following a tough season with quite a few trips on the injured list with back ailments.
But new additions on Opening Day are Josh Lowe, who was acquired in a three-way trade from the Tampa Bay Rays, and Bryce Teodosio, who played in center field for a couple of months to close out last season. Lowe is expected to be the main left-fielder this season and with his left-handed bat will attempt to provide much needed balance to the Halos lineup. Teodosio can be used as a backup behind Trout in center field and a pinch-runner in tight situations. With great defensive abilities, Teodosio can step in comfortably in center if Trout gets hurt again or if he spends a lot of time at DH. The outfield for the Angels looks to be one of the best ones offensively and defensively in this new season.
The Bullpen Is Battered, Bruised And New For The Halos In 2026, With Some Familiar Names From Last Year Back In As Well
The bullpen for the Angels is the one thing that has held the team back from being a potential playoff contender along with woes from the starting rotation. But some new additions might potentially add some much-needed help in Anaheim. Free agent spending was focused on the pen, with veteran hurlers with closer experience added. Kirby Yates was signed after spending time with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Texas Rangers and other teams, although he will start the season on the injured list due to inflammation in his left knee. Jordan Romano used to be the closer for the Toronto Blue Jays and is expected to be the main closer option in the Halos bullpen to begin this season. Drew Pomeranz used to be a starting pitcher and is a good southpaw relief arm after spending time with the Chicago Cubs. Brent Suter is another lefty with some good numbers in middle relief for National League Central teams like the Milwaukee Brewers and Cincinnati Reds.
Bullpen arms that are back from last season are Ryan Zeferjahn, Sam Bachman and Chase Silseth. Minor league prospect Walbert Ureña is expected to start the season on the Opening Day roster and can potentially be used as a sixth starter if necessary. The Angels also signed veteran lefty Joey Lucchesi after the San Francisco Giants released him. So, the bullpen is definitely looking interesting. A couple of oft-injured hurlers in Ben Joyce and Robert Stephenson will start the season on the IL. Joyce is attempting to return from shoulder inflammation that knocked him out early in the 2025 season while Stephenson suffered another devastating setback in his right arm’s UCL. So, the bullpen will look to be solid without a couple of key arms to start out the season.
The 2026 season will hopefully be a good and solid one for a long-struggling Angels team under new leadership on the field once again. Looking to break a long playoff drought and competing to not finish in last place in the tight American League West, the Halos are seeking an amazing season to remember for more than just fun moments on the field.
Kent Bewley's News Story Collection 
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