Angels mailbag: Which injured pitcher will pitch first?

Hello, Angels fans. Welcome to the All-Star break! The Angels don’t play any games for the next four days. They finished the first half with 45 wins in 92 games, which translate to a 79-win pace for a full season. That is not great, but it is enough to keep them within three games of the wild-card race.

The Angels won’t have a representative at Tuesday’s All-Star Game, which is an unfortunate consequence of Mike Trout being so good and so famous that fans still voted him in despite a torn thumb ligament. But let’s get to the questions. There are always questions, and, hopefully, answers.

If you travel to lovely Tempe, Ariz., and find Fields 1 and 2 on the Angels’ minor-league complex, the odds are extremely high you can find Andrew Heaney taking the mound. If you’re speaking strictly about the Angels, they are still pretty high. Heaney is due to make his first start in an Arizona League game this week. A September 1 return seems entirely plausible.

The Angels have four injured pitchers who retain hope of pitching this season: Heaney, Tyler Skaggs, Garrett Richards and Matt Shoemaker.

Of those four, Heaney has close to as good of a chance as returning first as anyone else. That is noteworthy because he underwent Tommy John surgery one year ago this month. If I had to guess who will be back first, I’d take Skaggs, then Shoemaker and Heaney equally, and then Richards. Skaggs and Shoemaker will require shorter build-ups because they have missed less time.

Heaney really could win. He is going to pitch in a game first.

Jordon Adell, the Angels’ first-round pick and first Baseball America top-100 prospect since Sean Newcomb, debuted Thursday in the Arizona League. Marsh, last year’s second-rounder, suffered a similar injury to Mike Trout, whom you may be familiar with. But he did not tear the ligament, so he should have a shorter recovery time frame.

For his first game, Trout provided a Chipotle spread for the Inland Empire 66ers. I’m not sure what he supplied for the other games. Ballplayers love Chipotle.

This question was in jest, but, no, it is not appropriate to panic about Trout’s return. I think there’s a high likelihood he goes back to being the same player within a few days after returning. He crushed the California League in the last two games of his rehab assignment.

Oh, and Tim Tebow has a .951 OPS and as many walks as strikeouts in 13 games of High-A baseball.

There are many alternatives to Luis Valbuena and Danny Espinosa. Replacement players are readily available across baseball. The matter is finding alternatives who supply improvements. The Angels tried to do just that on June 30, when they acquired Nick Franklin and inserted him at second base against right-handed pitchers. He has been OK, but he is not the defender that Espinosa is.

As far as Valbuena, the Angels have tried C.J. Cron and Jefry Marte at the position, too, and both men have hit worse than him. So, yeah.

Probably soon after he is healthy and built up to start games. Because he’s missed more than two months because of a forearm strain, Smith has yet to reach 75 pitches in his four minor league starts this season.

I love Minneapolis. I think it is a great city. I enjoy visiting all of the metropolitan areas in the American League, though I do not like Arlington, Texas, or the Oakland Coliseum itself. But every place has its redeeming qualities: Dallas and Fort Worth are compelling places. Oakland offers a lot to a visitor, and San Francisco is San Francisco.

That said, Boston is by no means my favorite, and I’d agree that it is somewhat overrated nationally. At least within the downtown area, there does not appear to be the same diversity in food that is available in many other metropolises. Diversity is good.

Via email:

Dear Pedro,

Are umpires in fact calling more balks? I am seeing and hearing of such calls when it seems in the past I went an entire season without observing a balk.

What is the latest on the juiced/rabbit balls? Recently, both Victor and Gubie agreed that this year’s balls were more “lively.”

John Zanier

The answer to the first question is yes, though I can’t say that I had noticed.

As of Saturday morning, 101 balks had been called in baseball, which puts the sport on pace to include 190 called balks in 2017. That would be a record this century. Last season, 148 balks were called. In 2015, 141 balks were called. The numbers were smaller further back: 128 in 2014, 128 in 2013.

I’m not sure why that is. They are still rare enough that I wouldn’t worry about them much.

As far as the baseballs go, there is no latest, really. The Ringer published a thorough examination of the situation last month. If you are interested in learning more about actual evidence of a change, I recommend reading that. I’ve heard plenty of Angels pitchers discussing the state of the baseballs, but it is all speculative. There’s a lot of talk that the seams are different, that the balls are closer to resembling triple-A balls now. It’s hard to say.

pedro.moura@latimes.com

Twitter: @pedromoura