Jack Janes

ANAHEIM, Calif. — “That’s all you need, is an iPad!” home plate umpire Erich Bacchus yelled at Angels interim manager Ray Montgomery after ejecting him from the game in late July.

Montgomery was irate because Luis Rengifo struck out looking while not seeing a single pitch in the strike zone in a critical spot in the game. Rengifo represented the tying run in the eighth inning, and New York Mets closer Edwin Díaz got the call on three back-door sliders that were all in the same spot, a few inches off the plate.

Bacchus had a point. It’s much easier to see where pitches end up after the fact, as opposed to in real time, with how fast and how much pitches move these days. But it wasn’t always this way.

ANAHEIM -- For most baseball fans, it’s a childhood dream to play for their favorite team and make a difference. But for Wade Meckler, it became a reality on Friday night.

An Orange County native who graduated from Esperanza High School in Anaheim, Meckler grew up as an Angels fan. In his debut for the club on Friday, he homered in a multi-hit effort with a nice defensive play to help the Angels win, 9-6, over the Rangers.

PHOENIX — Atlanta Braves prospect Nacho Alvarez Jr. chased a slider outside of the strike zone, and it chased him from the lineup for two weeks.

As Alvarez reached out with his swing, he felt a sharp pain in his side.

“My left side just blew up,” Alvarez said.

Infielder Alvarez, 22, was sent to the injured list with a strained oblique, an injury that is becoming more common among hitters with each passing year.

TEMPE – It was 10 years ago when Joey Daccord sat in coach Greg Powers’ office at Oceanside Ice Arena while on an official visit to Arizona State. At the time, the Sun Devils hadn’t played a game of Division I hockey, and the rink they played at was far below Division I standards.

Daccord grew up in the Boston area and knew what a great college hockey program was supposed to look like. He could easily have been turned off by what he saw at Oceanside and looked for a school in the East, but Daccord was able to look beyond the dusty, cramped arena.

He saw the foundation Powers was building and the vision ASU had for what the Sun Devils hockey program could become.

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Two years ago, Reid Detmers was in Salt Lake City grinding away in Triple-A just two years removed from a breakout sophomore season in the big leagues that featured a no-hitter.

After starting the 2024 campaign with a 1.19 ERA in his first four starts, he fell apart and got demoted to Triple-A in June once his ERA ballooned to 6.14. While in the minors, he went to work on his mentality.

Detmers always had the talent to pitch at the highest level — it's what got him drafted 10th overall in 2020 and made him a top 30 prospect in the sport — but it was always the battle between the ears that plagued him.