ANAHEIM, Calif. — With one week left in the season, right-hander George Klassen is unlikely to be activated off the injured list before the season ends.
Klassen was retroactively placed on the 15-day injured list on August 27 with left lower back inflammation and although he's been making good progress with his rehab and has been throwing bullpens, Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said the 24-year-old is probably not rejoining the Angels.
"There's no need to rush him," Suzuki said. "Where we are in the season, it just really doesn't make sense."
Klassen was one of the few bright spots for the Angels as they tread towards possibly the franchise's first 100-loss season. He finished his first taste of the big leagues with a 3.67 ERA in six starts with 24 strikeouts.
The Angels called him up at the beginning of April, but he only lasted two starts that featured six earned runs allowed in 4 2/3 innings. Once he returned to the club in August, Klassen dominated.
In the four starts he had in August, Klassen pitched to a 2.01 ERA, and his upper-90s fastball paired with his sharp slider proved to be difficult for hitters.
"Relied heavily on his slider," Suzuki said. "I thought he was in the zone a lot more consistently. I thought he was outstanding."
Christian Moore Struggles
Chrsitian Moore's second season in the big leagues hasn't gone according to plan.
In 30 games played this season, he's hitting .165 with a .459 OPS and only one home run.
Although he snapped an 0-for-21 stretch Friday night with a single, he's not in the lineup for Saturday night's game against the Twins.
"Sometimes you need to take a little bit of a step back," Suzuki said. "I talked to him today. He's having a little work day again today. Get some stuff done. He'll be back in there tomorrow. But I think, (Moore), he's getting good work in. And he's working his way back to where he believes he knows he can be."
Moore's 33.1% strikeout rate is almost identical to last year's tally, but he's walking half as much he did last year (10.3% walk rate last year compared to 5.9% this year). Plate discipline will be a focus for him this winter.
"General consistency," Suzuki said of what Moore needs to work on this offseason. "Consistency with your bat path. And at the end of the day, our focus is controlling the strike zone. I think that's kind of been our focus recently. We want that to be a big focus of ours for this organization is controlling the strike zone. And I think (Moore) understands when you struggle a little bit here, it's because you're expanding the zone."