With the rotation struggling to stay healthy and upright, the Los Angeles Angels need Richards to be the ace the team — and the player — they thinks he is.
First of all, it must be noted that the stuff is there. The raw material that made him so excellent in 2014 is as good as it ever was. Per Fangraphs, his fastball is averaging 96.2 MPH. MLB’s Statcast tabs Richards’ slider with the highest spin rate in the league (among starting pitchers only Luis Severino is even close) and at just over 90 MPH, his is also the second-fastest slider in the majors behind Noah Syndergaard‘s.