{"id":669423,"date":"2026-04-08T02:12:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T02:12:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/669423\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T02:12:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T02:12:34","slug":"logan-ohoppe-says-angels-coaches-are-trusting-him-more-now-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/669423\/","title":{"rendered":"Logan O\u2019Hoppe says Angels coaches are trusting him more now \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

ANAHEIM \u2014 After Jos\u00e9 Soriano threw his third straight gem to begin the season<\/a>, he said one of the big differences this year is how well he\u2019s communicating with catcher Logan O\u2019Hoppe.<\/p>\n

A day later, O\u2019Hoppe responded to that compliment by thanking his coaches for giving him more freedom.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never felt more trusted to play the game than I have this year,\u201d O\u2019Hoppe said. \u201cThat\u2019s my whole big league career, not just last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Hoppe said pitching coach Mike Maddux, assistant pitching coach Darryl Scott, bullpen coach Dom Chiti and run-prevention coordinator Alex Cultice have all given him the latitude to change the game plan based on what he\u2019s seeing behind the plate.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Hoppe said he has to go back to 2019, when he was in the minors with the Philadelphia Phillies, to find a time when a coaching staff trusted his judgment the way the Angels have this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s super exciting,\u201d O\u2019Hoppe said.<\/p>\n

Asked for a tangible example, O\u2019Hoppe said he and Soriano determined early in Monday night\u2019s game that the Atlanta Braves seemed to be on his pitches anytime they threw the same pitch back-to-back.<\/p>\n

So O\u2019Hoppe and Soriano came into the dugout and told Maddux and the other coaches that they needed to adjust.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe gotta keep more of a mix here than just sticking to what is maybe looking like it\u2019s working at the time,\u201d O\u2019Hoppe said he told Maddux. \u201cAnd Sori mixed it from there and went eight innings.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the first two innings, they threw the same pitch to the same hitter back-to-back six times. They only did it six more times over the last six innings that Soriano pitched.<\/p>\n

Soriano has been the Angels\u2019 best pitcher, but most of the pitchers have gotten the job done so far this season. Coming into Tuesday\u2019s game, the Angels were sixth in the majors with a 3.21 ERA.<\/p>\n

Even when adding in the 12 unearned runs, the Angels\u2019 4.27 runs allowed per game ranks 15th in the majors. Last season they were 28th.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Hoppe had a rough start to the season in some parts of his defensive game, like throwing and receiving. His framing problems are now mitigated by the ability to use the ABS when he loses a strike.<\/p>\n

The most important part of a catcher\u2019s job is still working with the pitcher on a game plan and helping him execute it. In that respect, O\u2019Hoppe is getting high marks so far.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a sense of calmness with Hop,\u201d Manager Kurt Suzuki said. \u201cConfidence. All those type of things. As a pitcher, you feel it.\u201d<\/p>\n

TROUT RETURNS<\/p>\n

Mike Trout was back in the lineup just two days after being hit in the left hand by a pitch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Trout said there was still some swelling, but it was tolerable. When he was first hit, his hand swelled up so much that his batting glove needed to be cut off his hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe dodged a bullet,\u201d Trout said.<\/p>\n

INJURY UPDATES<\/p>\n

Right-hander Kirby Yates, who has been out with a knee injury, threw about 25 pitches to hitters on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got through it,\u201d Yates said. \u201cIt was good. Body felt good. The hard part is I didn\u2019t get a chance to do anything with my legs for 12 or 13 days. So we\u2019re trying to play catch up with that. The legs aren\u2019t as fresh as I\u2019d probably like them to be, but overall, I think it was good. I think it\u2019s a good starting point and we\u2019ve got to build up a little bit. I think it\u2019s time to roll and try to get back here as quickly as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yates said they will see how he feels on Wednesday and determine the next step. He said he doesn\u2019t want to come back too early, which he believes he did when he hurt his hamstring last season with the Dodgers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI need to be pretty sharp when I come back, or at least have a pretty good idea what my stuff is out there, so I can navigate some innings,\u201d Yates said.<\/p>\n

Right-hander Grayson Rodriguez said his long toss is out to about 150 feet, and he\u2019s been throwing fastballs and changeups when playing catch.<\/p>\n

\u201cFeeling a lot better,\u201d said Rodriguez, who is out with shoulder inflammation. \u201cBeen progressing well through catch. Looking to get off a mound shortly.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he would be throwing off a mound within a week, \u201cfor sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

NOTES<\/p>\n

So far Suzuki has shown a preference for keeping his lineup consistent. He\u2019s used the exact same lineup in six of 12 games, and on Tuesday he used his normal lineup, with the lone exception of Travis d\u2019Arnaud in the No. 8 spot instead of O\u2019Hoppe. \u201cI\u2019m huge on continuity,\u201d Suzuki said. \u2026<\/p>\n

Yo\u00e1n Moncada has remained in the No. 5 spot for nine of the 10 games that he\u2019s started, even though he\u2019s hitting .100 with a .470 OPS. Suzuki said he could drop him later, but it\u2019s too early. \u201cI know he\u2019s been doing a lot of work with those guys in the cages and he\u2019s looking really good,\u201d Suzuki said. \u201cSo we\u2019ll see how he goes.\u201d \u2026<\/p>\n

Left-hander Joey Lucchesi elected free agency. The Angels designated Lucchesi for assignment, and they tried to outright him to the minors, but he had the right to declare himself a free agent instead of staying in the minors with the Angels.<\/p>\n

UP NEXT<\/p>\n

Braves (RHP Grant Holmes, 0-1, 2.45 ERA) at Angels (LHP Reid Detmers, 0-0, 2.38 ERA), Wednesday, 1:07 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network, 830 AM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANAHEIM \u2014 After Jos\u00e9 Soriano threw his third straight gem to begin the season, he said one of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":669424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2390],"tags":[291,5,1165,446,3223,774,56,3224,3222,4,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-669423","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-angels","8":"tag-angels","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-la-angels","12":"tag-laangels","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-los-angeles-angels","15":"tag-losangeles","16":"tag-losangelesangels","17":"tag-mlb","18":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116366668415520580","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=669423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}