TEMPE, Ariz. -- Initially Robert Stephenson was hopeful that he’d rehab his right elbow in time for Opening Day. Now the right-hander’s status for 2026 is in question.
An emotional Stephenson fought back tears Saturday ahead of the Angels' 6-2 win over the Mariners at Tempe Diablo Stadium, facing the prospect of another long-term setback. He already missed all of 2024 due to right elbow surgery and he ended last season on the injured list with right elbow inflammation.
Halfway through his most recent live throwing session in camp, the 33-year-old “felt something” as he released his fastball.
“It wasn’t like anything I’d really felt before,” Stephenson said. “It didn’t feel exactly like a torn UCL. It didn’t feel exactly like the nerve stuff at the end of last year. It’s just something different.”
He’s been through one round of tests with more to come. Next week he’ll travel to Texas for an evaluation with Dr. Keith Meister of TMI Sports Medicine & Orthopedic Surgery.
“There is a concern for the state of my UCL right now and my flexor. I’m gonna see if there’s a way we can rehab this thing and be able to pitch this year,” Stephenson said. “But I don’t know what it looks like.”
The injured list is an all-too-familiar sight for Stephenson.
As a Pirate, he opened the 2023 season on the 15-day IL with right elbow inflammation. He then signed as a free agent with the Angels in January 2024, but he never threw a pitch before undergoing UCL reconstruction surgery.
Stephenson showed signs of putting it all together a year ago, especially in September. He got into seven games that month, where he struck out seven while picking up two wins in six relief innings.
Trying to get through his third Spring Training with Los Angeles, Stephenson has pitched only 10 regular-season innings total as an Angel.
“It’s heartbreaking,” he said with his eyes welling up and his voice cracking. “I’m hoping there’s a chance to rehab it and be on the field this year, but I don’t know. It doesn’t look great.”
The only other injury watch after Saturday’s win over Seattle is with leadoff man Zach Neto.
The shortstop drew a walk in the bottom of the sixth to load the bases with nobody out. Pinch-hitting for Mike Trout, Gustavo Campero lined a double to left to score Logan O’Hoppe and Oswald Peraza, and third-base coach Keith Johnson sent home a sprinting Neto.
The bang-bang play at the plate ended with Neto getting tagged out and, in the process, apparently injuring his left hand on the slide.
Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said after the game that Neto will be evaluated, but he didn’t mind the aggressive play, even in Spring Training.
“We’re playing baseball,” Suzuki said. “We’ve been preaching, ‘Take the extra base.’ Obviously we don’t want to get anyone hurt.”
2B competition tightens
The Angels’ Spring Training roster sat at 51, as second-base hopefuls Christian Moore and Kyren Paris were optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake on Saturday.
Moore is just 1-for-his-past-21 going back to March 6. Paris, meanwhile, has a .333 clip in 14 spring games.
With veterans like Adam Frazier, Chris Taylor and Nick Madrigal still in the mix 12 days before Opening Day in Houston, Suzuki is nowhere close to naming a second-base starter.
“We still have like 50 guys in camp,” he laughed. “A lot of guys still competing for that job.”
Lowe returns to the lineup
Acquired in January’s three-team deal with the Rays and Reds, outfielder Josh Lowe was back in the lineup Saturday for his first action since Feb. 25.
With left oblique discomfort having sidelined him, Lowe appeared at DH while batting seventh. He drew a walk and struck out three times.
The 28-year-old will get his defensive timing back through outfield reps over the next few days.
Suzuki said “100%” that Lowe will be ready by Opening Day.
Back from the Classic
Also back in the Angels’ lineup Saturday was third baseman Yoán Moncada, fresh off his run with Team Cuba in the World Baseball Classic.
In four games with Cuba, the switch-hitter collected two hits in 13 at-bats, including a decisive two-run home run against Panama on March 6. The island nation was eliminated in pool play, the first time in WBC history that Cuba did not advance out of the opening round.
Moncada had been hitless in his first 10 at-bats with seven strikeouts in the Cactus League before heading to the tournament.
“I still feel like I don’t have the timing exactly down, so I’m hoping in these last couple games that I can improve on that,” Moncada said Saturday through an interpreter.
Batting third behind Trout, Moncada went 1-for-3.
Having adjusted from practice mode with the Angels to the WBC’s full-throttle environment, he had to pivot back again for the last couple weeks of camp.
“Everything’s fast there, you don’t really have a lot of time to prepare,” Moncada said of the WBC. “You just gotta be ready to go. Here you have more time to get into your routine.”