ANAHEIM -- As Alex Meyer's first extended stay in the Majors ended during the Angels' 8-6 win over the A's on Wednesday, the right-hander has two priorities entering the offseason: get healthy and clean up his mechanics.
Meyer lasted four innings and struck out five while allowing two earned runs Wednesday. While he has yet to last six innings in the Majors, the Angels have still been encouraged by the stuff of one of their Trade Deadline acquisitions for the future.
Now, Meyer will head into an offseason where he will stay away from throwing for a few months to let his shoulder heal.
"Getting my shoulder healthy, making sure it's ready for a full season workload. If I can do that, I'm confident in myself that I can compete," Meyer said. "This was huge for me, being up here and able to get this repetition and compete at a Major League level. The mental factor has always been a huge thing."
Meyer's recent goal has revolved around trying to raise his release point to where it was in college and early in his professional career, before a biceps injury led to him lowering his arm slot. He actually said after a start on Sept. 17 that he consulted film of his college days at Kentucky on YouTube with his coaches.
"That's something that we're definitely going to pay attention to too," Meyer said. "I have those things I want to work on and be aware of. Get my arm slot back up a bit and clean up some mechanical things. Hope to get it back to where it was in 2012 with my arm slot before my first injury."
Beyond the release point, Meyer still needs to work on finding a way to repeat his mechanics, a tall proposition considering his 6-foot-9 frame. If he can do that and improve his consistency and command, his stuff could carry him all the way to being a high-upside MLB starter.
The Angels saw flashes of that potential during his month-long stay in the Majors. He had a 4.57 ERA, but also struck out 24 in 21 2/3 innings while allowing 17 hits. The confidence taken from a stay in the big leagues has also been a boost for Meyer.
"Definitely happy. I've got six starts in the big leagues, five of them here, and it's awesome I was given the opportunity," Meyer said. "They very easily could have told me 'Get your shoulder right, come back ready in the spring.' They wanted me to come out here and pitch. It's a huge thing for my confidence. Going into next year, I've had some success, learned a lot, took some bumps and bruises along the way, but I'm just fortunate to be able to come out here."