ANAHEIM -- The early returns on Ben Joyce’s comeback from shoulder surgery have been positive, including Joyce picking up his first save in nearly two years in Wednesday’s 5-2 win over the Rangers at Angel Stadium.
Joyce, who underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder in May 2025, returned to the big league mound on Aug. 5 and has turned in four straight scoreless outings. He’s allowed just one hit and walked one with four strikeouts in four innings, including a perfect ninth on Wednesday to pick up his fifth career save and first since Sept. 1, 2024.
“It felt great,” Joyce said before Thursday’s series finale. “It was exciting. I've been working toward that for a while. I was probably not as nervous as my first one, but I definitely had some extra adrenaline getting out there in that situation again, for sure.”
Joyce, 25, has elite stuff -- including reaching as high as 105.5 mph with his fastball in 2024 -- and he’s maintained his exceptional velocity despite undergoing shoulder surgery. His four-seamer has reached as high as 103.4 mph and has averaged 101.3 mph since his return, which is only a tick down from his four-seam average of 102.1 mph when he was healthy in ’24.
“It's been good,” Joyce said. “I feel like I've been in a good groove throwing-wise, and even in between games. Like, kind of figuring out my rhythm in between everything. So, I feel like I'm in a good spot and the stuff is feeling good.”
Mike Trout has had a premium view of Joyce’s stuff from center field, and has been impressed with his ability to bounce back after the surgery. Trout faced him in Spring Training, when Joyce was working his way back as part of his rehab process, and came away wowed by his arsenal.
“That's electric stuff,” Trout said. “That sinker and the four-seam at 101 to 103 [mph]. I know it's a tough at-bat. I faced him in live BP in spring. I know what it looks like up there. It’s electric.”
Angels manager Kurt Suzuki has also been pleased to have Joyce back in the bullpen, especially after the club traded away relievers Ryan Zeferjahn, Chase Silseth, Kirby Yates and Brent Suter ahead of the Trade Deadline. Joyce will continue to pitch in high-leverage roles and get chances to close based on matchups, along with rookie lefty Samy Natera Jr.
“Just impressive,” Suzuki said. “And just very happy that he's back. He was like, ‘Man, it's been a while since I got [a save]’ last night. A lot of hard work and time spent rehabbing, and for him to come out and have that outing, and have the last few outings here, it’s been pretty impressive.”
Suzuki said the next step is determining whether Joyce will be able to pitch on back-to-back days. There’s a chance the Angels will be cautious with him and avoid having him pitch on consecutive days, but Joyce seemed open to trying it out before the end of the season.
“I guess we'll find out when it happens,” Joyce said. “Like, obviously I feel good. I feel like I could -- it's just, like, I don't really know until it happens, I guess. We'll see, but I’m happy with where it's at. Like, it feels good right now.”
Joyce said for now the process is continuing to get a feel for all of his pitches, as he's also mixed in his 95.8 mph sinker roughly 38 percent of the time and his 87.3 mph slider roughly 10 percent of the time. His slider was particularly impressive against the right-handed-hitting Wyatt Langford on Wednesday, inducing a swing and miss and a foul ball before striking him out looking with a 100.9 mph fastball.
Joyce, the club's third-round pick out of the University of Tennessee in 2022, remains under team control through 2029, so keeping him healthy and effective going forward is a major organizational goal.
“The sinker was the last one to come back, feel-wise, throughout the whole rehab process,” Joyce said. “It’s just getting more reps with it, throwing it more. Same with the slider. I just didn't throw it as much because I was really trying to get the fastball command back throughout the whole process. But once I did that, I feel like I opened up everything with my stuff, so I feel like I'm in a good spot with the sinker and slider right now.”