MADISON, Ala. — Another one of the Los Angeles Angels’ top prospects has been Launched to the League. Following a solid start to the 2023 season, right-handed pitcher Sam Bachman, the Angels’ No. 5 prospect according to MLB.com, has been promoted to the Angels from the Rocket City Trash Pandas and is expected to make his MLB debut in the coming days.
Bachman will become the 18th former Trash Pandas player to make his MLB debut and the second to do so during the 2023 season after Zach Neto debuted at Fenway Park on April 15. Bachman will be the 11th former Trash Pandas pitcher to make his debut for the Angels and the first since Chase Silseth on May 9, 2022.
Drafted by the Angels in the first round with the ninth overall pick in the 2021 draft, Bachman spent all of 2022 and 2023 with the Trash Pandas. In 18 starts at the Double-A level, he compiled a 4-3 record with a 5.40 ERA and 59 strikeouts. This season, Bachman went 3-2 with a 5.81 ERA in six starts, striking out 29 in 26.1 innings pitched.
Bachman earned his first professional victory in his final start of the 2022 season for the Trash Pandas, tossing a season-high six innings while allowing four runs, three earned, on nine hits with no walks and five strikeouts in a 12-6 win over Birmingham on September 14.
In 2023, Bachman was the only Rocket City starter to win both of his first two starts. First, in the second game of a doubleheader on April 8, he threw five scoreless innings against Chattanooga, recording a career-high nine strikeouts in a one-hitter. A week later at Birmingham, he allowed one run in 5.2 innings, striking out seven to pick up the victory. He ended April by pitching a career-high 6.1 innings to defeat Chattanooga on April 28, allowing three runs while striking out six.
Bachman, 23, is originally from Fishers, Indiana where he starred at Hamilton Southeastern High School. He then played three college seasons at Miami of Ohio and became the first RedHawk to be selected in the first round of the MLB draft with the Angels’ selection in 2021.
