ST. LOUIS — The cell phones are back.
Eyebrows were raised in spring training with the news about manager Ron Washington’s ban of cell phones in the Angels clubhouse, which he said he planned to continue into the regular season.
During the second series of the season, players are back to using their phones in their clubhouse.
Washington said he doesn’t spend time in the clubhouse, so it’s up to the players to determine how strictly the rule should be enforced.
“I put it in; they police it,” Washington said on Wednesday. “If I walk through that clubhouse and I see it’s out of control, I’ll bring it up again.”
Catcher Logan O’Hoppe, who is one of the team leaders, said the players have relaxed enforcement, but they will still “chirp guys” when they feel their behavior with their phones warrants it.
“It makes things light,” O’Hoppe said. “It keeps guys accountable. So it’s good for us in a few ways.”
Washington instituted the rule, with the support of the players, during the first full-squad meeting at the start of spring training. Throughout camp, players largely abided by the rule. They had other areas in the spacious training facility where they could use their phones. A regular season clubhouse has fewer places for the players to go, so the phone use has crept back to their lockers.
O’Hoppe said they still feel they’re sufficiently bonding with each other, even without the strict cell phone restriction.
“I think it will continue to serve a purpose going forward too,” O’Hoppe said. “If we’re in June, July, August, we don’t want to walk in and everyone be on the phone. It’s just something that’s a little pillar that we can lean back on assess where we’re at.”
So far the atmosphere in the clubhouse seems to be positive. The Angels won four of their first five games, three of them by one run and two of them in extra innings.
After Tuesday night’s rollercoaster victory, first baseman Nolan Schanuel said there was a “totally different vibe in here from this year to last year,” which was reflected by the way the players responded to adversity during the game.
“It’s taken the whole team to get done what we’ve been getting done,” Washington said. “It’s only five games, but it’s taken every single person in there, including my coaching staff, to get these guys over the hump.”
A day after that victory, Washington was cautiously optimistic about the direction, saying they need to keep this up for longer before he can be sure it’s sustainable.
“I think after about 40 games, you’ll see what you are, what you can do, what you’re capable of doing,” Washington said.
WORKING OVERTIME
Right-hander Ryan Zeferjahn said he’d never pitched three days in a row, not even when he was a little kid.
But he had no hesitation to make himself available for a third straight day on Tuesday night. Zeferjahn picked up the final two outs of Tuesday’s 11-inning victory, for his first career save.
“I fought before the game to be available,” Zeferjahn said. “But they’re looking out for us. But it’s a crazy game. When the time came, I was like ‘I’m going in. I’m ready.’ And they trusted that.”
It helped that Zeferjahn had relatively quick outings on Sunday and Monday, throwing just 14 pitches in the two games. He threw only eight more to get the save on Tuesday.
NOTES
Right-hander Ian Anderson was beaming a day after returning to a big league mound for the first time since 2022. Anderson had Tommy John surgery before the 2023 season, and when he came back in 2024 he only pitched in the minors. “The whole process getting better, it’s tough,” Anderson said. “You don’t know if you’re gonna be the same guy. You trust the arm, but you don’t trust it fully until you do it enough. I get a little emotional thinking about it, but excited to be back with this group and this team, and looking forward to doing it again.” …
Nicky López became the final Angels position player to get a start on Wednesday, when he was in the lineup at shortstop. …
Kyren Paris was not in the lineup after having go-ahead or game-tying hits in three straight games. Paris became the fourth player in Angels history to have a tying or go-ahead RBI in the seventh inning or later in three straight games, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Paris has been learning to play center field, and the Angels don’t want to detract from that by putting him back in the infield for a start. Jo Adell, who also had an RBI single the night before, was in the lineup in center field.
UP NEXT
Angels (RHP José Soriano, 1-0, 0.00) vs. Guardians (RHP Gavin Williams, 0-0, 3.60), Friday, 6:38 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network West, 830 AM
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