Top 30 MLB breakout stars in 2017

Los Angeles Angels

2017 MLB Breakout Pick: RP Cam Bedrosian

Over the last five years, the Los Angeles Angels have struggled to build a consistent winning team around all-world standout Mike Trout. The Angels have won only one AL West title and have been to just one postseason with the best baseball player on the planet on their roster. Last season, the Angels allowed 727 runs – the fourth most in the league, and second most of any Trout era Angels team.

But Cam Bedrosian did his part. In 45 games, Bedrosian posted a 1.12 ERA with 51 strikeouts in 40.1 innings. The son of 1987 Cy Young Award winner Steve Bedrosian, Cam held opposing hitters to a .207/.284/.248 slash, and allowed just 6.69 hits per nine innings. He posted a career high 31.5 percent strikeout rate and a career low 8.6 percent walk rate while establishing himself as a solid setup man.

Some might say Bedrosian had a breakout performance in 2016, but there’s a far higher ceiling for the right-hander in 2017 and beyond. On August 2, Bedrosian recorded his first, and to date, his only, big league save. He blew an opportunity for No. 2 and didn’t pitch again after going on the DL with what was later diagnosed as a blood clot in his pitching arm. But, Bedrosian is healthy again and poised to begin 2017 as closer with veteran Huston Street expected to start the season on the shelf.

With a fastball that averaged 95.2 miles per hour and touched 97.8 last season, plus a swing-and-miss-slider, Bedrosian has closer stuff and could take the job permanently from the 33-year old Street. He’s also off to an unhittable start to the spring (zero runs allowed and six strikeouts in five innings), and is capable of carrying that momentum into the season.

Another Name to Know: C Martin Maldanado

One More for the Future: C Carlos Perez