KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Johnny Cueto will be back on a big league mound on Wednesday night when the Los Angeles Angels conclude their three-game series with the Kansas City Royals, whom the 38-year-old pitcher helped to carry to a World Series title nearly a decade ago.
Angels manager Ron Washington said before Tuesday night’s game that Cueto was being called up from Triple-A Salt Lake to make the start. He has not pitched in the majors since last September, when he finished a disappointing season for Miami.
“I don’t know if he can come up here right now and start being a leader. He’s worried about being Cueto,” Washington said, “but if he happens to stay around, I think he definitely can influence our young kids.”
The Angels needed some help in the rotation after placing Jose Soriano on the injured list with arm fatigue and losing Patrick Sandoval to surgery on his elbow earlier in the year. Carson Fulmer, rookie Jack Kochanowicz and Griffin Canning have filled out the rotation along with Tyler Anderson, who got the start in Kansas City on Tuesday night.
“I just want him to come in here and fit in,” Washington said. “I’m quite certain some of those young kids will flock to him, and he’ll give them the information that they ask for. But as far as him coming up here today and influencing these kids, I don’t think you can do that right now. Because I can tell you, they don’t know who Johnny Cueto is. We know, but I don’t think they do.”
Cueto struggled earlier this season at Triple-A Round Rock as part of the Rangers organization, but he was fairly effective once the Angels sent him to Salt Lake. He allowed eight runs on 27 hits and five walks in 23⅓ innings there.
The Angels will be the sixth team for Cueto, who is 144-111 with a 3.50 ERA in 368 big league games. The journey began with the Cincinnati Reds on April 3, 2008, when he made his major league debut and allowed one hit while striking out 10 against Arizona.
Cueto went on to make two All-Star teams — with the Reds in 2014 and San Francisco Giants in 2016 — and in between spent time with Kansas City, where he solidified the starting rotation for a playoff push that ultimately earned him a championship ring.
Cueto threw a complete game for the Royals against the New York Mets in Game 2 of the 2015 World Series.
“He can pitch,” Washington said. “He may not be the Johnny Cueto of five, six, seven, eight years ago, but he has knowledge and wisdom, and when he’s on that mound, that’s what I think he’ll use.”