{"id":510405,"date":"2026-02-28T20:42:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T20:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/510405\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T20:42:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T20:42:12","slug":"angels-josh-lowe-slowed-by-oblique-issue-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/510405\/","title":{"rendered":"Angels\u2019 Josh Lowe slowed by oblique issue \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

TEMPE, Ariz. \u2014 The Angels have a camp full of players trying to revive their injury-stalled careers<\/a>, and they are finally dealing with their first setback from one of them.<\/p>\n

Outfielder Josh Lowe is out with tightness in his left oblique. Since Lowe\u2019s breakout season with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2023, he has had right oblique problems each of the past two years.<\/p>\n

This one, though, doesn\u2019t have Lowe too concerned.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other time I got hurt, I couldn\u2019t run to first,\u201d Lowe said Saturday morning. \u201c(This time) I was doing stuff. I was running straightforward, just not doing stuff with the team. Just being precautionary. Obviously, I\u2019ve done my oblique in the past. It\u2019s the other one. If we have to take a couple extra days or however long to make sure it\u2019s OK, that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lowe said he felt something when making a throw from the gap during Wednesday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing February 28, there\u2019s not reason to play superhero right now,\u201d he said. \u201cEverything that\u2019s been portrayed to me is \u2018Be ready for the beginning of the season,\u2019 and that\u2019s what I want to do. So if it means taking a couple extra days now, however much time it is, to be ready for the beginning of the year, that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lowe, 28, is penciled in to be one of the Angels\u2019 everyday outfielders. He still might wind up in any of the three positions, depending what they do with Mike Trout.<\/p>\n

At his best<\/a>, Lowe hit .292 with an .835 OPS to go with 20 homers and 32 stolen bases in 2023. Over the past two seasons, he\u2019s had three separate injured list stints because of right oblique problems. Playing around those, he hit .230 with a .670 OPS.<\/p>\n

Manager Kurt Suzuki said Lowe\u2019s history is why they are taking no chances now.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to try to get ahead of it and make sure we take care of this early in spring training,\u201d Suzuki said.<\/p>\n

WBC BOUND<\/p>\n

Third baseman Yo\u00e1n Moncada will be playing for Cuba in the World Baseball Classic for the second time. Many Cuban players \u2013 like Seattle outfielder Randy Arozarena and Boston closer Aroldis Chapman \u2013 chose not to represent their country as a political statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate,\u201d Moncada said through an interpreter. \u201cEvery player has their own situation of why they can\u2019t play, but I respect everybody\u2019s decision. That\u2019s the way it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moncada added that it\u2019s \u201calways been a dream of mine and my father to represent my country.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2023, Moncada hit .435 with a 1.258 OPS in six games for Cuba, which lost to Team USA in the semifinals. He was named to the All-Tournament team.<\/p>\n

He then began the season with the Chicago White Sox hitting .308 with an .889 OPS in his first nine games, before going down with back problems.<\/p>\n

Moncada said the higher intensity of the WBC helped get him in a good spot for the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see a lot of pitches and a lot of good pitchers,\u201d Moncada said. \u201cThe competition is really good. But then you get into the regular season and you just don\u2019t know how it\u2019s going to turn out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heading into Saturday\u2019s game, Moncada was hitless in eight at-bats, with six strikeouts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s early in spring training,\u201d Moncada said. \u201cIt does get a little bit frustrating, but I keep telling myself it\u2019s early and eventually things will click.\u201d<\/p>\n

NEW SCOREBOARD COMING?<\/p>\n

The Tempe City Council is expected to vote next week to approve the construction of a new scoreboard at Tempe Diablo Stadium, according to stadium manager Jerry Hall. The new board would be in use next spring.<\/p>\n

The Angels\u2019 spring home is the only one in Arizona that does not have a video board, which means that ABS challenges are relayed directly to the umpire instead of shown on the board.<\/p>\n

A larger renovation<\/a> of the entire ballpark is expected to begin after spring training in 2027.<\/p>\n

NOTES<\/p>\n

Right-hander Robert Stephenson said he threw all of his pitches in his last bullpen session. Although he\u2019s not sure when he will be able to face hitters, which would be the next step, he remains confident that he\u2019ll be ready by Opening Day. \u201cAbsolutely,\u201d he said. \u2026<\/p>\n

Right-hander Nick Sandlin has one more bullpen session scheduled before he faces hitters, Suzuki said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TEMPE, Ariz. \u2014 The Angels have a camp full of players trying to revive their injury-stalled careers, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":510406,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,5262,591,85],"class_list":["post-510405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-los-angeles-angels","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=510405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/510406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=510405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=510405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=510405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}