TEMPE, Ariz. — With Japan’s early exit in the World Baseball Classic, the Angels at least have all their starting pitchers back in camp.

Now, they just need to figure out how to use them.

Left-hander Yusei Kikuchi returned to the Angels from pitching for Japan on Monday, with a new motivation.

“I had so much fun, to be able to perform under that type of pressure,” Kikuchi said through an interpreter. “Now I know what it feels like to play under pressure, so it really made me want to go play in the postseason.”

Kikuchi averaged 96 mph on his fastball in his only start in the WBC, which was slightly up from his average of 95 mph during the regular season last year. He said he was up to 98 mph in workouts.

Kikuchi will make one more start in Arizona, and he said he’s good to go for 80 pitches.

When he starts in the regular season is to be determined. Manager Kurt Suzuki that he’d “have something for you guys” on the Opening Day starter on Tuesday. José Soriano is also a candidate.

The real question remains the back end of the rotation.

Right-handers Alek Manoah, Ryan Johnson, Jack Kochanowicz, George Klassen and Walbert Ureña and left-hander Mitch Farris are all still in camp. All have pitched at least three innings in Cactus League games. Johnson and Kochanowicz were the only ones who have pitched four innings.

“We’re still up in the air on that,” Suzuki said. “We got a few guys in the mix there. Kind of seeing what plays out and all that stuff. You’d like to name it sooner than later obviously, not for just our sake, but for their sake too.”

NETO UPDATE

Zach Neto did some defensive drills, hit off a tee and then took batting practice on the field, with no apparent issues.

Suzuki said he was impressed with how well Neto hit during BP.

”I said ‘you need to hurt your wrist more often,’” Suzuki quipped.

Neto was planning to play in a minor league game on Tuesday, but the Angels decided to have him wait a day since the minor league game in Tempe on Tuesday was an A-ball game. Suzuki said he didn’t want to take a chance of Neto getting hit by a pitch from a young pitcher without command.

Instead, Neto is expected to play in the big league game on Wednesday.

The quick return is something of a surprise after Neto looked like he may have suffered a serious left hand injury on his head-first slide into home plate on Saturday.

“I was shocked too,” Suzuki said. “He walked in was like, ‘Hey, I’m good.’ That was scary, but good news for sure.”

STRICKLAND’S STATUS

Right-handed reliever Hunter Strickland, who is in camp on a minor-league deal, is one of the players who has an out in his contract. If the Angels don’t want to keep Strickland in the majors, he can leave to pursue another major league opportunity instead of going to Triple-A.

“I love this organization,” Strickland said. “But ultimately, I gotta take care of my family. So if there’s a big league opportunity somewhere, I think that would definitely be the priority. But if a big league opportunity’s here, this is definitely where I’d want to be.”

Strickland has not allowed a run in four innings in big league exhibitions so far this spring. He has also pitched in a minor league game.

Strickland, 37, thought he was out of baseball when he was released in 2023. He came back on a minor league deal with the Angels and spent most of the season in the majors. The next year, he started in the minors with the Texas Rangers, got released, and then returned to the Angels again. He signed another minor league deal with the Angels just days before camp opened.

“I love it here,” Strickland said. “I’m grateful, honored to be here. I think everybody knows how I feel about this organization and guys. It’s been fun.”

NOTES

Outfielder Josh Lowe participated in all of the outfield workouts on Sunday. Since injuring his oblique a few weeks ago, he’s still only been the DH in games. Suzuki said he’s expecting Lowe to be ready for Opening Day. …

Infielder Vaughn Grissom is still out of the lineup after hurting his left hand on a check swing on Wednesday. Grissom has said he’s feeling better, though. …

Suzuki said they still don’t know who the closer is going to be. “We still haven’t decided if we’re going to name one or are we just going to use the three high-leverage guys and mix and match,” Suzuki said, presumably referring to Kirby Yates, Jordan Romano and Drew Pomeranz. “We’re not really sure how it’s going to work out yet. We’ve got to kind of see how the rest of our bullpen shakes out before we kind of make that decision.” Those three relievers were all set to pitch in a minor league game on Monday, after pitching in the major league exhibition on Sunday.