Jamie Barria Making Case For First All-Star Bid

Since the beginning of May, there are very few starters in the MLB that have been better than Jaime Barria.

Barria's performance has shocked many as he wasn't even a starter to begin the season. 

Now that he has a couple of starts under his belt, Barria has had an ERA of 1.69 and is one of the most underrated players on the Angels roster. 

Manager Phil Kevin believes that Barria deserves to be an All-Star just as much as anyone else on the Halos, according to The Athletic. 

“Just to throw a little wild card at you — since the middle of April, nobody’s got better numbers than Jaime Barria,” Nevin said. “It would be a pretty awesome clubhouse if that happened.” (via The Athletic)

Although he is making a case to make the trip to Seattle for the Midsummer Classic, Barria did not start the season well. 

As a long reliever in the Angels bullpen, Barria was rarely used to begin the season. There was a two week stretch in April where Barria did not appear in a game.

Now that he has made a couple of starts,  Barria has moved back into his role of a long reliever in the bullpen. Now that Barria is still pitching well, Nevin has started to move the right hander into more high-leverage situations. 

Barria is grateful to be able to pitch in any situation that Nevin is giving him. 

“I’m very happy they gave me the opportunity,” Barria said. “I did this in the past. … I think this is my time now to keep on demonstrating that I can help the team win. This is what I was waiting for.” (via The Athletic)

Whether its starting or out of the bullpen, Barria is putting up All-Star numbers whenever he pitches. In the 14 games he's appeared in so far he has a 1.85 ERA and a 0.97 WHIP.