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Angels hope to revive career of their new wild thing

Los Angeles Times staff writer Ben Bolch
By Ben Bolch
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Daniel Cabrera started his bid to return to the major leagues by pitching a scoreless inning Saturday for the Angels’ double-A Arkansas affiliate, with his fastball touching the mid-90s, according to Angels Manager Mike Scioscia.

Command is the biggest obstacle facing the right-hander who has led the major leagues in walks, wild pitches and hit batsmen at various points during an erratic six-year career in which he has gone 48-65 with a 5.10 earned-run average.

If Cabrera can consistently locate his pitches, the Angels may give the onetime phenom another chance on baseball’s biggest stage.

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‘This guy has a power arm,’ Scioscia said of the 29-year-old, ‘and if he can clean some stuff up and repeat his delivery, this guy is a major league pitcher.’

-- Ben Bolch

Sports Now
Ben Bolch

Ben Bolch has been a Los Angeles Times staff writer since 1999. He is serving his second stint as the UCLA beat writer, which seems fitting since he has covered almost every sports beat except hockey and horse racing. Bolch is also the author of the recently released book “100 Things UCLA Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die.” He previously covered UCLA basketball from 2010-11 before going on to cover the NBA and the Clippers for five years. He happily traded in gobs of hotel points and airline miles to return to cover UCLA basketball and football in the summer of 2016. Bolch was once selected by NBA TV’s “The Starters” as the “Worst of the Week” after questioning their celebrity journalism-style questions at an NBA All-Star game and considers it one of his finer moments.

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