Jered Weaver doesn’t see himself as Angels’ ace
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Jered Weaver declined to classify himself as the Angels’ ace even though he has been tabbed the opening-day starter against Minnesota on Monday at Angel Stadium, saying ‘any one of the guys in the rotation could have done the same thing.’
‘I guess it’s nice for you guys to be able to classify somebody as a [No. 1],’ Weaver said of the media, ‘but I don’t really look at it like that because you’re going to match up with multiple people throughout the season.’
It will be the second opening-day start for Weaver, who started the Angels’ first game in 2008 in Minnesota following a rash of injuries to other pitchers. Weaver said he ‘kind of earned it a little more this time’ and acknowledged that it was more special to pitch at home, where he expects about 15-20 family and friends in attendance.
He also said he didn’t think any of the starters needed to fill the leadership void created by the departure of veteran John Lackey.
‘We have five guys that are veterans and have been around,’ he said, ‘so you don’t need to hold somebody’s hand to get them to go where you want to go.’
-- Ben Bolch