The Los Angeles Angels are going into the 2024 seaosn with a sense of fresh air. For one, the Halos will be led by long-time coach and former player, manager Ron Washington. Washington is coming into the job focused and ready to change the culture of this struggling team.
And he’s bringing along some reinforcements with him as well that superstar Mike Trout seems to approve of.
The Halos recently added a pitching coach and former pitcher for the Angels, Barry Enright, and the three-time AL MVP seems happy with the decision. Enright revealed the conversation with Trout after getting the job in a conversation with Sam Blum of The Athletic.
“We golf all the time. He texted me immediately when the news came out with an open eyeballs emoji. I texted him back with another emoji and said, “Yep, it’s true.” And he said, “I’m going to start needing 20 strokes on the golf course again.” And I told him, “You’re not sandbagging my ass again, I know how good a golfer you are as well.” We’ve been friends for a long time.”
Via The Athletic
Enright and Trout were teammates from 2011-2013, the first few seasons of Trout’s career.
It’s clear they are good buddies off the field, and this seems like a good hire for the Halos. Outside of being an excellent friend to Trout, Enright is relatively new to coaching.
His coaching career started in 2021 when the Arizona Diamondbacks major league staff hired him to serve as the assistant major league pitching coach and minor league pitching coordinator.
It’s a breath of fresh air for the team, and hopefully, that type of energy Mike and Barry seem to have translates to the field.