1996 California Angels season

The 1996 California Angels season was the 36th season of the California Angels franchise in the American League, the 31st in Anaheim, and their 31st season playing their home games at Anaheim Stadium. The Angels finished fourth in the American League West with a record of 70 wins and 91 losses.
The season was notable for being the final season the franchise bore the "California Angels" moniker, as the team name was changed to "Anaheim Angels" the following season.
The Angels used 29 different pitchers during the season, the most of any MLB team in 1996.

Offseason

November 21, 1995: Randy Velarde was signed as a free agent with the California Angels.
December 6, 1995: Mike Aldrete signed as a free agent with the California Angels.
December 7, 1995: Scott Sanderson was signed as a free agent with the California Angels.
December 18, 1995: Todd Frohwirth was signed as a free agent with the California Angels.
January 9, 1996: Jim Abbott signed as a free agent with the California Angels.
February 6, 1996: Mark Eichhorn was signed as a free agent with the California Angels.
March 25, 1996: Ricky Jordan was purchased by the Seattle Mariners from the California Angels.

Regular season

Detailed records

Month	Games	Won	Lost	Win %
April	25	13	12		115	132
May	27	13	14		128	146
June	29	15	14		153	181
July	26	10	16		131	171
August	29	11	18		141	182
September	25	8	17		94	131
Total	161	70	91		762	943

Notable transactions

May 16, 1996: Scott Sanderson was released by the California Angels.
May 27, 1996: Lee Smith was traded by the California Angels to the Cincinnati Reds for Chuck McElroy.
June 30, 1996: Vince Coleman signed as a free agent with the California Angels.
September 6, 1996: Robert Eenhoorn was selected off waivers by the California Angels from the New York Yankees.

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Jorge Fábregas	90	254	73	.287	2	26
1B	J.T. Snow	155	575	148	.257	17	67
2B	Randy Velarde	136	530	151	.285	14	54
SS	Gary Disarcina	150	536	137	.256	5	48
3B	George Arias	84	252	60	.238	6	28
LF	Garret Anderson	150	607	173	.285	12	72
CF	Jim Edmonds	114	431	131	.304	27	66
RF	Tim Salmon	156	581	166	.286	30	98
DH	Chili Davis	145	530	155	.292	28	95

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Rex Hudler	92	302	94	.311	16	40
Darin Erstad	57	208	59	.284	4	20
Don Slaught	62	207	67	.324	6	32
Tim Wallach	57	190	45	.237	8	20
Jack Howell	66	126	34	.270	8	21
Orlando Palmeiro	50	87	25	.287	0	6
Todd Greene	29	79	15	.190	2	9
Pat Borders	19	57	13	.228	2	8
Damion Easley	28	45	7	.156	2	7
Mike Aldrete	31	40	6	.150	3	8
Dick Schofield	13	16	4	.250	0	0
Robert Eenhoorn	6	15	4	.267	0	0
Chris Pritchett	5	13	2	.154	0	1
Chris Turner	4	3	1	.333	0	1

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Chuck Finley	35	238.0	15	16	4.16	215
Shawn Boskie	37	189.1	12	11	5.32	133
Jim Abbott	27	142.0	2	18	7.48	58
Mark Langston	18	123.1	6	5	4.82	83
Dennis Springer	20	94.2	5	6	5.51	64
Jason Dickson	7	43.1	1	4	4.57	20
Scott Sanderson	5	18.0	0	2	7.50	7
Phil Leftwich	2	7.1	0	1	7.36	4

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Jason Grimsley	35	130.1	5	7	6.84	82
Pep Harris	11	32.1	2	0	3.90	20
Shad Williams	13	28.1	0	2	8.89	26
Ryan Hancock	11	27.2	4	1	7.48	19

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Troy Percival	62	0	2	36	2.31	100
Mike James	69	5	5	1	2.67	65
Chuck McElroy	40	5	1	0	2.95	32
Mike Holtz	30	3	3	0	2.45	31
Mark Holzemer	25	1	0	0	8.76	20
Mark Eichhorn	24	1	2	0	5.04	24
Greg Gohr	15	1	1	1	7.50	15
Rich Monteleone	12	0	3	0	5.87	5
Lee Smith	11	0	0	0	2.45	6
Jeff Schmidt	9	2	0	0	7.88	2
Brad Pennington	8	0	0	0	12.27	7
Darrell May	5	0	0	0	10.13	1
Todd Frohwirth	4	0	0	0	11.12	1
Robert Ellis	3	0	0	0	0.00	5
Kyle Abbott	3	0	1	0	20.25	3
Ken Edenfield	2	0	0	0	10.38	4
Ben Van Ryn	1	0	0	0	0.00	0

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Lake Elsinore