Report: Baseball's 'Hottest Trade Candidate' Might Be Off The Market

He was a first-round pick in the 2020 MLB Draft. He pitched a no-hitter as a rookie in 2022. But Reid Detmers' career has been up-and-down since then (mostly down), and he hasn't settled into the ace's role that many foresaw for the left-hander. 

That could finally be changing in 2026. 

Detmers is on some kind of roll, with a 1.36 ERA in his last six starts, surrendering just 12 hits in 33 innings with a 39:5 strikeout to walk ratio. And it gets even better over his last three sizzling starts, with a 0.45 ERA, and only six hits allowed in 20 innings. In his last five starts, he's held batters to a ridiculously stingy .109 average, .148 on-base pct., and .357 OPS. 

Detmers is "now officially on baseball’s Most Wanted List," writes insider Bob Nightengale. "This is the pitcher that everyone badly covets at the Aug. 3 trade deadline."

The insider adds that this sizzling run "has elevated Detmers to being perhaps the finest starting pitcher on the trade market not named Tarik Skubal." And there is plenty of trade interest. 

Reid Detmers 'badly coveted' at trade deadline, but might not be going anywhere

But with two more seasons of team control, and finally fulfilling all that promise, it just might be, however, that the Angels will be pulling Detmers off the market. 

There are a number of reasons for that, in addition to being under club control through 2026. 

As Nightengale notes:

• "If the Angels aren’t going to trade a megastar like Shohei Ohtani in his walk year, rejecting several lucrative offers... and plan to keep Mike Trout through the rest of his playing days, why would they trade away a young star (like Detmers) under club control?"
• As a clubhouse presence and teammate, it doesn't get much better than Detmers, say his teammates. "It's fun to watch, it's fun to play behind him every single day," Angels shortstop Zach Neto said, "and even when he's not pitching, he's one of the greatest teammates that we have in this locker room, just pushing every single one of us every single day to be better."
• "If the Angels are ever going to win again, Detmers would be an integral part of their future, so why trade him?" asks the insider.

They didn't blink on Ohtani, and won't on Trout. It certainly doesn't sound like the Angels are going to give up Reid Detmers either.