Crescenta Valley High graduate Trevor Bell released by Angels

After eight years with the organization, which began when he was selected with a first-round pick, Trevor Bell was released by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Thursday.

Bell, a 2005 Crescenta Valley High graduate, cleared waivers and was given his outright release.
“I would like to express my gratitude to the Angels organization for taking a young boy and turning him into a man,” Bell, 25, stated on his personal Twitter account. “I’m gonna miss all the friendships I have made and the struggles the guys have helped me through. I respect everyone in that organization and always will.”

Bell, a four-year phenom for the Falcons who was equally noted for his power hitting and his power pitching in high school, was taken with a compensatory pick at the end of the first round in the 2005 Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft as the 37th overall pick.
He made his Major League Baseball debut in August of 2009, but would find himself going back and forth between the Angels and their triple-A affiliate Salt Lake Bees for seasons to come thereafter.

He was with Salt Lake for all of the 2012 season, in which he was also on the disabled list with a right elbow strain. Upon his release he had struggled to a 1-6 record with a 8.27 earned-run average.

For his career with the Angels, he owns a 5.21 ERA. From 2009-2011 he played in parts of all three seasons with Los Angeles, tallying a 4-8 record with 11 starts and 115 2/3 innings pitched. Throughout much of his tenure he went back and forth between being a starting pitcher and a relief pitcher, much as he went back and forth between Los Angeles and Salt Lake.

In 2009, Bell sky rocketed up the franchise, beginning his year in double-A before his impressive numbers saw him promoted to triple-A where he didn’t last long until his promotion to the big club. He made his professional debut on Aug. 12, 2009 at Angels Stadium against the Tampa Bay Rays. He would earn his first major league win against the Cleveland Indians six days later on Aug. 18.

In 2011, Bell finished out the season with the Angels and put up solid numbers to the tune of a 3.41 ERA over 34 1/3 innings. But he was given just more than five innings of work in spring training ahead of the 2012 season, which he began with Salt Lake and encountered struggles on the mound before and after going on the DL with an elbow strain.

Bell was drafted straight out of Crescenta Valley, where he was a four-year standout for the Falcons who began his high school career with plenty of expectations as he was a Little League phenom. As a Falcon, Bell was a three-time Pacific League Player of the Year, a three-time All-CIF first-team pick, a two-time All-Area Baseball Player of the Year and, in 2005, was the News-Press’ Male Athlete of the Year following his senior season. As a senior, Bell hit .367 with eight home runs, 20 runs batted in and 20 scored. On the mound, his ERA was 0.97 and he tallied 113 strikeouts to 11 walks in 80 innings.