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Change is good for Angels setup man Joe Smith

Angels reliever Joe Smith has added a changeup to his fastball-slider mix.

Angels reliever Joe Smith has added a changeup to his fastball-slider mix.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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Joe Smith was generally pleased with his spring when the Angels arrived in Dodger Stadium for the preseason Freeway Series.

The veteran setup man felt good physically, a stark contrast to last spring, when he was slowed by hip and shoulder injuries. He got his pitch count up to 25-30 in some outings, building stamina and challenging himself to make quality pitches under duress. He added a new pitch, a changeup.

“I thought I was having a great spring,” the sidearm-throwing Smith said with a chuckle, “and then I looked at my numbers.”

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They’re not that bad, at least compared to his 8.58 earned-run average last spring. But they’re not all that great, either, a 5.14 ERA in seven innings over seven games entering Friday night. A cause for concern? Not when you’re a sinkerball specialist toiling in the dry air of the Cactus League. At Dodger Stadium on Friday night, Smith struck out one and walked one in a scoreless seventh inning, dropping his ERA to 4.50.

“It’s a little bit tougher to get the ball to do what you want it to do in Arizona,” Smith, 32, said. “But I feel good healthwise. Last year was a battle from day one.”

Smith was his usual reliable self for most of 2015, but four outings in which he was tagged for three earned runs or more caused his ERA over 70 games to jump to 3.58 ERA. He had a 2.78 career ERA entering the season.

A left ankle sprain, suffered when he tripped on a flight of stairs at the team hotel in Minnesota, sidelined him for two weeks in September, a critical blow to the bullpen as the Angels battled to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Smith, entering the final year of a three-year, $15.75-million contract, believes he is better equipped for 2016, now that he is healthy and has added a changeup to his fastball-slider mix.

When Smith started throwing the pitch in games in early March, it came in at 82-83 mph, which isn’t enough of a variance from his fastball, which averaged 88.3 mph last season, according to Fangraphs. But with repetition, he is now throwing the pitch at about 79 mph.

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“I’m looking forward to seeing how it is,” Smith said. “It was good my last couple of outings in Arizona. I got a few swings and misses and a couple of takes. I like that.

“Everyone knows our division is tough, that there are a lot of tough left-handed hitters. This is another weapon. I can sneak it in on them, get them off of what they’ve seen from me for the last few years I’ve faced them.”

Follow Mike DiGiovanna on Twitter: @MikeDiGiovanna

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