After 'fantastic' offseason, Silseth aims for Opening Day roster spot

Chase Silseth file

Hometown/high school: Farmington/Piedra Vista

Current team: Los Angeles Angels

Position: right-handed pitcher

Draft: He was taken in the 10 th round by the Angels in 2021 out of the University of Arizona.

Did you know? Silseth made his Major League debut in 2022 with the Angels … He appeared in 10 gams out of the bullpen in 2025 for the Angels, and also pitched for Triple-A Salt Lake and for the Angels’ rookie league level team in Arizona … The former University of Arizona standout lives in the Phoenix area with his fiancé and their daughter, who is 2. He is planning to get married Nov. 20 in Phoenix.

There were six natives of New Mexico who played Major League Baseball in 2025. One of them was Farmington native Chase Silseth — but the right-hander with the Angels has ties to The Show well before he was drafted.

"It all started with Farmington," Silseth, 25, said in a phone interview from the Angels spring training complex in Arizona. "I want to give back as much as I can to that town."

His family has been doing that for more than 20 years.

In 2004, his parents first hosted amateur baseball players who came to Farmington to take part in the Connie Mack World Series.

"A lot of big names came through the town. Eric Hosmer stayed at my house," Silseth said of the slugger who played in the majors from 2011-23, hit 198 homers and won a World Series ring with the Royals in 2016.

Other future big leaguers who stayed with the Silseth family were Cameron Maybin, Matt Harvey, and Dillon Peters. Maybin played in the majors from 2007-21, including with the Angels in 2017.

Silseth would love for his major league career to last as long as fellow right-hander Harvey, who was drafted out of high school by the Angels, signed with the Mets out of college and pitched in the majors from 2012-21, including a stint with the Angels in 2019.

A graduate of Piedra Vista High, Silseth feels he is on track after a freak injury in 2023 and elbow surgery the next year.

"The offseason was fantastic. It was the first offseason I went into healthy in a couple of years,” he said. “It was nice to go through that and chill out a month before I started ramping it up.”

Silseth has an offseason home in Arizona, just 20 minutes from the Angels' facility. He lives in the Phoenix area with his fiancé, Meghan — the wedding is set for Nov. 20 in Phoenix — and their daughter, who is 2 years old.

His parents still live in Farmington and Silseth was back there during the offseason for the wedding of a high school friend.

Silseth came up through the Angels’ system as a starting pitcher.

The right-hander pitched in seven games (all starts) as a rookie in 2022, appeared in 16 games with eight starts the next year and then made two starts with the Angels in 2024 before his surgery. But all 10 of his appearances last year in the majors came out of the bullpen, as were 15 of his 23 outings in the minors in 2025.

“I don’t know what the plan is moving forward right now. I heard reliever,” he said. “I go out there and pitch and wherever they put me, that is where I am.”

In December, the Orange County Register reported that Angels general manager Perry Minasian said Silseth would be used out of the bullpen this year.

“I was in the bullpen a few years ago. I was just using my starters’ routine and my body was not recovering (like it) should,” Silseth added. “I kind of learned from that.”

Those pro challenges — an injury in 2023 when he was hit by a ball while backing up third, surgery in 2024 — came after he played at three colleges: Tennessee, College of Southern Nevada and Arizona.

“Everyone asks me if I would do it different. Everywhere I have been, there was a learning experience,” he said. “I needed those.”

The other players born in New Mexico who appeared in the majors last year include Spencer Arrighetti (Houston Astros), who went to high school in Texas; Alex Bregman (Boston Red Sox, now with the Chicago Cubs), Mitch Garver (Seattle Mariners), Mitchell Parker (Washington Nationals) and Trevor Rogers (Baltimore Orioles), who was one of the top pitchers in the American League.

The other major leaguer born in Farmington is Mike Dunn, who pitched in the majors from 2009-19 with 555 outings out of the bullpen. Dunn also pitched at the College of Southern Nevada.

Silseth made his first spring training appearances of this year on Feb. 22 and was touched up for five hits and six runs while recording two outs. He bounced back with one clean inning four days later.

He still feels he has a shot to make an Opening Day roster for the second time in his career.

“I don’t try to look too much in the future,” he said. “I feel like I have a good chance to break camp.”