How good can Casey Kotchman be this year after missing most of last season with the effects of mono?
A three-time Angels minor league Player of the Year, Kotchman was finally given his chance at the starting first base job last year and lasted 29 games because he had contracted mono the previous winter. While he hit over .400 in spring last year Kotchman had been taking intravenous fluids several times a week and spending time in hyperbaric chambers. He was just flat worn out by May and never got better. But after recovering and spending two months in Puerto Rico playing winter ball, Kotchman looks again like the hitter who hit six homers in 60 August 2005 at-bats. Without giving numerical predictions, the Angels are expecting a solid contribution from Kotchman both offensively and defensively.
