TEMPE, Ariz. — In the end, the Angels came to a decision that seemed obvious a month ago.

Patrick Sandoval will be their Opening Day starter.

Sandoval, a 27-year-old left-hander who has started 84 games for the Angels over parts of the past five seasons, officially got the nod to start the March 28 opener at Baltimore on Tuesday.

“Really cool,” Sandoval said. “It’s a huge honor, obviously. Something you dream of as a kid growing up, being an Opening Day starter. I get to do it for my hometown team. It’s pretty cool.”

A product of Mission Viejo High, Sandoval was acquired by the Angels in a July 2018 trade with the Houston Astros. He reached the big leagues in 2019.

Sandoval has had control issues at times, and seen his pitch-count prevent him from getting deep in games. Both were evident during his disappointing 2023, when he had a 4.11 ERA. Over his career, though, he has a 3.83 ERA, including a 3.47 ERA since becoming a full-time starter in May 2021.

“I think when we came into camp, we wanted this to happen this way,” manager Ron Washington said. “And he took it and made it happen. And he’s supposed to take it and make it happen. Because his peers, the other pitchers that are on the staff with him, thought that he should have been the guy. He stepped up and became the guy.”

Despite Sandoval’s track record coming into the season, there were indications that the Angels might have been leaning toward right-hander Griffin Canning. Canning is scheduled to pitch Saturday, which is exactly five days before the opener. He’s also pitched consistently well throughout the spring. Washington has spoken in glowing terms about Canning being a leader on the staff.

Sandoval, meanwhile, gave up 11 runs in his second and third starts of the spring.

“My second and third starts didn’t really go as planned, but I made some adjustments and I hope showed them enough to have the faith in me to be the Opening Day starter,” Sandoval said.

In his fourth start, on Sunday against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Sandoval gave up one run in 4 1/3 innings, throwing 77 pitches.

“He made it happen,” Washington said. “We didn’t give him anything. He made it happen.”

Washington told Sandoval on Monday morning that he had been picked for the start. Sandoval will pitch once more in Arizona, on Friday, and then he’ll have five days’ rest before the opener.

Although he’s never started on Opening Day, he has some experience in that type of environment. He started the two biggest games for Mexico in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, facing the United States and Japan. He gave up one run in 7 1/3 innings in those two starts.

“It was huge,” Sandoval said of his WBC experience. “It was definitely a way different atmosphere than I’ve been used to pitching in. It was a cool experience. To thrive in that, I know I have it in me. It’s cool to be able to come back and hopefully get us to October and have that same feeling back.”

For now, the challenge will be an Orioles team that won 101 games last season and boasts a lineup with young stars like reigning Rookie of the Year Gunnar Henderson and catcher Adley Rutschman.

“The ballpark is awesome,” Sandoval said. “A great team. A good lineup. They swing the bat well. Don’t chase much. It’s going to be a good challenge.”

It remains to be seen how the Angels will align their rotation behind Sandoval. If they maintain the order they’re using in spring training, Sandoval would be followed by Canning, left-hander Reid Detmers, left-hander Tyler Anderson and right-hander Chase Silseth.

HUNTER’S FUTURE

Torii Hunter was in uniform as a guest instructor with the Angels the past few days, but don’t expect him to be back in baseball full time anytime soon.

Hunter, 48, last played in 2015, and he said he’s still devoting most of his time to his family and his businesses, which include five barbecue restaurants, two coffee shops and a commercial real estate company.

“I gotta keep baseball on the back-burner for now,” Hunter said. “Full time? Not ready to do that. It could happen some day. We’ll see.”

Hunter was in the news in November, when there was a report that he’d already been selected to be Washington’s first-base coach with the Angels.

“I was at a golf course and some guy said ‘Congratulations,’ and I said ‘For what?’” Hunter recalled. “He said ‘You’re going to be the first-base coach.’ And I said ‘Where?’ It was a thing that someone must have started, some kind of rumor.”

Hunter said after that he did talk to the Angels about a coaching position, but they hadn’t before. He said he’d like to do it sometime.

Washington said Hunter would be a natural.

“A tremendous leader because there’s nothing in the game he hasn’t experienced,” Washington said. “If you know Torii, he knows the game. He knows what it takes to be a champion. He knows what it takes to be a star. He knows what it takes. And he does a good job of relaying that to the guys. I’m walking around listening to him talk to the guys, he does a good job of doing that.

“When he can put his personal businesses aside and he has someone that he can trust to really run them, then I think he will come back into the game and he would be a tremendous coach. He would be a tremendous manager once he worked his way through the coaching ranks.”

NOTES

First baseman Nolan Schanuel was out of the lineup for a second straight day because of back tightness. Schanuel said he was “a lot better” Tuesday, and hoped to be back in the lineup Wednesday. Washington said it was possible that Schanuel could play Wednesday, but he wasn’t certain. …

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Almost all of the Angels regulars are expected to return to Southern California to prepare for the Freeway Series before the Angels play their final Arizona game, on Saturday against the Oakland A’s. Canning is scheduled to start that game.