Prior to Saturday’s matchup against the Houston Astros, the Los Angeles Angels recalled José Soriano from Double-A Rocket City and optioned Chase Silseth to Triple-A Salt Lake.
Silseth, who made his MLB debut as a starter last year, struggled to the tune of a 5.30 ERA, 5.86 FIP and 1.61 WHIP in nine appearances this season (one start).
Silseth was moved to the bullpen after beginning the 2023 season in the Bees starting rotation. He saw much more success in that role, posting a 0.90 ERA and 0.90 WHIP over four starts.
Angels manager Phil Nevin admitted that Silseth never settled in as a reliever, per Jeff Fletcher of the Southern California News Group:
“With Chase, you just kind of watched the process of coming out of the ‘pen the last few times and I’m not sure he just looked the part, comfortable,” Angels manager Phil Nevin said.
Nevin revealed that Silseth was sent down to Triple-A in order to get consistent reps as a starter and expressed confident he will be back up with the Angels at some point:
“I just think (Silseth) is best suited in the starting rotation,” Nevin said. “It was something we tried. With the arms we’ve added down there, not sure the innings were going to quite be what the we thought they were at the beginning. So I think this is best for him. As an organization, we feel like it’s best for Chase to go back down and start. I’m sure we’ll see him again.”
As Nevin noted, the Angels have shuffled their bullpen in recent weeks, and there simply weren’t many opportunities for Silseth that would allow him to continue his development.
With his demotion to Triple-A, Silseth will be able to get back on a normal routine in the rotation and perhaps return to the Angels later this year as a more polished pitcher.
What José Soriano brings to Angels
Before his promotion, Soriano pitched to a 4.24 ERA, 1.46 WHIP and 12 strikeouts per nine in 23.1 innings pitched across 17 games with the Trash Pandas (three starts).
Soriano threw a scoreless inning with a strikeout in his MLB debut against the Astros on Saturday.
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